We are offering to retain possession of Bittersweet Coco after the 2006 East Meets West auction to show her at our fall shows (at our expense).  Then, if by the end of 2006, she has not won at least one championship (champ or reserve) we will, at our option, replace her with a female who has championed or refund the purchase price in full.

Our championship guarantee, being that is so unique, likely raises a number of questions and the following Q&A should help to provide answers to the most common of these.

·  What do we mean by a championship guarantee?

Under certain conditions, we will guarantee A.L. Paca's Bittersweet Coco will be awarded either one Color Championship or one Reserve Color Championship in a full fleece halter class at a fall 2006 alpaca show.  As soon as she wins her first championship, we will wipe our brow as our guarantee of a championship has been fulfilled!

·  What are these certain conditions?

Bittersweet Coco must be a member of our show string at all of the fall shows which we attend. 

As she cannot win a championship if she cannot go to a show, she must be able to receive her veterinarian certified travel papers for each of our shows and she must be fit to enter the ring at each show.  Just as a side note, this spring it was a big deal at times to get the travel papers in order.  A.L. Paca's Revolution missed a show because he failed his TB test!  A second test was done and proved negative. Simba missed a show as he failed a Brucellosis screening.  An outside lab then proved him to be negative but by then, we were hundreds of miles away from the farm and nearly at the show grounds. TB and Brucellosis are non-issues in alpacas, but when dealing with animals and the state health boards, one always needs to leave room for the little surprises.

And finally, on the topic of conditions, we must be able to attend each show with Bittersweet Coco (for example, no show schedule conflicts with jury duty for Denise or I).

·  How likely is she to win a championship?

She has no conformational issues which would hold her back.  She also has a fleece which is consistent and makes a strong impact.  (We grant that the fleece could be more fine, but we can fix this with breeding her to either Simba or The Aga Khan.)  Almost every judge seemed to appreciate her siblings and she shares most of their qualities.  So, she should be expected to place high, if not at the top of her class. 

However, we can see two major issues which could keep her from winning a championship...

1 - although a judge might like her the best at a given show, there might not enough entries at the show for a color championship class to be offered. 

2 - the second issue deals with the auction itself.  As there will likely be many breeders and potential buyers examining her fleece, the structure of her fleece could suffer and the crimp and staple definition could be largely disturbed.  The beautiful architecture of her fleece will eventually return, but the big question is if it will rebound in time for the fall shows.  So, if someone slaps your hand when you are examining her fleece, please forgive the slapper.

·  Who will be showing her? 

If you wish to take advantage of our championship guarantee , then A.L. Paca's Farms will be taking her into the ring.  This way, she should hopefully respond well to our tutelage and we will take the hit if we miss the call for her class.

Who pays the cost of taking her to the shows?

As the championship guarantee requires her to be a member of our fall show string, all of the usual costs of attending a show will be paid by us.  These costs include the cost of screening for travel, transport, stalling and show entry fees.  As we are paying the cost to show her, she will be shown in our farm's name.  We will hold any ribbons she wins and will turn them over to the buyer once the guarantee of a championship has been fulfilled.

·  If, at the end of 2006, she has not won a championship, what then?

We move to Mexico.

Really, there will be several options to consider...

The buyer could simply elect to keep her, and by keeping her, no compensation will be made for her not winning a championship.

Or, the buyer could elect to receive remedy which would solely involve us either gladly replacing her or refunding the payment(s) made on her purchase.  A.L. Paca's Farm will solely make the decision on replacement or refund.  If we decide to replace her, the female she will be replaced with will be one which has won at least one Color Championship or one Reserve Color Championship.  Please note that A.L. Paca's Farm will solely decide which of our championship winning females will be Bittersweet Coco's replacement. 

But, in the end, we are offering to make sure you are buying a champion or not buying anything at all.

·  I have never heard of such a guarantee before, why is this offer being made?

We have never placed one of our alpacas in an auction before, so we thought we would do something a little different for our coming-out party - and if this doesn't work we sure ain't doing it again :-)

When, Denise and I attend an auction, we are looking for promising young females (or males) which can be part of our show string, likely win a number of awards, and then join our breeding program.  Of course, we prefer to win awards with alpacas out of our own breeding program, but if we weren't lucky enough to be the breeders, we were at least smart enough to be the buyers.

