Michelle Parker of Bateau Bay couldn’t be prouder of her guinea pigs – they have proven to be the best there are, taking out a swag of prizes at the Sydney Royal Easter Show, including top billing as Best in Show.
Colour Me Crimson Calypso is the toast of her cavy herd and was the Self Black who was runner-up in one show and then Best in Show in the second show of the overall judging of the cavies (scientific name for guinea pigs).
“Last year she was runner-up at the Royal as a baby, so this year she’s gone one better,” Parker said.
“I took 17 cavies to the show this year, quite a large entry, a lot of grooming and a lot of preparation but it paid off.
“I exhibited in five of the seven different groups and in one show I had four finalists, in the other show I won all five of the groups as well as Best of Breed in all but one of my breeds.
“It was a fantastic show and I just couldn’t be happier with my result and then to go on and win runner-up and Best in Show was just the icing on the cake.”
She’s no stranger to the winner’s circle having had great success at the Sydney Royal Easter Show in recent years with seven Best in Show wins and two runners-up over the past five years.
“Each guinea pig is judged on its own individual breed standards such as what colour they should be, their markings; they need to have a nice roman nose, a nice round short face, they need to have large drooping ears – what we call rose petal ears – and they need to have big round healthy looking eyes,” Parker said.
It takes almost two hours to groom each cavy for showing; trimming their nails, combing out the long coarse hairs from their coat so it’s soft and short, and then they are bathed and finished off with a blow dry.
Parker is President of NSW Cavy Club which will be holding an exhibition show on Sunday, April 23, at the Central Coast Regional Show at Gosford Showground.
On July 30, the public can go along and enter their pet cavies in a club show at at Wyee Hall.
“There’ll be lots of different prizes and a great opportunity to become part of the cavy community who love guinea pigs as much as they do,” Parker said.
“Guinea pigs make great pets, they’ve got great personalities, relatively easy to look after, don’t require a lot of space and as a whole they’re a low maintenance animal – just a joy to have.
“I got my first guinea pig when I was a teenager and found out about the guinea pig club and the shows they held, so I went along and discovered the amazing world of all the pure bred guinea pigs.
“I convinced my parents to get me a couple of pure breds I could show and the rest, as they say, is history.”
More information about the Cavy Club and its events is available on its Facebook page.
Sue Murray