President's Message
August 2019

Ian Frith, AAA President

I am appreciative of the great response from members to the calls to repair the toxic behaviour in the association.  This has been happening for over ten years at the highest levels in the organisation and I look forward to improved culture for the benefit of all members and stakeholders.

By now you should have all seen the results of the Member Satisfaction Survey. These results show that the Board is on track with member thinking and provides a good basis to move forward within the Strategic Plan.

Additionally, throughout the months of May and June, AAA ran the “build the herd sale” through eAlpaca, giving a 20% discount on all new registrations. 1,661 new animals were registered which raised an additional $23,282 for the AAA.

Certificates of Appreciation are open for nomination – Regional Presidents do not forget to lodge your recommendations. Life memberships are also open for nominations.

Export and international delegate update

The Chinese trade visit in May has been met with enthusiasm by members supportive of the AAA Strategy. Further interest has been expressed from Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Emirate for both fibre and animals. Following meetings with the Peruvian Trade Commissioner, the AAA have invited and confirmed that we will be hosting a delegation from Peru in February next year who are interested in purchasing fibre and attending the Canberra Show.

I am pleased to advise that Austrade has granted the Australian Alpaca Association Approved Body status for five [5] years, with effect from 01/07/2017 to 30/06/2022 for international promotion of the Australian alpaca industry. The AAA received a grant under this scheme from AusTrade to contribute to the costs of the Chinese fibre export activities.  Export Market Development Grant (EMDG) purposes.

The Australian Standards for the Export of Livestock (ASEL) are under review. The AAA CEO sits on the Technical Advisory Committee and the AAA provided a submission to the first tranche of the review.

Showing and judging update

The Judge’s intake was very successful weekend for the 24 members who put up their hands. Congratulations to the Showing and Judging Committee and helpers for their amazing work to pull it together. A particular thank you to Julie and Russell who hosted the weekend for your hospitality.

Surprise update for the upcoming National Show - Prize Money will now be awarded to the amount of $500 for a Champion, and $1,000 for a Supreme. Show entries have been extended to COB Friday 9 August so hurry and get those entries in!

Market access update

Biosecurity Working group has had its first teleconference to look at review of QAlpaca and ways of moving forward with practical solutions at a minimal cost to members. NLIS has been progressing with the Integrity Systems Company and there has been approval for an additional alpaca tag trial – look out for a call for expressions of interest for breeders interested in being involved.

The Breeder’s Choice auction recently held in Goulburn saw a great turn up of selected animals and potential buyers. The top price of $34,000 for a superb male with further animals topping $12k, $10k and $5k. The average price for the sale was $2,800. Congratulations to Narelle and Peter Tulip for all of the hard work they put into running this auction, to members for putting up the animals and not to forget the buyers that turned up in droves.

Q fever

Q Fever testing has been progressing and the researchers are obtaining the known positive alpaca sera after vaccinating with QVax. They are four weeks into the serum collection phase following on from the pre-testing and vaccination process, and we still have a few more weeks to go.  The sera obtained from the alpaca trial are already positive on the IFAT (immunofluorescent antibody test). The ELISA test lacks the sensitivity of the IFAT, so some further testing is required. The take home message is that tests developed for one species (or a group of species) do need to be properly optimised and validated before use in a new species. The researchers will be attempting to adapt the ruminant ELISA (IDEXX) for valid use in alpacas by using an alpaca specific conjugate.

Regards,
Ian Frith