By Isle of Wight Observer
West Wight Alpacas had a lot to cheer about as Wellow Hip Hip Hooray won the National Supreme Champion Suri Alpaca title in Telford.
The junior brown Suri female, born last August, was gifted to Rosie, 11, the daughter of farm-owners, Neil and Michelle Payne, and took the top honour at the British Alpaca Society National Show.
Hip Hip Hooray was born on the farm and was one of 600 alpacas at the show. She first won a competitive class against six other brown juniors, then went on to compete against all-age groups of brown female Suris, taking the Overall Brown Championship title.
At the end of the show, all 14 champions from the various colour classes are brought back in for the two judges to decide the best British-bred Suri and the overall Supreme Suri Champion of the show. These awards are generally won by the white or light alpacas and a supreme win by the darker colours is rare.
The four best alpacas were pulled forward for the judges to make their final decision. Both Best of British and the Overall Supreme Champion were awarded to Wellow Hip Hip Hooray.
Neil said: “To say we are delighted would be an understatement! She was actually gifted to our Rosie late last year, so lucky Rosie!
“We have been working hard on our breeding program here for 14 years and, while we have managed to win two supreme championships in fleece, we have never succeeded in halter before now.
“Our breeding programme is clearly going in the right direction. There is no higher award we can receive in the UK so the challenge is going to be staying there.
“Breeding these animals, and then showing them, is a team effort and we were helped over the weekend by our farm managers, Kate Ryan and Laura Jones.”
