Greetings from Suri Network Board

The year has flown by, and the holiday season is upon us.  It would be interesting to hear what you are doing on your farms for the holidays.  Don’t forget that Suri Network members can list their events on the website.

What's Been Happening at Suri Network:

The All-Suri Network Fleece show was held in July in northern Kentucky.  Dawn Browning was the Show superintendent with Judy Schroeder’s support as they steered us through another great show.  Stephanie Glyptis and Arturo Pena were the judges.  There were increased numbers in the fleece show, fiber arts, spin-off, and skein entries.  Thanks to our sponsors and volunteers as we cannot have the event without your support.  Congratulations to all the winners!

In August several Suri Network members attended Education with a Destination in Bend Oregon.  SN sponsored a booth which showed Suri products and a display board that provided educational information about Suri fiber and blends.  Cheryl Gehly focused on Suri fiber in 2 break-out sessions and Tim Sheets presented the History of Alpacas and the Suri Alpaca.

It was my privilege to announce the Jim Barker and Judy Steele awards for 2022 at our annual meeting.
Congratulations to Amanda Vandenbosch for the Jim Barker Suri Network Ambassador Award and Mary Lou Clingan for the Judy Steele Suri Network Creativity Award.  Send your congratulations to both of our winners.

Liz Vahlkamp and the fiber committee have been busy producing a marketing and educational video with Hannah Thiessen.  She is an experienced knitter, knitwear designer, teacher, and author of “Slow Knitting” and “Seasonal Slow Knitting”.  Her description of Suri fiber as elegant, silky, luminous with a slight halo which has unique characteristics and is something special creates a picture worth remembering for fiber artists and is “Simply Stunning.”  Thanks to Bob Figular and Lisa Collura – Memory M Acres for their generous donation to help complete this video. Watch for Suri Network to release two more videos in early 2023 describing other uses for Suri fiber.

Current Ongoing Opportunities - Upcoming Deadlines

PurelySuri

Articles are being finalized for the January 2023 PurelySuri publication.  Did you know that this was Suri Network’s 25^th anniversary?  Look for a few memories over the 25 years as well as many new topics.  If you are interested in placing an ad in the magazine, please contact the Suri Network office as soon as possible.  All ads need to be submitted by December 1^st, 2022.

 

On-line Auction

Don’t forget to check out all the wonderful items on our on-line auction.  This is our fund-raising event to help support future projects for Suri Network.

Web: https://www.biddingforgood.com/surinetwork  

Mobile: B4G - Mobile

Suri Network Symposium - It is Back!

We are excited to have our first in person symposium in over 3 years.  Come and join us.  Early registration ends December 1^st, 2022.  Please consider sponsoring the symposium.   We have different levels of sponsorship to meet your marketing needs.  So please sign up early for the best marketing advantage!

 

The Suri Network Winter Symposium

This day and a half conference is themed: “Enriching Your Breeding Program” with expert speakers focusing on how you can improve your Suri herd for maximum gain.

When: February 23-24 (noon), 2023

Where: Vee Quiva Hotel & Casino in sunny Phoenix, Arizona. 

Our speakers include:

• ·         The internationally renowned Amanda VandenBosch will present topics including: 1). How to measure and improve your herd uniformity; 2). Using IFA to make good breeding decisions; and 3). How to evaluate the perfect alpaca to add to your herd.
• ·         Beverly Brehm, nationally known Suri breeder and AOA judge, will present: 1). How to improve your program using skin biopsy information and 2). A deep dive into biopsies. Beverly will be joined by Amanda VandenBosch in Part 2 to discuss their personal experience in analyzing their biopsy data and using biopsy data to improve their breeding programs.
• ·         Dr. Ruthann McCaslin will present various alpaca health topics that impact your herd health and fiber quality. Dr. Ruthann is well known in the camelid vet world as an expert on alpaca health issues.  We have all seen her valuable Facebook posts helping alpaca

Register here for the conference:

Suri Network - 2023 Suri Symposium

Sustainability - Did you Know

Alpacas only consume about 1.5 percent of their body weight per day, and, combined with their ruminant digestive system, they produce only 56% of the methane gas that similar fiber growing animals such as sheep produce.