Thistledown Alpacas - Latest Crias

We are proud to present our latest crias. They are all Thistledown originals, bred, owned and named after our farm. The offspring from our outside breedings ensure continued genetic diversity in our breeding program. Take a look at our Coming Soon! page, to see the crias we are looking forward to meeting soon!

Thistledown's Meliora Cairngorm

This outrageously dense and crimpy black daughter of brown halter Champion, Holly Hawk, and silver grey Champion, Ben MacDhui, arrived on May 20th, 2008. Meliora is the second black daughter Dhui has produced for us this Spring! Her name is derived from the Latin "melior", meaning "better", and is also a name strongly associated with Cornwall, where there is a church named after St. Meliorius. This little lady is a bright and playful character, who looks to have excellent conformation and coverage and a fleece so dense she had to have a complete body shearing less than a week after she was born. Her Champion parents are two of our most densely-fibered alpacas, and we expect Meliora to remain in our foundation herd.
Awards: Too young to show until Spring 2009. Retained for breeding program.

Learn more about Meliora

Thistledown's Kieran Knightrider

On May 16th, 2008, Caterina delivered this 3/4 Peruvian, 1/4 Accoyo male, with a solid black blanket, a white head and knee length socks, plus black shoes on all four feet. Caterina is the MAPACA fleece Champion half Accoyo granddaughter of Accoyo Camilio and Victor's VAccoyo, and even at 5 years of age, she has fiber with handle to die for - last year her fiber still felt as good as many of our award-winning yearlings. Kieran's Champion sire, Knightrider, is the full Peruvian son of Black Ice and a black dam from the 6th Peruvian importation. Shown here being welcomed into the herd on his birthday by his half-siblings, Lexi and Shaun, Kieran has dense, crimpy, bright black fiber that feels like spun silk. His name is derived from both Cair, Welsh for "dark", and Ciaran, Irish for "dark", "black".
Awards: Too young to show until Spring 2009.

Learn more about Kieran

Thistledown's Nerys Cairngorm

Born on May 1st, 2008, Nerys is the healthy 19lb solid black granddaughter of Accoyo Yupanqui (white), and multiple Champion silver grey, Request the Best. Her dam, Bronwen is the half Accoyo daughter of two full Peruvian whites, who showed as a white at MAPACA. Bronwen was bred with our silver grey Champion, Ben MacDhui in the hope of producing color. Their black daughter, Nerys, feels very fine and dense, with a silky soft handle, and very consistent coloring. She does not appear to have any white spots anywhere on her body and is growing like a weed! Her name is Welsh for "Lady" and Cairngorm represents her sire, MacDhui, named after the tallest mountain in the Cairngorm mountain range in Scotland.
Awards: Too young to show until Spring 2009. Retained for breeding program.

Learn more about Nerys

Thistledown's Octavius Knightrider

Octavius arrived on New Year's Day, 2008, hence the name, which is Latin for "eighth". This maroon, recessive black, 15/16 Peruvian male is the genetically blessed son of two colored, Champion parents. Weighing nearly 23lbs at birth, and standing as tall as our month old crias on the day he arrived, this youngster was racing neck and neck with the rest of the gang at only one week of age. His maroon fiber is so glossy it looks and feels wet - wonderful handle, uniformity and crimp already, and we expect him to exhibit the same excellent density of both of his parents, together with their outstanding conformation, carriage and coverage. Yes, we are repeating this breeding; and sorry, he is not for sale, although we might consider selling a part interest in Octavius to another breeder with a similar business philosophy and breeding goals.
Awards: Too young to show until Fall 2008. 1/2 interest may be available for sale!

Learn more about Octavius

Thistledown's Shaun Knightrider

Shaun is the full Peruvian fawn / recessive black son of Goldie, a white female whose fleece placed second at the AOBA Nationals, and our Champion true black herdsire, Peruvian Knightrider. Shaun has soft-handled, crimpy fiber and the most beautiful face. Both his parents have excellent conformation and coverage and with a black sire and two black grandparents he has potential to produce black and grey offspring. His award-winning maternal half-brother Magnus and his maroon paternal half-brother, Octavius, will remain in our herd, which is why Shaun and his dam Goldie are currently available for sale.
Awards: Too young to show until Fall 2008. Sold!

