The 108th Annual Meeting of the USAHA

The 108th Annual Meeting of the USAHA (US Animal Health Association) was held in Greensboro, NC, on Oct. 24-27. The camelid community was represented by Teri Baird, Karen Baum, Karen Conyngham, Bob Frost, Julie Jarvinen, Susan Tellez, Cheryl Tillman and Marsharee Wilcox. Leading this delegation was Bob Frost, who, as past president of USAHA, has a permanent seat on the USAHA Board of Directors. The ILR Board of Directors added Karen Conyngham as the ILR representative on the USAHA Board of Directors. She came highly recommended by Bob Frost and works for the USAHA by providing the executives with daily news briefings of pertinent information affecting animal health and welfare in the United States. You will find biographies and photographs of these two able, diligent and well-respected advocates for the llamas’ interests at the end of this article.

We hope you will thank them whenever you see them for their selfless work. Bob is extremely busy with his official USAHA duties, so Karen is helping him by handling communication with the llama community. If you have questions about government rules and regulations, she will be happy to answer them. Email me, Sally Rucker, at ssllamas.com and if ILR can’t answer your inquiry, I will pass it along to Karen Conyngham for clarification. This process will serve to educate the BOD of ILR about these issues, and your questions may alert us to information which it would be beneficial to clarify and share with our entire membership.

We have two funds that support the USAHA and government relations functions. The Endowment Fund was set up to provide long term support for the USAHA function, and we hope as it grows it will be used to fund other government relations priorities. The ILR will match any money contributed up to $25,000 and currently pays 5% per annum interest (deposited every six months) on the balance in that account.

We are hoping to endow this fund with at least $50,000 this year through private donations and matching funds. Presently, Bob and Karen are both paying their own way to work for the llama industry. It is up to all of us to share this burden with them. We would like to use the interest from the Endowment Fund to support our executive seat holders, pay the Association dues at USAHA, and continue to maintain a strong presence at the national level and at the highest levels of government.

We also have a Working Fund. All of the money in this fund is spent each year on government relations projects. Please consider donating to this fund when you send in your Membership Renewals, ILR applications, or whenever you realize how much benefit you receive from the watchdog efforts over government regulations performed by our presence at USAHA.

Bob and the other camelid community representatives have helped eliminate some unnecessary testing and regulations for transportation of llamas in several states and have worked hard on the USAHA Livestock Identification Committee to assure that the methods of permanent ID will meet camelid industry needs. They have worked on protocols favorable to camelids in the event of an FMD breakout, and, most importantly, have raised the credibility and visibility of our industry among the people (state vets and government officials) who have great power over our ability to raise, transport and own llamas free from excessive and unnecessary government oversight and regulation.

For a complete report on this year’s USAHA Annual Meeting, refer to the ILR Website at lamaregistry.com. This report contains important information about VS (vesicular stomatitis) and West Nile Virus. It also contains committee reports from the following committees: The Committee on Food Safety; The Joint Plenary Session; The Committee on Infectious Diseases of Cattle, Bison and Lama; The Committee on Livestock Identification and the Camelid ID Working Group; The Animal Welfare Committee; The Foreign and Emerging Diseases Committee; The International Standards Committee; The Import/Export Committee; and the Bluetongue and Bovine Retrovirus Committee.

We want to extend heartfelt thanks to the following people who contributed to the preparation of this report: Teri Baird, Karen Conyngham, Susan Tellez, and Marsharee Wilcox. We also thank Karen Conyngham for her prompt filing of this report and for keeping us current with other government relations developments. We also commend Bob Frost for his persistence over the years and for achieving the position of President of USAHA. It is almost unheard of for a representative of such a small industry to hold that high seat. We gain immeasurably from our association with such a well-respected, credible and influential advocate.

Your ILR representative to the USAHA are: Karen Conyngham and Bob Frost. To learn more about Karen and Bob, click here.

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