Llamas Make National Television Broadcast from National FFA Convention!!

Llamas were once again a crowd pleaser at the 2010 National FFA Convention held in Indianapolis, IN on October 19-23, 2010. Over 50,000 FFA members from all 50 states plus Puerto Rico and Guam attended the conference.

Llama and alpaca organizations shared a 20’ x 100’ exhibit area – the major sponsors were the ILR, ICI, AOBA, ARI and Camelid Community, as well as the “Llama Cooperative,” a group of state and national llama organizations that all contributed money to sponsor the display. Members of many of these organizations volunteered to man the display area and interact with the FFA crowd. A large banner saying “Camelid Community” hung from the ceiling giving the swarms of blue jackets a locator for the live animal display.

There was one pen of alpacas and one pen of llamas on one of the main aisles that lead through the exhibit hall, positioned between the food court and the shopping area. They say the key to success in business is location, location, location and we certainly were located on prime real estate! There was a steady flow of interested FFA members, FFA Advisors and parents who stopped for photo ops with the animals, enjoyed the softness of the fleece on the animals as well as trying their hand at one of the many craft projects that were available. Advisor packets were distributed that contained brochures on proper care of camelids, fleece projects and industry contact information - 500 packets were handed out.

The ILR had a table display to promote the many uses of llamas in general and to make FFA members aware of the opportunities available to them through the Pot of Gold Gelding Futurity for Youth, the ILR Universal Awards Program and the ILR Show Division.

GAC Network (Great American Country), a country music video network came on Thursday and filmed the llama area and interviewed the owner of the llamas! Erin Fruits of Swaying Sycamore Farms was enthusiastic as she shared the many uses of llamas emphasizing the opportunities for FFA students with llamas for SAE project (Supervised Agricultural Experience). The LFA sponsored a grant/scholarship for an SAE and this will also be promoted in the broadcast.

The GAC Llama Broadcast will air on December 2^nd –

be sure to tune in and share in this great promotion of Llamas and America’s FFA Youth!!

Llama owner Kristine Gilbertson of the Marshfield FFA Chapter in Wisconsin sang and played guitar daily at the convention as a part of the National FFA Talent Program. She has a beautiful voice and is a talented guitar player and sang songs by the Dixie Chicks and Lynard Skynard.

Thank you to Barb Baker for coordinating the llama exhibit space at the National FFA convention and to Matt & Erin Fruits and Mike Hoopengardner for providing the llamas for the three day event. For more information on the 2010 National FFA Convention, go to www.ffa.org. More photos from the event are on the ILR’s FaceBook page – enjoy.

ALONE we struggle; TOGETHER we thrive!