2011 Farm News
What is a farm but a mute gospel? The chaff and the wheat, weeds and plants, blight, rain, insects, sun, -- it is a sacred emblem from the first furrow of spring to the last stack which the snow of winter overtakes in the fields." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Farm News
Ideuma Creek Alpacas | John & Denise Jacobus | Unadilla, NY | (607) 563-9174 | djacobus@mkl.com
Resilience's Story
January 2011 - Our 2010 Show Season in Review
Judge’s Choice Fleece Award – Michigan International Alpaca Festival
Best Brightness Award – AFCNA Continental Fleece Show
Color Champion – Juvenile Black – AOK Blastoff Fleece
Color Champion – White Juvenile – AOK Blastoff Fleece
Color Champion – White Juvenile – Palmetto Alpaca Classic Fleece
Color Champion – White Juvenile – MAPACA Fleece
Color Champion – Light Yearling – MAPACA Fleece
Color Champion – Light Juvenile – Alpaca Fest Oregon Fleece
Color Champion – Dark Fawn Juvenile Female – AFCNA Continental Fleece Show
Color Champion – Dark Fawn Juvenile Male – AFCNA Continental Fleece Show
Color Champion – Light Juvenile – Michigan International Alpaca Festival Fleece
Reserve Color Champion – White Juvenile – Empire Alpaca Symposium
1st – Fawn Juvenile – Empire Alpaca Symposium
1st – White Juvenile – Txolan Alpaca Spectacular Fleece
1st – Light Mature – NJ Alapca Show Halter
1st – Black Juvenile – AOK Blastoff Fleece
1st – White Juvenile – AOK Blastoff Fleece
1st – White Juvenile – MAPACA Fleece
1st – Light Yearling – MAPACA Fleece
1st – Fawn Juvenile – Alpaca Fest Oregon Fleece
1st Fawn Juvenile Female – AFCNA Continental Fleece Show
1st Fawn Juvenile Male – AFCNA Continental Fleece Show
1st Fawn Juvenile – Michigan International Fest Fleece
1st Fawn Juvenile – Gold County Gathering
January 21-23 The AOK Blast Off in Shawnee, OK
Invasion Cria ROCK for Prarie's Edge Farm
Lynn and Kathleen Wedel of Prairie's Edge Farm purchased three weanling boys as possible future herd sires last winter. They took them to their first show, The AOK Blastoff, and this is how they did:
Ideuma Creek's Ridge (Rhonda X Invasion)
Reserve Color Champion in Fleece
Blue in Fleece
Blue in Halter (out of 15)
Ideuma Creek's Bo Jangles (Penny X Invasion)
Reserve Color Champion in Fleece
Blue in Fleece
2nd in Halter (out of 9)
Ideuma Creek's Roscoe
2nd in Halter (out of 5)
Fleece was not shown
Not bad for their first show! We hope the Wedel's are as pleased with their new Invasion sons show results as we are!
March 26 - MOPACA - Invasion Cria Do It Again
3 Blues - 2 Championships - Best Brightness Award
Best Crimp Award and Judge's Choice Award
That's right; 3 fleeces shown and each one took a blue. Each one would have taken a championship, but Ideuma Creek's Bo Jangles beige fleece didn't have enough competition. We're confident he would have taken a championship because he went on to win the JUDGE'S CHOICE! Kathleen and Lynn Wedel own both Bo and Ridge who also did excellent in halter.
Ideuma Creek's Roslyn
Championship in Fleece - Fawn
Blue in Fleece
Ideuma Creek's Ridge
Best Brightness Award in Fleece
Championship in Fleece - White
Blue in Fleece
2nd in Halter
Ideuma Creek's Bo Jangles
Judge's Choice Award in Fleece
Best Crimp Award in Fleece
Blue in Fleece
2nd in Halter
2 More Blues for Invasion Cria!
Invasion cria do it again! In the most difficult class to ribbon in - white - Accoyo Elizabeth Tilley took a blue in her very first halter show in a class of 8. Accoyo Kaptain took a blue in the class of mature whites. Invasion really has proven his prepotency and is passing on elite fleece characteristics to his cria. We're awfully proud of these two halter show blue ribbons!
The New Jersey Alpaca Show and Sale
April 30-May 1
April 9 - Stratosphere Cria Rule at MAPACA
4 Blues & 2 Championships
We didn't attend MAPACA this year, but Genine Bednarski, our partner in PHA Accoyo Stratosphere did. She watched as Stratoshpere cria took ribbon after ribbon at one of the largest and most difficult shows in the country! Strat cria took blues in white, black, beige and brown! Genine's white girl, Accoyo Eleoquence went on to take the Reserve Color Championship in white and another Stratosphere cria took the Color Championship in black!
April 9 - Ideuma Creek's Accoyo Truman Takes Another Blue at The Minnesota Alpaca Expo!
While Stratosphere cria were racking up the blues at MAPACA, Ideuma Creek's Accoyo Truman's fleece was being shown in Minnesota. He didn't disappoint! Truman took a blue in fawn juvenile fleece over some pretty darn impressive farms!
