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Thursday, September 21, 2023
Red Granite Ranch is proud to announce the half-ownership sale of Red Granites Alydar By Val D Lsere to our good friends Rhonda & Kern Deschner of Tierra Prometida Alpacas (Texas)!
Alydar has been putting stellar crias on the ground in ever color, and we are excited to see what he will do down in Texas with Rhonda and Kerns amazing breeding program. Rhonda and Kern have built a truly incredible breeding program over the years and we are super excited to see who they put him over.
Alydar will be in Texas during the cold months and here in Colorado from late Spring to November. Limited breedings will be available at either ranch…we think those near Texas need to take this as an incredible opportunity!
Exciting things are ahead for both ranches and we can hardly wait! Thank you Rhonda and Kern for trusting our program, yet again.
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Saturday, July 16, 2022
So many emotions, but definitely held our breath this entire awards ceremony for the High Point Awards in Kentucky at the 2022 AOA National Fleece Show.
This show season (Fall 2021 to Spring 2022) was easily one of our best show seasons Red Granite Ranch has ever had. The quality across the board of our show string was outstanding, and the animals we sold off of our strong string continued to win for their new owners, which we love to see.
In June, we received the emails that let us know if any of our animals had qualified for the Hucaya Female/Male High Point award. We had a total of four animals qualify, and one animal that we had sold earlier in the year qualify for there new owner. Three of those four, plus the one we had sold earlier in the year qualified for the Top 10 Huacaya Female High Point award and then one qualified for the Top 10 Huacaya Male High Point Award. We didn't know what to expect with there final placings that would soon be released at the 2022 AOA National Show, but boy were we in for a treat....
We proudly announce that Red Granites Alydar By Val D Lsere ended up being named the #1 National High Point Huacaya Male of this show season. At 3-Years-Old and proven with cras on the ground, he accomplished the impossible for his color group. What a ride it has been with this amazing male, he is truly following his daddy's footsteps.
RGR Tell The World By Val D Lsere was named #2 National High Point Huacaya Female, Red Granites Odena By Val D Lsere was named #6 National High Point Huacaya Female, and Red Granites Sizlin Dosita was named #7 National High Point Huacaya Female of this show season.
And to top everthing off, Red Granite Ranch was named the #2 National High Point Large Breeding Farm.
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Wednesday, May 25, 2022
Well, we never expected this to happen. Today was a rather sad day at Red Granite Ranch.
This morning when the ranch hands were doing there morning chores and turn outs at our upper barns (barn 1 and barn 2) we received a phone call. From the fast words that came through the phone line we had to pause, and then hearing the words that no livestock owner wants to ever hear, our hearts stopped, "there are alpacas on the ground, and there not moving". We rushed from barn one to barn two in a heartbeat, dropping everything and not ready to see what we would.
A mountain lion decided to take the lives of two of our girls. It is obvious that they fought and sadly lost the fight, which breaks our hearts. What we think happened is the mountain lion first attacked Evangeline and was unable to get her over the fence (she is our largest girl on the ranch at 200 some pounds) so it then went after Meridian, who is much smaller in size. There was fresh spit laced all around the inside of the barn and we think the rest of the pen mates were spitting at the mountain lion trying to help the two other girls. Our guard llama in the group, Breezy, did an amazing job keeping the rest of them safe and she looked exhausted when we saw her, she had dried spit on her lips and just look tired. We are grateful that no other girls were injured, only exhausted. None of the other females have went inside the barn, making us think this incident happened somewhat inside the barn.
This mountain lion killed the two girls and left them inside the pen, didn’t touch them after killing and just left them there. We are truly devastated. It makes sense for it going after two alpacas, but killing for the sport makes us wonder if something was wrong with the mountain lion. We have tolerated not only these creatures but also coyotes and bobcats coming at the fence lines for years, but will not tolerate them attacking our animals. This is a second for us, as we have had mountain lion problems in the past and had to hunt that one down, but never have had one kill our animals. We believe that it will come back for another go at the girls, knowing it can get in and get at them. We will not allow it to and will make sure the rest of the girls are safe until it’s gone. This can happen to anyone and everyone, make sure you also take precautions and invest in livestock guardians, we have two Bernse Moutnain Dogs and a llama, and will be adding another dog. We have moved all the girls from that barn and fields to a safe location on the property until the wildlife officer sets his trap and hopefully catches the mountain lion.
May these two gentle, sweet girls Rest In Peace in alpaca heaven.
Crescent Moons Accoyo Evangeline (2013-2022) and NPA Meridian (2010-2022).
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Monday, May 16, 2022
Yet another amazing prestigious Futurity Show & Sale was held this year, the competition being even tougher than last — but the RGR animals held there own and won some exciting purple, blue, red, and white ribbons. Our show team this year at the Futurity was made up of a few 2-year-olds creeping up on there third birthday (thankfully making the cut for there final Futurity show appearance), quite a few yearlings and some wobbly juveniles even made the cut!
We started off the Futurity weekend strong with selling our auction lot, Red Granites Brooklyn By Val D Lsere to our good friends at Eagle Eye Farm! Brooklyn joined her paternal-sister Red Granites Plié By Val D Lsere and distant relative Red Granites Alyeska at EEF, adding to there already amazing lineup of alpacas. She will be spending the summer with us to get bred to Estates Passionate Fever then she will head to her forever home.
After that late night auction we then went into the actual show, and oh boy was it a fun show weekend! The excitement of Red Granites Alydar By Val D Lsere taking home the Grey Male Color Champion banner as a 2-year-old was probably the most exciting win we have had yet — very few GRAY alpacas have won the Futurity Gray Color Champion banner for two-years in a row, so we were pretty happy! In the female ring, Red Granites Sizlin Dosita (an exciting True Black Sizzy daughter) took home top honors as the Black Female Reserve Color Champion winner being pulled from right behind the Color Champion winner and RGR Tell The World By Val D Lsere took home the Fawn Female Reserve Color Champion banner, also being pulled from right behind the Color Champion winner.