As it is so extremely pleasing when one of our show string rises to the top of the class and brings additional recognition to our farm, we thought this special guarantee would help the buyer to experience the great pleasure and pride in owning a champion.

·  So, why not just place a female in the auction who has championed already?

Ahhhh, but where's the thrill of the hunt then?

·  Why are we selling her?

We sincerely like DFA Coco, the dam of Bittersweet Coco, as she produces such high quality offspring for us and has done so in an unusually consistent basis.  Coco has had 3 crias so far: 4 time Color Champion A.L. Paca's Adora Mora Yu (full sister), 2 time Color Champion A.L. Paca's Juan Valdez, and of course her latest, A.L. Paca's Bittersweet Coco.

No more than 12 hours after Bittersweet Coco's full sister (Adora) was born, we had a seasoned breeder express serious interest in buying her. This proved to be the first of several offers to take her off our hands.  However, we had to politely decline all interest as we really needed to keep her for our production. We thought back then, if we received a copy of Adora, we might place the full sibling up for sale. So, this is what we are doing with Bittersweet.

Finally, some questions relating to other details about her purchase...

·  As the buyer, can I take her home after the auction?

Yes, if you do not wish to take advantage of our guarantee of a championship. 

Otherwise, if you would like us to guarantee her winning at least one championship, then she needs to be kept at our farm where we will work to keep her fleece in "clean paddock conditions" and will continue to train her for the show ring. 

·  How soon can she leave A.L. Paca's Farms?

With the guarantee, she can leave our farm as soon as she wins her first championship.  For example, if she goes to a September show and wins either the Color Championship or the Reserve Color Championship, then our guarantee of a championship is fulfilled and she can then leave our farm.   If the buyer wants to continue to show her at the remainder of the fall shows, they are welcome to do so.

·  Is there board to pay?

Free board is offered from the conclusion of the auction to when either our guarantee of a championship has been fulfilled or December 31st, 2006, whichever occurs first.

After the free board period is over, board will be charged at the rate of $3.00 per day.

Board includes the provision of food, shelter, and the cleaning of stalls and paddocks. Also included in the board are monitoring the alpaca’s health by means of observation and measurements such as taking body weight, and when necessary, temperature, heart rate, and respiratory rate. 

Services which are excluded from board include (but are not limited to) parasite control, vaccinations and boosters, medicines and special vitamins given orally, halter training, birthing services, transportation, and other such herd health management activities. We will provide these services but at an additional cost.

·  Who pays any medical expenses incurred after the auction and up to the time she leaves our farm?

All costs of medical care will be paid for by the buyer.

·  As she is a maiden, what are her breeding options?

Under certain conditions (there's that phrase again), Bittersweet Coco can be bred at no charge to any of our farm's herdsires.  This includes the two most pre-potent males we have used in our breeding program: 9x champion Simba of A.L. Paca’s or 11x champion The Aga Khan.

Our goal with her breeding would be to further improve fineness and follicular density while not loosing ground on conformation, fleece structure and consistency. Fineness and density are qualities both Simba and Khan have repeatedly demonstrated in their get so either should be a great pairing for her and make the next generation even better.

The conditions and warranty for her breeding are as follows...

1) Bittersweet Coco must be brought back to our farm for her first breeding; meaning, the very first sexual exposure of her to a male must occur at our farm.

2) She must enter her breeding program at our farm before she turns two years of age.

3) The male used in her breeding program must be a herdsire owned in full or in part by us.

4) No adverse medical condition prevents or limits our breeding of her.

If all the above conditions are satisfied, then: 1) we will warrant she will become pregnant before the age of 30 months, and 2) we will guarantee she will deliver a live birth, which we define to be a cria which lives at least 30 days.  If she does not deliver a live birth, then we will rebreed her free of charge.

·  What else will be required of the buyer?

As of the time of sale, the buyer's assume full risk-of-loss on Bittersweet Coco, the buyer agrees to keep her fully insured for a net amount (after deductible) to cover the outstanding balance due to our farm.  The buyers also agree to name our farm as additional loss payee until the outstanding balance is paid in full.  We will also have a purchase contract and boarding agreement for the buyer to sign which includes the details covered in this Q&A.

·  Will there be a minimum auction price set for her?

Ahhhh... good question!!!

If you have additional questions about A.L. Paca's Bittersweet Coco, please call us at 315-834-6969 or send me an e-mail.

Last updated: 08/03/06 10:32 AM.