ACA Inuagural Show 31/3/12

I headed down to Grafton yesterday for the first ACA show. Dragged all five boys along with me and we did quite well.

Pipsqueak Sterling got a first in the clipped longhair class but no BOB because he was missing his curls/kinks.

Pipsqueak Fortinbras got...
3rd in Fastest Eater
2nd in Best Condtioned
2nd in Rosetted
And Ugliest Pet in Show

Pipsqueak Feather was entered in numerous pet classes and finished with...
3rd in Fastest Eater
3rd in Prettiest Pet
3rd in Rosetted Pet
1st in Fluffiest Pet
And Reserve Pet in Show

Symphonia Laertes went into his pedigree class and won a BOB and BIG.

Pipsqueak Edmund went into his pedigree class and won BOB, BIG, Best Baby in Show and Reserve in Show. As well as an Encouragement Award

Show time!

Clearly when life gets hectic it gets much harder to keep up a blog...

Right now in the next nine days I have a law assessment, a psychology oral assessment, a psychology mid term quiz and a pig show. The pigs have been really great help with the procrastination side of things....

So for the show I have discovered that there will be nearly twenty pet classes and a clipped longhair class in the pedigree section. Sooo... assuming I'm ever sent the entry form this is what I'm thinking...

Symphonia Laertes who will be just three months will go in the black dalmatian pedigree class and the senior handler.

Pipsqueak Sterling who will be ten months will go in the clipped long class and maybe the senior handler.

Pipsqueak Edmund will be just on five months and will go in the texel class and the senior handler.

Pipsuqeak Fortinbras who will be five months will go into as many pet classes as I possibly can enter him in.

Pipsqueak Feather who will be eight months (only two days off of nine months LOl) will go in every pet class I can stick him in.

So I've been slowly getting everyone ready. Eddie and I had a major disagreement over his wraps resulting in a small chunk of two inch hair but he seems to have settled into the new wraps which are looser and set much lower. So he's never going to win a show but I can still show him. At first he was rolling every time I tried to stick a wrapper in and screaming his head off, but he's gone back to his usual placid self now.

La-La continues being a miracle pig and laid down and purred while I stripped his guard hairs. Now every night while we watch TV I get him out and slowly tweezer him so his spots are pretty and clear. Hopefully he'll be all pretty in time for the show.

Sterling is learning what a comb is. I can't say he's fond of it but oh well. I'm neatened up his hairdo and he looks rather gorgeous if I do say so myself.

The sheebies have been washed again. I suddenly remembered using detergent on a DEW I used to own so I tried it on the shebas and it worked wonders. I then followed it with their whitening shampoo and they look utterly gorgeous.

So everyone will be washed on Friday so they are as pretty as possible for the show, and nails clipped etc. I'm really looking forward to it though. I do so love piggy shows. Hopefully this time I'll remeber my camera so I can snap some pics!

Just a Quickie....

Juts a quick update for the time being as life remains as hectic as ever.

Edmund had a slight mishap and had a go at one of his wraps. There's a few short pieces of hair now but the rest of his coat is intact. I'm not particularly fussed. I don't expect Eddie to be a great or even good show pig. In someone else's hands he probably could be but he's my first long, so we're still feeling our way. But as long as the majority of his coat is still in tact I'll keep showing him for as long as possible.

Speaking of shows I'm planning to attend the ACA's inaugural show which should be the first or second week of April (I hope, I'm not sure if the dates have been confirmed yet), I'll be taking Feather, Fortinbras, Edmund, Laertes and Sterling as well as Rosie if she's qualified (she won't be three months till the 44th). Then I'll be at the Gosford show in the first weekend if May, I'm planning on taking Edmund, Laertes, Rosie and Sterling. Then the June QBS show which will be Edmund and Laertes and two pets again. I'm considering on attending the July NRCS show as well, but need to convince my mother she absolutely wants to do a ten hour round trip with me (LOL).

So in order to facilitate this I've been building a new carrier. It looks a bit Tim Burtonish wonky, but it is sound and just needs a paint and the hardware attached.

Soooo lots of shows planned.

