South Central Llama Association

After establishing a quorum was present, President Jim Doyle called the meeting to order. Jim thanked Sharon Carrier and Christie Stewart for their hard work in putting the show together in Dallas. He noted that attendance was down at all shows and that we need to support the shows more.

The second meeting during the year for SCLA will be either in San Antonio or San Angelo.

Ouijan Vinson read the minutes of the SCLA general meeting held in San Antonio February 17, 2007. Jim Doyle noted that a show superintendent must be a member of SCLA in order to receive SCLA funding. The minutes were approved.

Bob Lyons presented the Treasurer’s report. Expenses are about $1700 more than revenues through September. However, SCLA has not received any consignment fees for the January sale yet. There is $73,000 in the bank for both the scholarship fund and SCLA. Scholarships are for two years, and last year SCLA awarded two scholarships. SCLA has paid $6000 total in scholarships in the last year. Nell Graham is responsible for the scholarship fund. SCLA was asked to “administer” the funds. If anyone wants a copy of the financial statements, please contact Bob.

Membership Committee- Karen Conyngham submitted a report as of Sept. 24th, that SCLA has 158 adult members and 61 youth members. The youth members live in the following regions:

Region 1 – 23 Region 2 – 16 Region 3 – 11 Region 4 - 11

Nominating Committee—Jessie Rierson reported that Cathy Ramsey resigned her position as Region 4 director since she was moving. Sean Price will manage the Region 4 youth show in the interim.

Property Committee – Jessie Rierson stated ALSA changed some rules on obstacles, and he has made the required adjustments.

Fund Raising Committee – Brian Bennick. No report.

Fort Worth Sale – Sam McClure reported October 1 was the deadline for sale animal submissions and there had been lots of interest. They want to keep it to 50 lots. They are considering a reception after the sale for all SCLA members to celebrate SCLA’s 20th anniversary. The catalog format has been changed to 3 animals per page to reduce the cost. There is a new publisher also. Members can negotiate with Sally Bacus if they need any design work. Photo ready ads should be shipped to Monica at LlamaLink. Jim noted that the Fort Worth sale is a lot of work and thanked Steve Berry, Sam McClure, Dusty Davis and Paul Walters for their hard work. Last year there were 160 no shows at the Fort Worth show due to weather. The SCLA sale is successful because it is at a livestock event.

Fiber Committee – Margaret Schulze – no report.

Youth Committee – Christie Stewart reported the regional youth qualifying shows for regions 1, 3 and 4 will be November 3. The region 1 show will be in Austin at Mike Summers’, region 2 will be in Fort Worth at Joe Davis’, region 4 will be in Conroe at Figment Ranch. The region 2 youth qualifying show will be December 1 at PNE ranch in Corsicana.

Finance Committee - Bob Lyons and Dan Johnson will set the budget at the end of the year.

Library Committee - Barbara Welch. No report.

Scholarship Committee – Jim Doyle reported that Morgan Kanavel is this year’s recipient and will attend school in Colorado Springs. Congratulations Morgan!

Website – Sally Bacus reported she would like to include several new sections to the website if members are interested including:

Volunteers needed: where members can submit request for volunteers at their events.

Education classes – where and when education can be taken

Local llama events at your ranch

Llama photos

Contests

Show results

Youth hall of fame

If you have any llama related questions you can send them to Sally and she will try to get them answered.
Email: llama23@verizon.net

Thank you Sally for all your hard work!

Humming Herald - Jim Doyle said there would be special pricing for the winter issue. Email Jim if you need the information.

Jim Doyle noted a student at Texas A&M had written their thesis on llamas based on a survey they sent out. There are 1539 llama farms in Texas that have 9518 llamas. There were 125 farms that participated in the survey, covering 2079 animals. If you are interested in the results, please email Jim.

Jim then thanked Karen Conyngham for her hard work in getting llamas classified as domestic livestock. Representative Larry Phillips carried the bill through the Texas House and Senator Craig Estes carried the bill in the Texas Senate. Final vote in both houses was unanimous in support of the bill.

Before Jim turned the meeting over to Jessie Rierson, he wanted to review some of the items the Board had worked on during his tenure.

· The last two years SCLA has helped sponsor a booth at the National FFA convention. One of four national llama associations help sponsor it. The booth was the most attended and liked booth at the event for the last two years. Karen Conyngham prepared 500 packets for the booth this year.

· Jessie Rierson took some llamas for an exhibition at the youth junior livestock show in Navarro County last spring. He and Kristin now have a 4H group as a result. There were some youth from Freestone County watching the Youth Show Saturday at the State Fair, and they “got the bug” and want to work with llamas too. It just takes a little exposure to get everyone excited.

· The SCLA obstacle trailer has national exposure and has been used at the ALSA Grand National Show the last several years.

· SCLA has had a table and been a sponsor at the ALSA Grand National Show.

Jim introduced the current Board members and turned the meeting over to Jessie.
New Business

There was discussion about retaining new members, and ensuring everyone feels welcome and included.

There was discussion about having one to two hour seminars at different shows about fiber, or putting on a public seminar or demonstration. There is “downtime” at shows and this would be a good way to educate the public or receive training yourself.

A suggestion was made to establish an Education Committee.

Members wanted to see the SCLA committees doing something more frequently. There is some confusion about what the job responsibilities of the Region Directors are. A request was made for a handbook of Board duties. Some of this is explained in the ByLaws and is included in the annual Membership Directory.

Jim Doyle will be on the ByLaw review committee.

The Board was approached about having a keuring class at the Fort Worth show. It would cost $800 per day to do this and only 20 entries would be allowed. The request was denied.

Bob Lyons moved to adjourn the meeting. Marcie Saska-Agnew seconded the motion and the meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Ouijan Vinson

Secretary

**NOTE: Minutes not yet approved as of 11/9/07.

KC requested clarification for HR 3300 via email to Ouijan:

One clarification for the Dallas minutes:

" Larry Phillips carried the bill through the House of Representatives."

Let's state that it was the Texas House and that Senator Craig Estes carried the bill in the Texas Senate. Final vote in both houses was unanimous.