Maska is a 100-acre alpaca farm that that overlooks the Shefford
and Yamaska mountains and is in close proximity to the Yamaska
river and park. Located in the Eastern-Townships of Québec,
famous for its beautiful mountains and maple trees, Maska
strives to make this unique region famous for its alpacas
as well. The name ‘Yamaska’ comes from the Abenakis
Indians meaning ‘where the tall grass grows.’
Maska’s objective is to have healthy alpacas that are
solid colored with dense and soft-handling fleece that have
excellent body conformation and are recognized as such throughout
North America. Maska is achieving this goal since ALL of its
dual ARI and CLAA registered crias have won ribbons including
First Place, Reserve Champion, and Get of Sire at various
alpaca shows.
Maska Dynamo: Reserve Color Champion
at only 10 months old
To continue with its breeding excellence Maska has acquired
in April 2007 a superb full Peruvian macho Aztec Outback ---called
Big-Boy on the farm—that has an outstanding pedigree
(Hemingway and Drambuie) with both sire and dam being Grand
Champions. Big-Boy is exceptionally strong—he stands
straight up on his hind legs and walks tall with such ease—is
big boned, has a perfect bite, a regal look and still retains
a super fine fleece with lack of guard hair at eight years
old. Maska’s Big-Boy coupled with the already proven
excellent Maska hembras is certain to produce award winning
crias.
Our 'Big Boy' (Aztec Outback), as expected, proved that he
is a top quality sire by having his crias do exceptionally
well in the 2009 Alpaca Ontario Show held last April 18 and
19, 2009. More than 78 farms from all over Canada with over
330 alpacas makes the Alpaca Ontario Show not only the largest
but the most pan-Canadian alpaca show in Canada.
All of Big Boy's crias did very well including a Reserve Color
Champion at only 10 months old for Maska Dynamo.
But Big Boy did even better. He won the most prestigious prize called
'Get of Sire.' By doing so Big Boy allowed a Quebec alpaca farm
to win in this category for the very first time. As stated by both
judges Sara Jane MacLennan (Colorado) and Lisa A. Shimeld (California),
"This award is very prestigious since it reflects the excellence
of the breeding program of a farm."
In this category, to evaluate the quality of a breeding program,
a farm must present three offspring obtained from at least two different
females all sired by the same male. Hence the term 'Get of Sire'.
Fifty-seven alpacas from nineteen superb machos were registered
in this category so important to Canadian alpaca breeders willing
to prove their breeding program.
To win this prize, MASKA presented three of its superb crias from
three different dams all sired by 'BIG-BOY' (Aztec Outback). MASKA
Dynamo, MASKA Duc and MASKA Duchesse proved that 'BIG-BOY' is a
top quality sire.
Why did Big Boy do so well?
1- Let's look at his pedigree:
a. He is a grandson of no other than Peruvian
Hemingway (paternal lineage).
b. But wait, he is also the grandson of
Peruvian Drambuie (maternal lineage).
c. Both his sire (Aztec Avalanche) and dam
(Snowmass Angel) have won supreme championships.
2- Let's look at what this pedigree gives:
a. Big boned and muscular, a regal stature
and yet a perfect conformation. That's why we call him Big Boy.
b. He has superfine fibre that still persists
at 8 years old
c. He has density. With such fineness he
gives 10 pounds of fibre.
d. He gives crias that are uni-colored as
per the Hemingway/Drambuie Legacy
(i.e. no multi-colored/pintos
or appalachios).
e. He has a perfect bite. He never, ever
had to have his front teeth cut or corrected.
f. His toe nails are full and straight with
a slight cut required once a year.
g. From his grand sire Drambuie (a beautiful
uniform caramel color) he gives solid colored crias
with remarkable
fineness, density and crimp.
We welcome visitors to our farm whether it’s to look at our
breeding stock or just to see these gentle and intelligent creatures
for the first time. If you are starting out, or if you want to enhance
your current breeding program, contact Maska for top quality alpacas
at fair prices and total customer support (from husbandry to shearing,
skirting and fiber products).
Maska does not just say it has top quality alpacas by mentioning
pedigrees (although we could) or by stating ancient prize winnings
(in the alpaca world, 4 years or more is ancient) where there were
fewer participants and the quality was far from what it is today.
Maska proves that is has true quality by participating, and winning,
in recent highly competitive alpaca shows.
To our customers we offer the following:
free stay on the farm for hands-on experience
husbandry know-how
veterinary basics
farm design and set-up
handling and halter training
how to go from fleece to produce
0% financing
Whether you board your alpacas at Maska or take them home
we provide
you with continuous support.
We look forward to answering your e-mails and meeting you
in person.
For more information about alpacas and their origins, visit
Wikipedia.
