Symphony's Wind Rhythm

Meet Windy!!! The older sister to Symphony's Melody Mist and another beautiful Sandusky offspring. Windy and Melody share the same phenotypic traits -- good bone and extreme coverage with sound conformations -- making their relation unmistakable. Both have been great foundation females, furthering our goal and focus of breeding for gray.

Windy was Sandusky's 4th female and first rose-grey. She exemplifies Sandusky's ability to produce consistent offspring from dams of any color. Windy's primary blanket color is medium fawn, with a cape of gray wrapping her neck and hints of gray throughout her primary blanket fleece. She boasts extreme density and luster throughout her fleece, even at age 16. Windy placed first in the dark fawn juvenile female class at GWAS in 2007, under Amanda Vandenbosch. Windy has beautiful lock, luster, density and coverage. At 12 months, she had a micron of 21.5 (SD 5.9, %>30 8.1).

Windy has a large presence, physically she has a large frame for a female -- comfortably over 165 pounds not bred -- coupled with an unmistakable voice, it's hard to overlook this female. It's been quite a ride with Windy over the years -- from stitches on her 15th birthday to a bout with pneumonia this past winter -- she's had more than her fair share of health challenges and setbacks over the years, but time and time again she has beat the odds. Windy prolapsed after delivering a healthy, large cria over 13 years ago. The vet who treated her was not optimistic that she would survive, as she had quit eating due to stress, and was certain she would never have another cria. We force-fed Windy, syringing a blended mixture of timothy grass with added nutrients and water down her, until her appetite returned. Our desire was to have a healthy Windy more than any other offspring, so we were content not to breed her, but we are happy to report Windy indeed survived AND welcomed another cria in 2020. Despite her previous prolapse, Windy did not have any uterine issues in 2020. Rustin, sired by Paris' Princeton, is tall and stretchy like his dam, with dense and curly fleece that he carries with a beautiful drape. He has great bone for a herdsire and even has random splashes of gray throughout his blanket, just like his dam.

In 2022, we lost Windy's daughter, Mckenna, to GI cancer. We treated McKenna for four months to no avail, only to learn after a necropsy what we were dealing with. During the course of treatment, McKenna and Windy shared a stall in our cria barn. McKenna, days away from her 13th birthday, was still a cria in Windy's eyes. Windy clucked to her and was quite protective, clearly recognizing her daughter did not feel well. Their shared experience is just another testament to the intelligence alpacas possess.

Windy is the great-grand-dam to two of our rising gray junior herdsires, Molly's California Crew and Nobles' Gray Dancer, and a great companion and babysitter for the youngest members of the herd.