Learn more about Shaun

Thistledown's Boadicca Nikos

This jet black daughter of our 3X Champion dark silver grey male Nikos, and a multiple award-winning true black dam, is named after Boadicca, the Celtic warrior Queen who defeated the Romans in Britain, and whose name means victory. Boadicca is exactly what we are breeding for in black - solid, non-fading and true. She is so black it is difficult to make out any features on her at all! Her fiber is dense and curly with handle like velvet. Her dam is Lakisha, daughter of the 5X Champion brown male, CPeruvian LB Remington. Lakisha has beautiful, square, heavy-boned conformation and excellent fiber density - her show-skirted, juvenile blanket had an annualized shearing weight of over 4lbs. Boadicca's sire is our half-Accoyo grey male, Nikos, whose 30 month shearing was awarded 20/20 points for fineness and hand by Diana Timmerman when he won Reserve Champion grey fleece at MAPACA 2006. A grandson of Accoyo Felix and Accoyo Yupanqui, Nikos also won the halter Championship out of 33 grey males at the 2005 Virginia Classic, a blue ribbon in halter at MAPACA 2005 under Julio Sumar, and Best Multi/Grey fiber in show at the huge OABA Spinoff. He holds fineness over time and offers excellent quality in colored fiber.
Awards: Too young to show until Fall 2008. Retained for breeding program.

Learn more about Boadicca

Thistledown's Alexia Knightrider

Alexia is the fawn / recessive black daughter of our 4X blue ribbon-winning pinto Aurora, and our Champion true black herdsire, Peruvian Knightrider. Her full sister, Agnes, is a pinto like their dam, but Alexia appears to be solid fawn. From a genetic perspective, breeding a white spot with a solid should produce a solid offspring 50% of the time, and a white spot offspring 50% of the time, so these results conform with that theory of color inheritance. Alexia has soft-handled, crimpy fiber and the most beautiful face. Both her parents have excellent conformation and coverage and with two black grandparents, one grey and one white, Alexia should be a good choice to produce black and grey offspring. We are considering keeping her in our breeding program as a replacement for her dam, Aurora, who is currently available for sale.
Awards: Too young to show until Fall 2008. Sold!

Learn more about Alexia

Thistledown's Cedrych Tundra

Cedrych (pronounced ked-rick) is the first-born son of our full Peruvian, award-winning white male Tundra. Cedrych is a full Peruvian fawn and white pinto male, with some of the best fiber we have seen on any cria born on our farm in the last 7 years. His fiber is dense, bright, soft and thick with crimp - you can barely find his skin - and full Peruvian patterns are about as rare as hen's teeth! His dam is a solid full Peruvian maroon, and Cedrych has dark markings around his eyes, so has potential to produce solid colored offspring. The name Cedrych is welsh for "bounty" (ced) and "pattern" (drych), and he really is "all that". Look for this one in the showring next year.
Awards: Too young to show until Fall 2008. Retained for breeding program.

Learn more about Cedrych

Thistledown's Meliora Cairngorm

	This outrageously dense and crimpy black daughter of brown halter Champion, Holly Hawk, and silver grey Champion, Ben MacDhui, arrived on May 20th, 2008. Meliora is the second black daughter Dhui has produced for us this Spring! Her name is derived from the Latin "melior", meaning "better", and is also a name strongly associated with Cornwall, where there is a church named after St. Meliorius. This little lady is a bright and playful character, who looks to have excellent conformation and coverage and a fleece so dense she had to have a complete body shearing less than a week after she was born. Her Champion parents are two of our most densely-fibered alpacas, and we expect Meliora to remain in our foundation herd. Awards: Too young to show until Spring 2009. Retained for breeding program.
Learn more about Meliora

Thistledown's Kieran Knightrider

	On May 16th, 2008, Caterina delivered this 3/4 Peruvian, 1/4 Accoyo male, with a solid black blanket, a white head and knee length socks, plus black shoes on all four feet. Caterina is the MAPACA fleece Champion half Accoyo granddaughter of Accoyo Camilio and Victor's VAccoyo, and even at 5 years of age, she has fiber with handle to die for - last year her fiber still felt as good as many of our award-winning yearlings. Kieran's Champion sire, Knightrider, is the full Peruvian son of Black Ice and a black dam from the 6th Peruvian importation. Shown here being welcomed into the herd on his birthday by his half-siblings, Lexi and Shaun, Kieran has dense, crimpy, bright black fiber that feels like spun silk. His name is derived from both Cair, Welsh for "dark", and Ciaran, Irish for "dark", "black". Awards: Too young to show until Spring 2009.
Learn more about Kieran

Thistledown's Nerys Cairngorm

	Born on May 1st, 2008, Nerys is the healthy 19lb solid black granddaughter of Accoyo Yupanqui (white), and multiple Champion silver grey, Request the Best. Her dam, Bronwen is the half Accoyo daughter of two full Peruvian whites, who showed as a white at MAPACA. Bronwen was bred with our silver grey Champion, Ben MacDhui in the hope of producing color. Their black daughter, Nerys, feels very fine and dense, with a silky soft handle, and very consistent coloring. She does not appear to have any white spots anywhere on her body and is growing like a weed! Her name is Welsh for "Lady" and Cairngorm represents her sire, MacDhui, named after the tallest mountain in the Cairngorm mountain range in Scotland. Awards: Too young to show until Spring 2009. Retained for breeding program.
Learn more about Nerys

