ALPACAS are now well established as part of the scene at agricultural shows throughout the country. You will see them at events as wide-ranging as the Devon County Show and the Royal Highland.

Indeed, alpacas are now recognised as a viable alternative agricultural enterprise and are attracting a lot of attention.

The British Alpaca Society (BAS) celebrates its eleventh birthday this year and it is amazing how quickly the national herd and the Society have grown. Mind you, who could resist these adorable animals? Not that external appearance, although important, is everything. Alpacas are kept primarily for their fibre. Sixty per cent of the marks in the show ring are for the fleece and for a large part of the show, the judge will be seen bending over animals, opening their fleeces and taking a closer look.

BAS National Show
The BAS National Show was held during the Newark and Notts Show in early May with a record 464 entries. It was decided to have two judges working in tandem and the BAS was very pleased to welcome Lyn Dixon from Australia to work alongside BAS judge Liz Barlow. Some of the classes were so large they had to be split into two and then two rings were used with one judge taking each.

The huacayas were judged first and by early afternoon on Sunday, the time came to select the Supreme Champion. All the winners of the white huacaya classes came into the ring and were inspected again by both judges. This is the point where competition gets very fierce because these really are top-quality animals. In the end, the winner was Bozedown Patriot, owned by Mrs Joy Whitehead, one of the original members of the BAS.

However, alpacas come in a wide-range of natural colours and this is recognised in the show ring with classes for fawn, brown, grey and black as well as for white. Championships were awarded in the five colour categories to Classical Mile end Tulaco Centurion owned by C Brooke and R Hebditch (fawn), R2D2 owned by RJ and S Bettinson (brown), Amethyst of Houghton owned by M George (grey), ATA Cambridge Centurion jointly owned by EP Cambridge UK and Inca Alpaca (black) with Bozedown Patriot taking the white championship.

Then it was the turn of the suri alpacas. There are fewer suris kept in the UK but competition in the classes was still strong. The Supreme Champion Suri was Cambridge Ramases owned by EP Cambridge, which also took the white championship. The Fawn Champion was ACC Remus (Accoyo UK), the Brown went to Greenside Esmerelda (ME Tollit and MJ Griffiths) and the Black to Alpaca Stud Suri Phoenix (The Alpaca Stud).

While the animals were being shown in the ring, Rob Bettinson was busy judging the fleece show where the standard was also high.

Busy answering questions
Alpacas really are becoming a well-known feature of the Newark and Notts Show and I was kept busy on the BAS trailer answering questions from the curious and from those seriously considering alpaca ownership. It was a real pleasure to hear the comments "Oh, let's go and look at the alpacas" rather than "There are the llamas" or "What are those animals?" Both adults and children came round and all were amazed at the fineness and warmth of alpaca fibre when they plunged their hands into the samples that were available.

We were delighted to welcome a group of seven alpaca owners from Finland who had come over to the show and to visit various alpaca owners. It was interesting that there were over twice as many animals at the Show than in the national herd in Finland which is 200 animals! However, this looks set to increase as alpacas increase in popularity there.

The Show Season continues with alpacas making an appearance at the Bath & West, Kenilworth, East of England, Three Counties, Cheshire, Lincolnshire, Royal Highland and Royal Norfolk shows. Then it will be time for the Royal Show at Stoneleigh in Warwickshire which is still considered to be the premier agricultural show of the year.

The Royal Fleece Show
From the alpaca's point of view, this show is late in the year and animals can suffer if the weather is hot because by then they are carrying heavy, dense fleeces. This year, the emphasis of the BAS event is to change with the centrepiece being the Royal Fleece Show. As most animals will have been sheared by then, it is hoped that as many owners as possible will select and enter their best fleeces and help make this a celebration of alpaca fibre. Entries close on Thursday 21 June.

The BAS is very pleased that the world alpaca fibre expert, Cameron Holt, has agreed to judge the fleece show. Cameron has been involved in the wool and speciality fibre sector for over 40 years. He was a Senior Wool Technical Officer with a leading Australian wool broking company for 20 years. He has travelled to Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the USA where he delivered training programmes in fibre production. He is currently judging for the Australian Alpaca Association and, in his role as Senior Fleece Judge and trainer for the Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association (America), has been involved in the training of their judges as well as judging. Cameron was Head of the Wool and Fibre studies department of RMIT University School of Textiles (formally the Melbourne Institute of Textiles). He is currently conducting training programmes on a global basis in alpaca fibre preparation and selection. In other words, what Cameron doesn't know about fibre probably isn't worth knowing so this is a great opportunity for anyone interested in learning about this aspect of alpacas! While he is in the UK, he will be holding a number of fibre workshops around the country. Details can be found on the BAS website (www.bas-uk.com) under Shows & Events/Private member initiatives.

Halter classes
Halter classes at the Royal will be held on Sunday and Monday with display events in the ring arranged for Tuesday and Wednesday. This year there will be two new classes for the Best of British Male and Best of British Female. The winners will be chosen from all animals at the Show which have won a rosette and which have at least one British-born parent. This introduction of this class indicates just how far British breeders have come and demonstrates that there are truly high-class British animals within the national herd.

The Great Yorkshire Show
The week following the Royal Show sees the Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate, 10-12 July. A new feature this year will be an area entitled Creatures: Great and Small with lots of fun events. The Sheep Show's No 3 Team will line up for a one-furlong race to the finish line and Cyril the Squirrel and his Racing Terriers will tackle National Hunt-style jumps around an end-to-end course. The Mellin Family Sheepdog & Duck Display from Howarth, West Yorkshire will feature a display of hand-shearing and duck-herding - and youngsters in the audience can expect to be pressed into service as obstacles in the arena!

The alpacas will be presented by the Yorkshire Alpaca Society. Suri and Huacaya alpacas will be present, as well as experienced alpaca farmers who will demonstrate how to hand-spin fleeces. Visitors will also be encouraged to have a go at producing alpaca felt and there will be information about the animal's history and care and products to buy.

If you're fascinated by ferrets, then be sure to stop by the East Coast Ferrets stand. The organisation has been rescuing ferrets from the East Yorkshire region for nine years and has successfully re-homed more than 1,000 creatures. Daphne Neville will be bringing three of her current charges along to the Show. Twins Bertie and Belinda, aged eight and a half, will be joined by six-month-old Rudi Potter, hot on the heels of filming for the latest series of the popular BBC drama, The Chase. As well as delighting visitors, the animals - all Asian short-clawed otters - will help deliver a serious message about how important it is to keep rivers clean and minimise pollution.

All in all, there are lots of attractions and events at the summer shows - alpacas being just one of them.