2018 March GLAA Newsletter

GLAA Nomination Committee
We are pleased to announce that Brook Landeo of Hillsboro Alpacas in Poynette has agreed to be on the election committee.  She is accepting nomination letters and candidate statements at her email address from now to March 15 from current members for the two board seats up for election.  So far, only the incumbents are running for re-election, Kevin Stoer and Christine Rogers.  We will be holding elections in April.   Current members will be receiving candidate statements and ballots within the month via Survey Monkey email ballot.

Seminar Update and Thank You Card
UW Veterinary Students who attended the 2018 GLAA Winter Seminar sent a thank you card to GLAA.  Dr. Norman Evans was our presenter, co-sponsored by Mazuri.  The students received complimentary admittance to the seminar and very much enjoyed the presentation.  This gave them a chance to learn about alpacas.  View the Thank You Card here.

Wisconsin Agricultural Education Center
Many of you may by now may be familiar with the massive new Ag Center being built in Manitowoc County near Newton, WI, along I-43.  It will be called Farm Wisconsin Discovery Center.   GLAA has been in contact with them concerning the inclusion of alpacas.  They created a state-of-the-art facility with a large lecture room, classrooms, displays and much more.  Learn about it on their website.   They have expressed interest in including alpaca-related topics.  They have not, at this point, finalized any information related to costs or the extent of our involvement.  We are staying in close contact with them and, when anything develops, we will let you all know.

AOA Executive
Bud Synhorst, AOA Executive Director, will be attending the Wisconsin Alpaca & Fiber Fest this year.  Bud will be presenting a seminar at the show each day.  He looks forward to meeting everyone.  Please make an effort to introduce yourself and attend one of the presentations.

2018 GLAA Members
We would like to thank all the farms and individuals that support our Great Lakes Alpaca Association.  Without your support, we would not be able to hold the Winter Seminar each year and support the Wisconsin Alpaca & Fiber Fest.  A sincere thank you to our membership as follows:

Business Name Owners
Alpaca & Dexter Cattle RedRose Ranch Mark & Kim Nowacki
Alpaca Pines UC Farm and Fiber Mill Vicky Donley
Alpaca Trails Carrie Papa-Schold
Applewood Lane Alpacas, LLC Darlene Nueske
Blue Ridge Alpaca Ranch, LLC Bill and Brenda Weber
C&M Acres Fiber Mill and Alpacas Christian & Michelle Davies
Double J Farm Jim & Judy Lux
Earthcare Suri Alpacas LLC. Ed and Darlene Geiser
Enchanted Meadows Alpacas Dan & Peggy Emmerich
Fevolden Farm Alpacas Lyall & Becky White, Tom & Ginny Olson, Ray & Joyce White
Fountain Mist Alpacas, LLC Janice & Mike Fountain
Frost Farm Trace and Jean Frost
Greenbriar Farm – MAM Consulting Associates Inc. Margery and Michael A. Morack
Happy Hummers Alpacas Jim & Debby Costas
Herzog Alpacas, LLC Leslie Herzog
Hickory Wind Farm-Alpacas & Fiber Nadine & Steve Beezley
Hillsboro Alpaca Ranch LLC Raul and Brook Landeo
Hums of Faith Suris Jim & Laurie Konyn
iMpress Alpacas William Ward and Michelle Pressler
J4 Alpacas Jim and Jean Morgan
Justorian Alpacas Jerry & Wendy Campbell
Lindago Farms Linda Galow and Keith Orcutt
Lodi Alpacas at Whistling Valley Farm Jan Clingman and Jim Hellenbrand
LondonDairy Alpacas & Alpaca Threads Fiber Studio Kevin Stoer
Lotis Alpacas Paul and Lori Dvorak
Love Me Alpacas Victoria and Evelyn Telesko
Magic Willows Alpacas Becky and Tom McMillan
Mesa Trail Alpacas LLC Anita Kolb, Marcus and Stacey Sildum
Moonstruck Ranch Alpacas  Ruth McNitt
Naked Alpaca Becky Dorn
Oak Lawn Alpacas, LLC Don and Connie Payne
Paca Park Place Kathy Dummer
R K Ranch Ron and Kathy Harelstad
Raspbaerry Hill Alpacas Robert and Barbara Baer
Richnes Alpacas Richard Wildt
RobAsia Alpaca Ranch LLC Rob and Joanna Stephens
Sauk Creek Alpacas Lynne R. Johnson
Silver Creek Alpaca Georgia Meyer
Suri Park Alpacas Kelly Delwiche & Ed Schroeder
Token Creek Alpacas LLC Elden and Ronelle Harms
Whisper Meadows Alpacas Ken and Christine Rogers
Whispering Hill Fiber Farm Christine and David Hillis
Whistling Pines Ranch Chris & Jess Fredericks
Willow Glen Farm Mary Ianni and Tim Kamholz
Windy Meadows Farm Brian and Maureen Wachniak
Unlisted Lynn Lake
Unlisted Carole Van House and Donna Pearre
Unlisted Julie Barnes