Thistledown's Octavius Knightrider

	Octavius arrived on New Year's Day, 2008, hence the name, which is Latin for "eighth". This maroon, recessive black, 15/16 Peruvian male is the genetically blessed son of two colored, Champion parents. Weighing nearly 23lbs at birth, and standing as tall as our month old crias on the day he arrived, this youngster was racing neck and neck with the rest of the gang at only one week of age. His maroon fiber is so glossy it looks and feels wet - wonderful handle, uniformity and crimp already, and we expect him to exhibit the same excellent density of both of his parents, together with their outstanding conformation, carriage and coverage. Yes, we are repeating this breeding; and sorry, he is not for sale, although we might consider selling a part interest in Octavius to another breeder with a similar business philosophy and breeding goals. Awards: Too young to show until Fall 2008. 1/2 interest may be available for sale!
Learn more about Octavius

Thistledown's Shaun Knightrider

	Shaun is the full Peruvian fawn / recessive black son of Goldie, a white female whose fleece placed second at the AOBA Nationals, and our Champion true black herdsire, Peruvian Knightrider. Shaun has soft-handled, crimpy fiber and the most beautiful face. Both his parents have excellent conformation and coverage and with a black sire and two black grandparents he has potential to produce black and grey offspring. His award-winning maternal half-brother Magnus and his maroon paternal half-brother, Octavius, will remain in our herd, which is why Shaun and his dam Goldie are currently available for sale. Awards: Too young to show until Fall 2008. Sold!
Learn more about Shaun

Thistledown's Boadicca Nikos

	This jet black daughter of our 3X Champion dark silver grey male Nikos, and a multiple award-winning true black dam, is named after Boadicca, the Celtic warrior Queen who defeated the Romans in Britain, and whose name means victory. Boadicca is exactly what we are breeding for in black - solid, non-fading and true. She is so black it is difficult to make out any features on her at all! Her fiber is dense and curly with handle like velvet. Her dam is Lakisha, daughter of the 5X Champion brown male, CPeruvian LB Remington. Lakisha has beautiful, square, heavy-boned conformation and excellent fiber density - her show-skirted, juvenile blanket had an annualized shearing weight of over 4lbs. Boadicca's sire is our half-Accoyo grey male, Nikos, whose 30 month shearing was awarded 20/20 points for fineness and hand by Diana Timmerman when he won Reserve Champion grey fleece at MAPACA 2006. A grandson of Accoyo Felix and Accoyo Yupanqui, Nikos also won the halter Championship out of 33 grey males at the 2005 Virginia Classic, a blue ribbon in halter at MAPACA 2005 under Julio Sumar, and Best Multi/Grey fiber in show at the huge OABA Spinoff. He holds fineness over time and offers excellent quality in colored fiber. Awards: Too young to show until Fall 2008. Retained for breeding program.
Learn more about Boadicca

Thistledown's Alexia Knightrider

	Alexia is the fawn / recessive black daughter of our 4X blue ribbon-winning pinto Aurora, and our Champion true black herdsire, Peruvian Knightrider. Her full sister, Agnes, is a pinto like their dam, but Alexia appears to be solid fawn. From a genetic perspective, breeding a white spot with a solid should produce a solid offspring 50% of the time, and a white spot offspring 50% of the time, so these results conform with that theory of color inheritance. Alexia has soft-handled, crimpy fiber and the most beautiful face. Both her parents have excellent conformation and coverage and with two black grandparents, one grey and one white, Alexia should be a good choice to produce black and grey offspring. We are considering keeping her in our breeding program as a replacement for her dam, Aurora, who is currently available for sale. Awards: Too young to show until Fall 2008. Sold!
Learn more about Alexia

Thistledown's Cedrych Tundra

	Cedrych (pronounced ked-rick) is the first-born son of our full Peruvian, award-winning white male Tundra. Cedrych is a full Peruvian fawn and white pinto male, with some of the best fiber we have seen on any cria born on our farm in the last 7 years. His fiber is dense, bright, soft and thick with crimp - you can barely find his skin - and full Peruvian patterns are about as rare as hen's teeth! His dam is a solid full Peruvian maroon, and Cedrych has dark markings around his eyes, so has potential to produce solid colored offspring. The name Cedrych is welsh for "bounty" (ced) and "pattern" (drych), and he really is "all that". Look for this one in the showring next year. Awards: Too young to show until Fall 2008. Retained for breeding program.
Learn more about Cedrych