But onto the exciting part, just a few days ago we got the exciting news of overall Herdsires of the Year and who won them. We are proud to say that Red Granites Val D Lsere won the 2022 Futurity Herdsire of the Year Dark-Colored Offspring trophy for the SECOND year in a row! We are incredibly happy and excited to see how his future will progress!
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Sunday, May 1, 2022
When we sold Pharoah to Heather at our 2021 shearing last year we knew we were loosing a good one, but we knew we was going to good hands. At the 2022 Great Western Alpaca Show & Rocky Mountain Alpaca Showdonw, Heather entered Pharoah into the GWAS walking fleece and he took home a first place ribbon and the White Reserve Color Champion banner!
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Wednesday, March 23, 2022
Congratulations to Aaron and Connie Konrardy of Sugarland Alpacas on the purchase of Red Granites Stardust By Val D Lsere! This morning they pulled the trigger on purchasing her after being interested in her since the 2021 Quad Show.
This Judges Choice and multi-champion female should bring many champions to you guys for many years to come! Thank you for trusting our program and cheers! This makes sale number five this month, nine this year!
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Sunday, February 27, 2022
This years Amber Autumn Auction was one of the best yet. A total of 57 alpacas from all over the United States and 2 from Canada, the average sales price per animal was $17,000, with the highest-seller being $42,000, which was an unproven medium fawn male consigned by Amber Autumn Alpacas. The total gold pot from the auction was just under $1 million....
We had a lot of success with our auction lots, pens were full all weekend with a lot of interest. We consigned our best this year so our hopes were pretty high...RGR USA Pride By Val D Lsere ended up selling for a grand total of $41,000, she became the highest-selling female of the Auction and drew up a lot of attention with her conformation and dense fleece. Pride was purchased by our friends in Texas; Tierra Prometida Alpacas. She adds to their already stellar foundation lineup of females, and joins her true black paternal half-sister, Scarlett! Red Granites Sizlin Spit N Smoke ended up staying in Colorado, being purchased by Flying Iron Ranch Alpacas for $35,000. Red Granites Chelsee By Val D Lsere was purchased for $15,000 by a co-ownership between Bob and Kelly Foster of Hickory Meadow Alpaca Farm and Patrick of Glengary Farms!
We never come home from this auction empty handed, or at least this time we didnt....We proudly welcome Pallaton's Kalibaut Alyst from KJ Alpacas of Canada to Red Granite Ranch. Kalibaut is a daughter of Red Granites Pallaton who is on his way to Poland. We sold Pallaton to KJ Alpacas back at the 2017 Amber Autumn Auction, where he became a Supreme Champion later on for them. We are excited to see where her future lies!
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Sunday, September 26, 2021
2021 Futurity Show & Sale - Azeri
Red Granites Azeri By Val D Lsere is now in good hands! Thank you to Susan & Peter Goodwin of Foster Trails Alpaca Ranch for purchasing Red Granites Azeri by Val D Lsere.
This true black, two-time champion, Red Granites Val D Lsere daughter is one of the BEST Black females produced by Val D Lsere and should complement the Goodwin's fantastic black breeding program very, very well! Azeri is a maternal sister to many of our top animals which includes: Red Granites Aragon a lead fawn herdsire here at RGR.
Feb 2021 Fleece - Azeri
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Saturday, September 25, 2021
Marc and I would like to thank Cory & Kim Wesson, of Sopris Alpacas for purchasing half interest in Red Granites Chisholm. A cross between our 2017 AOA National White Color Champion male, Creed and a Mister Antonio daughter who happens to be a maternal granddaughter to Peruvian Glacier, MFI Peruvian Criativity. Chisholm has just began his show career and already has bannered at every show he has attended, we are extremely excited to see the future with Chisholm and Sopris Alpacas! Cheers to another super exciting partnership!
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Thursday, July 22, 2021
We, Sharon & Marc Milligan of Red Granite Ranch are EXTREMELY proud to say that Red Granites Val D Lsere took home the:
2021 Herdsire Of The Year Dark-colored offspring with only 8 Dark Offspring entered
2021 Reserve Herdsire Of The Year Light-colored offspring with only 5 Light Offspring entered (Five Points away from winning the Light Herdsire of the Year)
2021 Herdsire of the Year, Large Breeder Division
This was his crias second Futurity Show debut, as the 2020 Futurity Show was cancelled. His offspring swept the Futurity rings winning Championships in the following classes (RGR animals then clients Val crias):
Judges' Choice - Huacaya Male (Red Granites Alydar)
Color Champion - Huacaya Grey Male (Red Granites Alydar)
Color Champion - Huacaya White Male (Red Granites Casper)
Reserve Champion - Huacaya White Female (Red Granites Sassafras)
Clients:
Color Champion - Huacaya Grey Female (PRTI Valita)
Reserve Champion - Huacaya Black Female (Odins' Scarlett O'hara)
We are beyond words can truly explain the impact this male has had on our ranch and animals in just his short four years of breeding for us. His genetics are highly sought after from breeders around the world, and his offspring have won championships outside of the US. Red Granites Val D Lsere is a Herdsire who is dominating the New Generation of Huacayas and it shows. He is closed to outside breedings but offspring are offered at our ranch.
Red Granite Ranch is also PROUD to say that we also took home the 2021 Futurity Large Breeder of The Year in the 200+ females owned category. Thank you to our friends, family, and clients who helped represent Val D Lsere and our ranch at this years Futurity, it is one for the books. Thank you Teresa and Tim Vincent for a wonderful event.
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