In other news I'm 'fairly' sure that Ebbie was caught on the 24th of Feb, which means babies should be expected by the 5th of May. Since she's still a plump little miss she's spending 5-8 hours on the animal room floor every day to keep her moving and it does seem to be having an effect. Sterling, Feather and Fortinbras are also all fattening up nicely. Rosie and La-La are as plump as can be as well.

I'm still thinking I want to breed a litter from La-La later on as well, so I think in June I'll speak to a black/black roan breeder I greatly admire about purchasing a lil self black sow from her to purchase with La-La. Because hey if I don't get dallies I'll still get amazing self blacks.

Well that's about it, back to the grindstone of law school.

Well it's been a while since I posted. University is in full swing and I'm spending fifty hours a week just on the readings. I'm still also dealing with chronic migraines Add to that I won't be able to get to a show until May and the pigs have fallen a bit by the wayside. But I figured I'd give an update on how they're all doing.

Eddie is at fat as ever and his wraps are holding really well now there's four inches of coat on him. I'm finding the wraps only need to be done every few days as needed which both Eddie and I are appreciating. Ebbie is on the wrong side of obese. I keep reminding her that at best she's nine days pregnant and isn't allowed to be fat yet, but she's not listening. Seriously though she was on heat on the 24th and I'm fairly certain that Sterling did the deed. If not she'll come back into heat between the 7th and the 13th of this month, or she may anyway if she has a false cycle or one uterine horn is empty. Her heftiness is worrying me as I really really don;t want to court toxemia so she's spending 4-5 hours everyday on the floor of the animal room running around. She absolutely loves the space and runs and popcorns for hours so I'm confident she'll at least be able to avoid toxeamia if I keep this up through the pregnancy. Sterling on the other hand is still very light on, so while Ebbie is on the floor Sterling gets a bowl of lupins, formula 3 and oats to munch on in the hopes it'll help boost his weight. Sterling's such a character though, I've totally fallen in love with him.

La-La spends his life in a cozie emerging occasionally to eat and also to popcorn madly at dawn and dusk. Otherwise his life is quite sedate and he completes ignores Eddies heckling from next door. His lifestyle means he's rapidly gaining weight and he'll clearly be one of those enormous hefty boars you see on the show table. There's definite advantages to having self blacks in your heritage. Rosie also is rather fat though clearly very very bored with the solitary life. As soon as I'm certain Ebbies preggers she'll move in with her which should help liven her up a bit. The sheba boys as always are as happy as larry living in their own little sheba worlds. They are still total grots and the search for a true whitening conditioner continues but they are happy and healthy. A bit light on still but I'm fairly sure thats just because they are incredibly active animals. They don't sit and contemplate their pellets like La-La does.

Goals

Blogging seems a far more intersting option then my psychology homework so I thought I'd share my goals for my seven babies.

I'm sure anyone who actually does stumble across this blog assumes I'm over sharing, but this blog is for me more then anything. It gives me an almost day to day record of the cavies. If (god forbid) I should ever have a disaster like last time I'll be able to review this blog and likely find the trigger point.

So my goals for the babies.

Pipsqueak Ebony Charm - With Ebbie I mainly want her to be happy and healthy. I'm hoping to breed two litters from her this year, one by Sterling and one by Edmund. After that she'll be retired and allowed to live out her days in peace as a nanny pig for any other pregnant females. I'm also looking at building a large aviary for retired sows next year so if that does happen she'll get to spend the rest of her life in the lap of luxury.

Pipsqueak Edmund - For Eddie my main goal is to keep him in coat. Depending on shows I'd like to show him until August or so, or maybe a touch longer before trimming him off and breeding him to Ebbie.

Pipsqueak Sterling - Right now I want him fat and healthy. He's still very very skinny, at only 760g at eight months old. He'll only be bred once this year but I will probably breed him back to Ebony and Eddies offspring next year.

Pipsqueak Feather - Like Sterling I just want him to be nice and fat and healthy. At seven months old he's 900g, so I'm hoping that he'll keep putting on weight till he reaches 1200g or so. He'll also be joining my show team soon as a pig for members pets. I've always loved showing in the pet classes and between him and Rosie I'll have a boar and a sow for the classes. But like I said I'd like him a bit plumper before he starts travelling. One day I may also breed a single litter of shebas from this boy but I'm not sure yet. I don't know enough about the sheba standard yet to tell whether he is a good specimen or not.