May 1 & 2 - The Michigan International Alpaca Fest
We were so excited, but not all that surprised to find a blue ribbon and a purple one when we opened up Tilley's bag of fleece from the Michigan Show. From the moment she was born, Tilley exhibited incredible density, amazing crimp, independent bundles and excellent structure to her fleece. She is a cross of Invasion with the Caligula bloodlines, a match that keeps working and working for us! Now Tilley has a blue at ther first halter show, and a Color Championship at her first fleece show! We are darn proud to have her here at Ideuma Creek!
Accoyo Elizabeth Tilley of Ideuma Creek Gets a Championship at Her Very First Fleece Show!.
July 9 & 10
The Western New York Alpaca Show
Accoyo Covert Operation of Ideuma Creek Wins The Reserve Color Championship and The Best Brightness Award at His Very First Fleece Show!
We recently sold half ownership of Covert Operation, affectionately referred to as "co-op" to Two Chicks Alpaca Farm. It's always a tad risky to invest in a young male no matter how good he looks or how incredible his lineage is, so we were simply thrilled when Co-op did so amazing in his first fleece show! Colleen and Mary are just as proud to offer this guy as a herdsire for their farm as we are. He has brilliant fleece that is incredibly dense and very fine.
August 13 - The STA First Annual
Hummdinger AlpacaShow
Invasion Cria Receive First Place in Juvenile, Yearling and Mature Classes!
Here at Ideuma Creek John and I retain our professions as full time teachers. We are just too darn busy to go to many halter shows. We show off the quality of our alpacas through fleece shows we enter all over the country. When Southern Tier Alpacas decided to put on a shorn halter show in August, we were all for it! Shorn halter shows ONLY judge conformation. Since there just isn't enough fleece on the alpaca to judge, the only consideration in giving out ribbons is the strength of conformation of the alpaca. We KNOW Invasion's cria have elite fleece. It's been proven time and time again throughout the years with our fleece show performances. This show, however, shows Invasion also passes on undeniable stature.
During the championship round in lights, Makani, owned by Lone Spruce Alpacas, an Invasion son, stood in first place for the juvenile class. Irish Invader, owned by Claddagh Farm Alpacas, an Invasion son, stood in first place for the yearling class. And our own Ideuma Creek's Kaptain, also an Invasion son, stood in first for the mature class.
Not only does Invasion pass on beautiful fleece, but correct and blue ribbon conformation as well!
October 22 & 23
The Gold County Gathering
Ideuma Creek Comes Home with 2 Blues, A Reserve Color Championship and Another Best Brightness Award!
More ribbons to brag about! Accoyo Cadence of Ideuma Creek came home with a Blue Ribbon and The Reserve color Championship. Accoyo Covert Operation of Ideuma Creek also came home with a Blue and for the second fleece show in a row, he took The Fleece Specialty Award of Best Brightness! Both are Invasion cria, and both are champions. Cadence is fawn and Co-Op is white. Invasion passes on elite fleece characteristics no matter the color!
Judge Ken Hibbits comments on Co-Op's fleece, "Great work overall! Great balance across the card. Great fineness/handle. A joy to judge! Well Done! Great density!"
Judge, Ken Hibbits comments on Cady's fleece, "Great fineness/handle, good crimp and character"
Both alpacas received a 19.5 out of 20 for fineness!
December 9 & 10
The Hi-Plains Alpaca Show in Texas
Ideuma Creek Ends the 2011 Show Season with 2 More Blues
Both Accoyo Cadence & Accoyo Elizabeth Tilley of Ideuma Creek added another blue to their collections with this fleece show. This is the first time we've shown fleece in front of judge David Barboza. He seems to be just as impressed with Cady and Elizabeth as the others!
Bambi delivered her beautiful baby girl one of the days I was home from school due to the terrible flooding that struck our community this past September. And it was a darn good thing I was home! Little Resilience was a dystocia and she could not have been born without my assistance.
Things went well with the birth despite the fact that our vet couldn't make it to our farm. Although she only lives 15 minutes away from us, she lives across the river and all of the bridges were closed.
Little Resilience couldn't stand. At first we thought that it was due to the fact that she wasn't positioned in the womb correctly. We milked out Bambi and took turns feeding Resilience every two hours.
It was 3 days before Dr. Camann could safely get to our farm. Upon checking Resilience, she quickly knew that there was something much more wrong than some weak tendons. We immediately brought her to Cornell where she had knee surgery to keep her knee from slipping out of place.
Resilience came through the surgery just fine. We brought her home in her purple splint, changed the bandages each week and did physical therapy twice a day with her so she could keep her range of motion with that leg.
Two weeks after her split was finally gone for good, I noticed Resilience's leg had a crackling sound when I did therapy with her.
We were off to Cornell again. Her leg - the same leg that had knee surgery was broken at the hock.
We surmised that her mom may have kicked her while trying to wean her. Because her bad leg kind of stuck out anyway, it might have received a direct blow from Bambi's foot kicking at her to stop nursing.
Resilence was. . . .well, resilient. She got a purple cast this time and came back home for another couple of weeks of being in a small pen until it healed.
She is now in a pen with her mom and several other cria and their moms. She still walks a little like a wooden soldier, but she does put weight on it and she does use it. We don't think she'll ever walk or look completely "normal", but we feel so lucky that this little girl kept springing back from her injuries - with a smile on her little face. She has definitely earned her name, Resilience.
