Some focus on pedigree and show winnings.  Apocalypse is a national champion with a hall of fame pedigree. His elite genetics are built on the foundation of 3/4 Accoyo and 1/4 Hemingway pedigree. His sire, Nautilus, is reported by many to be Hemingway's most outstanding son. Meanwhile, Nautilus' dam Sicuani, was rated a perfect 10 during the 1998 importation, and had an extremely consistent fleece with a CV of just 10.4%. He's also a grandson of Vengador, the son of Shere Khan, Julio Barreda's most famous herd sire known as the most "perfect alpaca" ever bred. Not just the best genetics, but the best of the best.

Some focus on histograms.  Apocalypse had a 15.2 micron fleece in year 1, and only a 21.5 micron fleece in year 8.  In 2018 at 15 years of age, Apocalypse had a 22.5 AFD. That's the kind of lingering fineness everyone should be breeding for.

Some focus on progeny testing.  Apocalypse is not only a multiple champion, but he has sired champion offspring.  He has over 70 offspring, with an average AFD of 19.5 at 6 years.  A couple years ago, Apocalypse offspring made up 25% of the top 100 male and female EPDs sorted by AFD and AFW. Last year, 4 Apocalypse sons ranked in the top 50 EPD Huacaya males for fineness.

Livestock Breeding Experts Recommend EPDs:  Experts will tell you that when breeding for genetic improvement, there are 4 factors that influence your results:

1. Selection Intensity: How "picky" you are in selecting breeding animals?
2. Generation Interval: How quickly do we put in young, superior individuals?
3. Genetic Variation: How much variability is in the population?
4. Accuracy of Selection: How good are we at selecting the animals with best genetics?

Points #1 and #4 are best identified through study of EPDs that evaluate genetics in ancestors, siblings, and offspring while statistically eliminating the environmental factors. Apocalypse is in the top 2% for fineness, spin fineness, and curvature.  He's in the top 3% for %>30, top 4% for standard deviation, and top 7% for FW (which is awesome given his top ranking AFD).  While individual traits are important, we breed for a combination of traits. Apocalypse is one of the TOP 10 males, East of the Mississippi, for fineness and density (based on 2015 EPDs - top 150 AFD sorted by AFW).

As breeders, we're not just focused on fineness, but fineness with staple and density (measured by higher fleece weights at lower micron).  This is where Apocalypse sets himself apart as one of the top 10 EPD ranked herdsires East of the Mississippi.

Apocalypse Pedigree Description (family tree listed sire-first, oldest to most recent):

PERUVIAN HEMINGWAY G171 - (paternal grandsire)
Herdsire with greatest impact on American Alpaca Herds (and top EPDs today).
PPERUVIAN VENGADOR G4568 - (maternal grandsire)
Only U.S. son of Shere Khan (Accoyo's World Famous IDEAL Herdsire).
PCA HEMINGWAY-ACCOYO NAUTILUS - (sire)
Considered by many to be Hemingway's greatest son.
6PERUVIAN ACCOYO SICUANI 6410IMPR98 - (paternal granddam)
rated perfect 10 at import - won many fleece shows - very consistent
PPPERUVIAN PUCARA 4653 - (maternal granddam)
1/2 of offspring were Futurity Champion or National Champion
VENGADOR'S ACCOYO NIRVANA - (dam)
5 of 12 offspring were champions (4 national champions)