Pipsqueak Fortinbras - This boys beginning to get a bit plumper now, he's just turned four months and is 650g. So he's finally catching up to Eddie. His dropped shoulder coat is also growing back in so day by day he's steadily moving away from bugg ugly. If he does regrow magnificent plumage I think I'll start showing him at the one day shows. These are the shows at places like Grafton, Coffs Harbour and Armidale that I can do in a single day, rather then having to travel there the day before.

Symphonia Laertes - I am so in love with this pig. He's absolutely gorgeous. He's also quite plump already at 450g at just eight weeks old. Mainly I want to learn how to correctly groom this boy. It looks like it'll be quite a challenge. Depending on how he goes at shows over the next year and the judges opinion of him I may found him a little black sow. But since I don't want to pursue dalmatians as such I'd only do this if he really was an exceptional example of his breed. If not he'll just remain part of my show team until he's four years old or so before being retired with a nice baby boy companion. My other issue is his personality. On the whole dallies are temperamental skittish creatures who hate being handled and would as soon as bite as cuddle. I'm hoping with daily handling in his youth La-La won't end up like that.

Symphonia Rosaline - This girl is adorable but I don't have any goals for her as such. As long as she stays happy and plump and is nice to other sows she'll be perfect. I mainly want her to be a gentle companion for sows. As an adult hopefully she'll also be able to teach baby sows their manners.

Pigtures!

It's Picture Time!

Pipsqueak Sterling my new breeding boar with lineage back to Pipsqueak Tickety Boo... He has these lovely grey irises as well that I haven't seen before. You can see them quite well in the third image actually.

Then we have Symphonia Laertes. Michele twisted my arm and insisted I should take him. I had been looking for a show-able shorthair of some description so I had something to do while waiting for the longhair classes. Hadn't really planned on a dally but hey. He's a real sooky boy, probably no show-stopper but it'll be fun to show him regardless. I believe he comes from Bumbora lines, I haven't received his pedigree yet.

And my third purchase Symphonia Rosaline. She'll make a nice pet for the members pet classes and she looks like she has the makings of a very sooky sweet adult.

Since they insisted on being photographed too a few of my other babies.

Pipsqueak Ebony Charm my breeding sow, who absolutely refused to be photogenic.

Pipsqueak Feather who is totally and absolutely photogenic.

And Pipsqueak Fortinbras who's dropped shoulder coat is slowly growing back in giving him an interesting mohawk.

Home again.

After four extremely exhausting days I've made it home again. The driving was interesting, I went through three thunderstorms on the way down which triggered the mother of all migraines. I may need to rethink attending the summer show next year.

However Eddie did make it to the table. He didn't place however the judge (Maria Amos) said that he was a good effort for a beginner but his coat was a tad short for his size. He is a massive three month old so hopefully that will all even out over time. The baby texel that beat him went on to win best baby in show so the best pig on the day won and I'm very pleased that I got Eddie to the table and was told he wasn't a total disaster. I wish I could have stayed at the show longer but as I tabled Eddie this huge thunderstorm was brewing and I wanted to get out of there before the hail hit and the dirt parking lot turned to slush. I only just made it.

Anyways I also came back with some lovely little treasures.

Symphonia Rosaline is a darling little pet rex. She's a DEW with smutty ears and nose. I'm hoping she'll get some of the lovely dark ticking/shading as she grows. She's only four weeks old at the moment but she should make a great cage mate for pregnant sows and provide Ebbie with company.

I also collected Pipsqueak Sterling, he's quite skinny after spending time with other sows but I'm sure after plenty of grain and grass and Ebbie's tender care he'll polish up well. He has amazing lines and I'm looking forward to the babies he and Ebbie produce.

Finally I bought Symphonia Laertes. I actually didn't even notice him in the sale cages but another marked breeder found him and insisted I buy him. He's a show quality black dalmatian, and is honestly stunning, His only fault is a slight cheek drag. It'll be lovely to have a shorthair to show as well as the start of the show as well as the longs at the end. I have of intention of breeding dallies, but if he does well I can always lend him to someone to further their lines if needed.

After several intense days of driving I'm now exhausted so photos will come later.