JD's Cappuccino
ILR # 76567
male b. 7-9-90 d. 3-30-2013
Jimmy Doolittle x Lacy Kay Dalton
Cappuccino stood 42" and for years gravitated toward the near-lifelong pudgy 335 lb weight he arrived at. He finally found a reason to keep the weight off (keeping his much younger pasturemates on their toes) and reduced to a much more sane 265 lb.
We spotted Cappuccino when we were helping a dying absentee owner relocate some of her older llamas. Cappuccino’s terrific natural trot and easy, flowing walk got our attention right away. As we spent more time around him, we realized he also had a golden temperament. But we thought we needed another llama — especially another intact male — like we needed holes in our heads! On our third and final trip to the farm, Cappuccino persisted in making sure we knew he also liked us, and that he wanted to join the few lucky llamas already in our trailer ... in the end, he did, and we've never regretted it.
Cappuccino was a limited-use stud for our program largely because he was not genetically pure classic (he had a woolly grandfather) and as a result, his guard hair was longer than is desirable for us and there is a 25% possibility that he’s carrying a recessive nonshedding gene. However, Cappuccino’s excellent gaits are not easy to find in modern llamas, and his slick, non-felting undercoat is also a highly desirable trait, yet not-so-common in the seriously-damaged modern Classic gene pool. Finally, although he had a superior disposition, it was much more important from a breeding standpoint that he inherited this from his immediate female ancestors. After we’d determined his 100%-classic-bloodline mother Lacy wasn’t able to reproduce (due to internal scarring from being pastured with geldings), we were more inclined to use Cappuccino in a few very careful pairings to keep their unique qualities in the gene pool. We have been quite pleased with the disposition, coat, and presence of his first and only offspring, Troubadour, and now are especially happy that we do have Troubadour because Cappuccino was soon no longer able to breed due to severe arthritis that developed following an injury.
Cappuccino really liked visitors. When younger and more aggressive, he used to be the hit of the farm because he would predictably run off all of his pasturemates and then return to mooch scratches and admiration sans competition. In his senior years, we gave him a whole pasture to himself ... and as a result, he got first crack at all those who would dispense scratching.
We didn’t name Cappuccino (nor choose the odd spelling) and presume his color was the inspiration and the common nature of the name in the registry likely accounts for the variant spelling. Regardless, he certainly had pep ... with smoothness!
Meet Cappuccino’s offspring:
2007 male — Lost Creek Troubadour