The recent Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association nationals in Sandy Utah were something of a disappointment.

The number of alpacas entered was down to 700 from 1300 in previous years. I guess there are several reasons why this might be. Gas is now over $4 in this part of the US so hauling to Sandy Utah can be an expensive operation. The recent bout of coronavirus that appears to have been doing the rounds of alpaca shows has also certainly put some people off attending shows and exposing their alpacas to this viral infection.
Then to cap it all we are experiencing something of an economic downturn although I hesitate to use the 'R" word as I can be superstitious at times.

Of course some will blame it on the fact that Sandy is the "West Coast" show and west coast breeders don't support it like east coast breeders support the "East Coast" show.... this may be true but I have never seen any hard facts one way or the other.

As usual the Saturday Seminars were poorly attended and this is always the case as there is so much more to do especially if you are showing alpacas.

There has to be a move to split the National show and the National conference. Make the national alpaca show just for alpacas that have won at a regional alpaca show. And move the seminars and all the other good stuff in winter mixed in with the annual Fiber to Fashion.

The auction I would leave with the national show in the spring/summer....but again the general economic environment meant that this years auction was something of a damp squib with some alpacas failing to reach their reserve price.

The biggest challenge we face is getting the powers that be to admit that a wheel has come off the wagon and it now needs fixing. If this were a corporation I feel sure the shareholders would have replaced certain board members long ago.