GLAA Website
Please remember to take some time to add your farm/business directly to the website.  Go to the GLAA Website Member Directory page and click the Create a Listing button.   Additionally, if you happen to view the Member Farms page and notice that your information is not up-to-date, you must update this information through your OpenHerd account.  Our site pulls the data from there to display on this particular page.  The information on the Store/Shopping page is also pulled from OpenHerd.  Remember, anyone can set up a free OpenHerd account, and if you are also a GLAA member, it will appear automatically on the GLAA website as well.

Facebook Group
For those interested, a Facebook group called Alpaca Dispersal is available for those who are retiring or want to downsize their herds due to health reasons, going out of business, etc.  Must only be for dispersal (you can sell them).  The site is not intended to advertise individual farms.   Prospective clients will contact you privately.

GLAA Silent Auction Donation to WISAFF
This year, GLAA is donating one GLAA Membership valued at $50 and one admittance for two individuals to our GLAA Winter Seminar on Saturday, January 26, 2019.  Value of the seminar admittance is $250 for non-members.  Cheryl Gehly, Senior AOA Fleece Judge, is our presenter next year, and her primary focus will be on uniformity of micron within the context of all other fleece judging criteria.  See Save the Date below!

UPCOMING EVENTS

Halter & Fleece Show Registration is Closing Soon!
Show closes April 1 or earlier once 300 alpacas are registered.

The Wisconsin Alpaca & Fiber Fest is the premiere, non-profit alpaca show in the Upper Midwest.  We are proud to feature a halter show, fleece show and spin-off contests in addition to many fiber-focused vendors.  The show will be held April 28 & 29, 2018.

Peter Kennedy is our Halter & Fleece Judge this year.

Registration for the halter show opened February 1. We have a beautiful, climate-controlled facility just 30 minutes north of Milwaukee at the Washington County fairgrounds.  There is limited stall space in the Pavilion available.   Please see the halter show page on our website for more information.

If you cannot attend the Halter Show, consider sending fiber for the Fleece Show, which opened on February 1.  Entry fees are just $35.  Enter 3 fleeces and get the 4th free.  You can mail in your fleece, and we’ll send it back to you.  We need at least 15 additional entries for a certified fleece show.

Registrations are encouraged from breeders across the country!  Please see the fleece show page for more information.

SAVE THE DATE!
2019 Winter GLAA Seminar – January 26, 2019

Cheryl Gehly is a Senior AOA Fleece Judge, Judge Trainer and Instructor in the United States. She completed the International Alpaca Fleece Judging School in Peru in 2001. Cheryl is co-author of the AOBA judging and training book The Art & Science of Alpaca Judging. She is also co-author of the Suri Network Suri Herd Improvement Program (S.H.I.P.) Classification Form and is a certified classifier, evaluating conformation and fleece characteristics on suri alpacas throughout the United States. With 25 years as a teacher in her background, Cheryl has been an innovator for alpaca judge training since 2003 as chairperson of and liaison to the AOBA/AOA Judge Training and Certification Committee, responsible for establishing clinics for halter, fleece and oral reasons instruction. She is also a member and former chairperson of the AOA Judge Advisory Committee as well as being a judge liaison to the AOA Show Rules Committee. In addition to judging fleece shows throughout the US and in Canada, Cheryl teaches at breeder seminars throughout the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.