Rockford Hemmingway's Ruth

Dr Jeri Booher writes: There is no doubt that the North American alpaca industry has made tremendous progress since the inception of TIMBERLAND ALPACAS back in 1992. In 1992, the registry had approximately 2,500 alpacas in its database. Today the number of registered alpacas exceeds 25,000. There is also no doubt that the quality of the North American alpaca has increased dramatically over the last eight years. If there exists one Huacaya herd sire that has made the most profound impact upon improving the overall quality of the alpaca outside of South America, there is definitely no doubt that this alpaca is Peruvian Hemingway. Hemingway arrived in the U.S. as a three year old in the 1993 Peruvian importation out of the Royal Allianza herd in Peru, and was selected by and reserved for Roger Haldane of Australia. Roger was a veteran alpaca breeder, had the reputation of having the most excellent alpaca herd in Australia. Roger was extremely impressed with the quality of Hemingway’s fleece and was convinced that Hemingway had the potential to impart his fine, lustrous fleece to his progeny. Tom and Jerilynn were able to see the first of Hemingway’s North American progeny to hit the ground, and they were truly impressive. In 1996, TIMBERLAND ALPACAS was fortunate in being able to acquire ownership in Hemingway, Ltd. The prepotency of Hemingway is truly remarkable. The offspring of the Hemingway bloodline have been the most successful of any herd sire in the show ring in the United States, Canada, and Australia. Hemingway’s sons, grandsons, and great grandsons stand at stud for numerous ranches in all three countries. What is the trademark of the Hemingway progeny? Fineness of fleece, a low coefficient of variation, uniformity, and luster. At fourteen years of age, Hemingway still retained at 23 micron fleece, 16% CV, and crimp to boot. In three years of the International Alpaca Odyssey, four of the six Supreme male and female Huacaya champions have been offspring and grandoffspring of Hemingway. Like the true soldier that he was, Hemingway lived until nearly twenty years of age and is now resting alongside Victor. His offspring and the subsequent generations still comprise a good majority of the TIMBERLAND bloodstock.