Alpaca Showcase

Alpaca Showcase

Alpaca Showcase. I'm Greg Martin with Washington Ag Today.

This weekends Northwest Alpaca Showcase will be a chance for the public to get up close and personal with these enigmatic animals. Jennifer Ely with Sage Bluff Alpaca in Prosser talks about what folks can expect when they attend.

ELY: For the public who have an opportunity to visit Showcase, they'll get to see many beautiful alpacas. They'll get to talk to alpaca breeders from all over the Pacific Northwest. They can watch the competition in the show ring. They can visit the fleece show and the spin-off. We'll have some lovely vendors with alpaca merchandise available. There are seminars by our veterinarian that they are able to attend as well.

Alpaca are relatively new to the U.S. coming from Peru about 25 years ago.

ELY: For myself, I find that they are very intelligent, they're very gentle, eco-friendly, sustainable. They really are a hoot to live with. And what I like about raising this form of livestock is I get to shear them each year and make wonderful things out of their gorgeous fleece. I don't have to butcher them and that's a good thing.

Ely talks specifics about the Showcase.

ELY: Showcase will be held Saturday and Sunday at the TRAC in Pasco. The public is welcome to attend free of charge and it's a very family friendly event. My suggestion would be to arrive sometime after 9 o'clock in the morning when the show ring competition begins and that will go till about 3 to 5 Saturday afternoon. The best hours on Sunday would be from 9 to noon or about 1 o'clock.

And that's Washington Ag Today. I'm Greg Martin, thanks for listening on the Ag Information Network of the West.

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