ILR Show Division

FLEECE COMMITTEE Minutes
September 23, 2009

Conference Call Meeting - 8:01 pm EST. Five of the six committee members were present.

Committee Members Present: - Lynda Carothers, Betty Moe, Mary Jo Miller, Fran Soukup - Chair, Pamela Tait - Secretary

CALL TO ORDER:

Meeting was called to order at 8:01 pm EST. Five out of six committee members were present.

MINUTES:

Minutes from August 20th meeting – approved by email and already posted on website.

AGENDA ITEMS:

Fleece Products Definitions:
Lynda and Betty submitted a listing of terms which would be included in the fleece products definitions. It was agreed that these were the terms which were to be defined, not only for the exhibitors’ benefit but also for the judges. A few suggestions were made, and these terms will be defined for inclusion in the handbook.

Fleece Products Awards:
Pam made the suggestion that for fleece products awards we should check with regional and local guilds to see what types of levels of achievement that they are using in order to keep our fleece products awards system consistent with what is already established in the fiber community.

Danish Judging:
The suggestion of using the Danish judging system in the fleece division was suggested via email by Debi Garvin, and there has been some discussion of this online as well. The committee discussed the concept of the Danish judging system and how we could implement it in the ILR-SD fleece division. The idea is to have a specific range of scores on the scorecard earn specific awards. After much discussion, the committee decided that the issue of different judges having different scoring ranges would not be comparable. The concept of utilizing the Danish judging system in our fleece division would need further research and clarification.

Annualized Weight:
A suggestion was made via email by Debi Garvin that fleeces be divided in half for showing them at more venues, as shorn fleeces can have a shortened ‘lifetime’ being shipped around the country to various fleece shows. This would half the annualized weight of the fleeces, which the committee does feel is a vital aspect of our shorn fleeces. The committee would not recommend saving half of the fleeces for future shows, as this would certainly affect the exhibitors’ scores in annualized weight.

Annualized weight was discussed, and there was a clarification about the fact that once a shorn fleece has been determined by the exhibitor to not be in show condition, the exhibitor can still show the fleece in the 2-ounce sample class. This is a class that earns points towards our fleece awards system just as shorn fleece does. Annualized weight reflects the llamas’ ability to produce a viable end product – the fleece – and as such it is an important part of the scoring of a fleece. (For example, an animal that produces 2 pounds of prime fleece annually should earn more points than an animal that produces only 5 ounces of prime fleece annually.)

Photos and descriptions for the Halter Division:
Committee members were asked to review the photos and descriptions of fleece types that were posted online for the halter division. All committee members present were able to pull up these photos and description except for Pam, as they would not pull up for her.

Photos and descriptions were discussed. The committee really liked the fact that the halter committee was using photos for exhibitors to review. It was suggested that in addition to the photos being used that we provide them with close-up photos of the various fleece types for even further exhibitor clarification. The fleece committee would like to put together some close-up photos of fleece types for use online in our division as well. The committee felt that the examples of the Classics used were not as adequate as some of the other fleece types.

Apprenticeships:
The committee discussed the need to come up with a designated number of fleeces to be judged by apprentices in both shorn fleece and fleece-on classes. A motion was made by Betty to approve 50 shorn and 75 fleece-on fleeces; motion was seconded by Mary Jo. Motion passed unanimously. It was decided that we would not put a number on the amount of fleece products necessary to be judged by apprentices at this time.

There are two (2) fleece apprentices scheduled to apprentice with Mary Jo at the Yavapai County Fair in AZ in October, and four (4) scheduled to apprentice at the January shorn fleece show in Minnesota with Fran.

Judy Ross has been approved as an ILR-SD fleece judge. Congratulations, Judy!

ShowManager:
Fran is working on getting our approved ILR-SD fleece classes up on ShowManager. 

Next conference call meeting will be set via email.

Pam made a motion to adjourn the meeting; Betty seconded motion. Motion passed unanimously, and the meeting was adjourned at 9:44 EST.

Minutes submitted by Pamela Tait, ILR Fiber Committee secretary.