ILR BOARD MINUTES

ILR Board of Directors Conference
June 16, 2004
8:30 AM MDT

The annual meeting for the International Lama Association convened at 8:30 AM, MDT and opened by ILR Registrar, Jan Wassink. The attendees introduced themselves and gave a short history of their involvement with llamas. The ILR BOD was very pleased to have the attendance of eleven ILR members at this year’s annual meeting. There were members from as far away as Vermont and .

Jan Wassink explained the focus group concept. Jan made the proposal for the creation of focus groups to the ILR BOD earlier in the year and had worked with many of the groups personally. His focus group vision was to enlist involvement of specific areas of the llama community. He gave a PowerPoint presentation showing the trends of registrations, ILR income, and owner demographics including new owners and animal population. He also pointed out that the largest group of ILR members own between one and three llamas.

Presentation by Darrell Anderson, CEO National Swine Registry
Darrell Anderson, CEO of the National Swine Registry addressed the meeting and began with his views of the function of purebred livestock registries and of the National Pedigreed Livestock Council. He gave a presentation regarding the survival strategy for associations in the 21^st century. He emphasized the importance of preservation of ancestry by recording pedigrees for the future of the industry. Darrel explained the evolution of the NSR and how ILR could mirror the NSR progress to secure success for the llama industry. He asked all of us to think about how we could work together to bring value to our industry and our animals. 

Classic Llama Focus Group Report
After a short break Jim Krowka (OR) made a presentation for the Classic Focus Group. He commended the ILR for the vision of the focus groups and for the maintenance of the genealogical data base especially the addition of photos available on the ILR website in genealogical searches. He opened the discussion of different breed types of llamas. Jim presented slides of the different phenotypes of llama and alpaca. He pointed out that even though all types of llama are recorded in the ILR and their photos are on the ILR website the animals cannot be sorted by “type” and, because they are not identified, finding specific types of animals from the database is a daunting task. Jim explained the working of the classic working group and how the members of that a group has been working together in harmony to obtain a common goal, preservation and definition of the classic type llama.

Tom Landis (OR) continued the discussion of the classic llama and the Classic Focus Group. He reiterated the main criterion of the classic llama is the short, double-coated wool characteristic. He pointed out that the conformation could vary greatly and even the athleticism of the animal did not define the classic type. He said one of the goals of the group was to preserve and even resurrect the classic type without a great deal of expense in the identification of the animal.

Jim resumed his presentation with an emphasis on the cooperation of individuals to go forward with the definition of the classic llama type. The ILR could lend its assistance using the breed type field in the ILR database and including the designation on the ILR website. Jim repeated how valuable searches on the ILR web site have been to his personal quest for classic llamas. He emphasized that the work of the group has just begun. The goal is to continue to work with interested members and the ILR concerning the classic llama.

Miniature Llama Focus Group Report
Jan Wassink presented the report for the American Miniature Llama Association (AMLA). He reported that as of July 1 the ILR will begin to manage the data in the ILR office under contract with AMLA. The registered animals will have double registration with the ILR and AMLA.

There was discussion within the group in attendance regarding how all the difference groups could be served under the umbrella of ILR.

Fiber and Color Focus Group Reports
Sally Rucker presented a report on the fiber and color focus groups. The color group has a mission statement to assist the definition of colors and patterns. The group indicated that this is a longer term project than just looking at phenotype since the group feels that studying the genotype is of equal importance to the recording of the phenotype of color and pattern.

ANNUAL ILR BUSINESS MEETING:

The annual business meeting was called to order by President Karen Baum. Karen announced the election of Kathi McKinney to the BOD. Karen discussed the makeup of the ILR board and her feeling that the slow turn-over with the 5 year term of each director was important for the stability of the ILR.  She announced the officers of the board and their remaining terms of office.  She reported on the bylaw change which was voted on and passed by the membership at the time of the election. The new bylaw will give the BOD more power to apply sanctions and penalties to members who deliberately attempt to falsify records they present to ILR for registrations.

Kathi McKinney gave a report of the financial status of ILR.  She explained the rationale for the initiation of the membership fee. There was discussion among the attendees about the fees and membership dues.  The consensus appeared to be that the fee structure and dues are not a problem for the members in attendance who were supportive of the decisions the BOD have made. Kathi pointed out that the contingency fund now includes the ILR building which is completely paid for.

Art Kennel began the discussion of the ILR Strategic Plan by reviewing the ILR Mission Statement.  He discussed the strengths, weakness and threats to our industry, pointing out that some of the animal protection organizations pose a serious threat to our owners with their misunderstanding of basic care for lamas. Art told the group about the concept of networking with other llama groups. The ILR BOD has met with LANA and GALA this past year to discuss areas of common interest and cooperation. He proposes meeting with more groups in the following year if possible.

International Lama Foundation Report: Art explained that the ILF was inherited from ILA and was a separate 501 c-3 organization established to fund research. He related the history of the fund and the donation made to Morris Animal Foundation in memory of Dr. Jim Vickers some time ago. He explained that Lars Garrison and Hilary Ware had made a proposal for the ILF to accept donations in the memory of Jack Moore. Memorials may be made to the ILF with a notation that they made in Jack Moore’s memory.  These memorials can be sent to the ILR office for deposit to the ILF account. Art also explained that the ILF is looking for a logo that would depict the research aspect of ILF.

Karen Baum announced the moratorium on registration of llamas without two registered parents had been extended until January 2008. 

The meeting adjourned for lunch at the ILR office with the ILR staff and a tour of the new building and demonstration of the registration process.

The meeting re-convened at the hotel after lunch to conclude the reports of the focus groups at the annual meeting. 

Packing Llama Focus Group Report
Jan Wassink presented an overview of the work of the packing focus group.

Suri Llama Focus Group Report
Steve Rolfing presented the Suri Focus Group report. The main goal of the focus group so far is to link to the ILR website which would explain the suri llama. Vicki Miller explained the format of the Suri Llama Association and how they envision their association and registry would operate. Discussion followed among the group.

Show Llama Focus Group Report
Jan explained that the show focus group is still in early stages of planning.  With this time of year being a busy show season he expects to see more activity in the fall.  He felt the show focus group was intending to work on the youth aspect of showing to generate excitement into showing.

The meeting was adjourned at 4PM, MDT.

Respectfully submitted,
Sally Taylor
Secretary