Hi, I just wanted to let you know how wonderful your magazine is. It's a Lifesaver, literally! My friend Michele's alpaca had a premature cria. After panicking and calling friends and the Vet, we were not given much hope. Being Moms, we refused to believe that we couldn't do something to save the baby that arrived 4 weeks early. Then I thought about Cool Camelids and remembered an article there. After going on-line, sure enough, there was "Mr. Chip-Miracle Survivor" by Gordon Ratcliff. The alpaca cria is now 4 weeks old and nursing it's mom with a couple of supplemental bottles a day. Thanks again for such a wonderful magazine with organized archives. You literally saved a life. ~ Valerie Topp <Mr. Chip - Miracle Survivor>
YOUR LINK TO THE CAMELID COMMUNITY
Because we continue to receive correspondence from llama owners asking for clarification on issues, we thought over the next couple of months we would feature some articles that have run in our magazine. These are wonderful articles that may help to cut through the confusion and enable you to reach your own opinion.
This month we feature Debi Garvin from Hood River, Oregon. She and her husband own Cabernet Creek Farms. Debi has an MS in Animal Science specializing in Genetics. Read this article and then you be the judge.
Due to previous problems and admitted screening errors, the ILR has placed a moratorium on screening and registering imports until 2008. It is not a secret that many suri huarizos have passed ILR screening and have been registered as llamas. Interestingly, these all appear to be the same phenotype, the one currently represented in the suri classes (slab sided and narrow with low tail sets), and mandated as the present criteria set forth by ALSA.” <read more>
It is no secret within the llama community that numerous huarizos have been registered as full llamas. Many of these came from South America with "unknown" ancestries. The first blatant crosses occurred in the early to mid nineties with the sudden appearance of the short bodied "super-woolies". These were largely crosses of huacaya alpacas and llamas. Although the crossbreeding was kept a "secret" in North America, it was widely known in South America that these animals were purposely being crossed for export to the US. The next big cross came with the sudden appearance of the "suri llama", another obvious cross but this time between the suri alpaca and a llama. All of the imports that passed screening were registered as full llamas, even though their ancestry was "unknown". <read on>
Ms. Deborah Eyer Garvin, Director of the West Coast Quality Training Institute earned her MS in Agriculture from New Mexico State University. Ms. Garvin is also President of Pacific Rim Consulting, a Quality Assurance firm specializing in consulting and auditing for FDA, EPA and OECD GLPs along with FDA GCPs for Target Animal studies.
Cool Camelids Magazine, a quarterly publication, is mailed to about 5,000 camelid owners and enthusiasts across the U. S. Advertising rates are very reasonable, because the magazine is non-profit and focuses on providing information, news, products and connections for its readers, as opposed to focusing on profit only.
The balanced blend of articles and promotions pulls readers through the magazine again and again, making it an excellent promotional venue for discriminating advertisers who want real value for each dollar they spend.
