By Mike Safley
AOBA held a national Alpaca Type Conference in Reno, Nevada November 2nd and 3rd. The attendees drafted a resolution and process for administering breed standards should the AOBA membership vote to adopt suri and huacaya standards. The administration document is similar to one created by the Suri Network.
The participants also drafted a proposed huacaya breed standard. The proposed suri standard was created by the Suri Network and not changed at the AOBA conference. Suri Network has already voted to adopt the suri document.
A committee was formed to be headed by Donna Christley. They will be responsible for disseminating all of the documents to the AOBA membership for review and comment. ARI has agreed to help fund the committee's costs. You should be receiving written copies of each document soon.
I participated on the speaker's panel and was impressed by the rigorous questions and the participant’s command of the issues. I did not participate in the working session and was not involved in writing the draft standards, but upon reading the document, I felt good about the proposals. If it were left to me, I might change a few things, but a consensus, which the documents represent, is far more important than any individual opinions. In the last year AOBA and its affiliates have sponsored more than a dozen type conferences. AOBA members should be proud of the democratic process and the results.
Related links:
A History of Breed Standards in the United States