NEWS
PAOBA JUNE 2016
REGISTRATION REMINDER PAOBA EDUCATION RETREAT July 30 and 31, 2016
BUSINESS PLANNING FOR ALPACA OWNERS
 $50 PAOBA Farm Members $100 Associate Members and Non Members Read More
APRIL MEMBERSHIP MEETING UPDATE Thank you to those who attended the recent PAOBA Membership Meeting. This was our first attempt at live streaming the meeting. We saw a few members, and nonmembers, joined our meeting on Periscope. Meanwhile we are looking at other live stream options so that we can get EVERYONE involved in PAOBA! We know everyone has an overload of commitments and work, but we hope, at the least, you can join us for our membership meetings. The main issue that was discussed was a proposal originally from myself to the PAOBA BOD for a change in membership level. The proposal is to eliminate having two levels of membership and instead have all farms join as simply members. This would include both in-state and out-of-state farms. All farm members would have voting rights. However, only PA Farm Members could be on the PAOBA BOD. No decisions were made and the BOD will review further and make recommendations.
PAOBA has started to make a general public and visitor email listing. The purpose is so that you can send your notices to the general public that have signed up for PAOBA news. For example, you can use the email listing if your farm store is having a sale or if you are hosting an open house on your farm. You will be able to send your information to us and we will send it out for y o u . S e n d y o u r fl y e r v i a e m a i l t o PAOBAmail@gmail.com and advise as to date you would like it sent. Any questions, contact us at the same email address. PAOBA has always been a leader at getting fiber into production. To that end, we are in the planning stages of helping members know about all of the options for their fiber AND helping members by collecting and transporting their fiber into the various segues to production, be it for cash, credit, or product. We hope to have a listing of options within the next several weeks. (see pg 2)
PAOBA Princess and Prince News The Pennsylvania Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association (PAOBA) Princess/Prince represents both the Alpaca Breeders and the Alpaca Fashion industry through meetings, demonstrations, promotions, talks, radio and television interviews, school presentations, parades, alpaca farm open houses, fairs, etc. The Alpaca Princess/Prince should make themselves available for pre-arranged functions and are encouraged to initiate and organize as many promotions and activities as possible. Please speak with your young people, ages 14 - 24. Applications will be accepted in the fall for crowning at our November Show. For information and application, click here Thank you Angie Grove AngieGrove31@gmail.com 4-H Leader Youth Committee Chairperson
(April Membership Meeting Update cont’d)
Current PAOBA members can expect or perhaps have already received a phone call from either Michele Siplivy or Tammy Crum asking for your input. We want your concerns and suggestions, so please share your thoughts and great ideas! Get to know your PAOBA Directors and always feel free to contact any of us directly. Our emails and phone numbers are on the website.
www.PAOBA.org One final note from the meeting…PAOBA has many members enthusiastically involved in youth activities. PAOBA BOD is supportive of the current youth activities and is hoping to expand on those activities in the future. We’d like to hear your thoughts about youth involvement in our industry and how PAOBA can help. Give it some thought.…we will be in touch! Best Regards Sarah Donahoe PAOBA President
PAOBA BOD CONTACT INFORMATION Sarah Donahoe, President sarah.LAAFPa@gmail.com Marcia Silkowski, VP silk65@gmail.com Lori Oraschin, Treasurer lori_ea@hotmail.com Tammy Crum, Secretary tscrum@verizon.net Michele Siplivy, Director info@shilohsurialpacas.com Kimberly Kline, Director havenfieldfarm@aol.com Maggie Fisher, Director maggiefisher@verizon.net Michael Gelorme, 2016 Ex Officio heavenshill@hughes.net
PAOBA BOD Elections
It’s already time to start thinking about the next elections for the PAOBA BOD. This is a great opportunity to get to know your fellow alpaca owners AND to become involved in one of the most active affiliates in AOA. Everyone has ideas and suggestions and here is one way that you can make a difference. We are looking for enthusiastic people who believe the best is yet to come for the alpaca industry. Please consider running for a position on the PAOBA BOD for 2017. And if you’re not sure, think about joining one of the many PAOBA Committees. Talk with one of the PAOBA Board Directors to learn more.
PAOBA COMMITTEE CONTACT INFORMATION Fiber Committee Deb Potts-Ragan pottsragan@comcast.net Education Committee Tammy Crum tscrum@verizon.net
Membership Committee Youth Committee Angie Grove angiegrove31@gmail.com
We have outgrown our current website and actually it is on the verge of a crash!?! The PAOBA BOD have decided to switch to a different platform that will allow users the ability to make changes and updates without going through our webmaster — Adam Desio of Desio Studios. Adam is in the process of designing our new website and PAOBA Director Kim Kline is in charge of the project. Anyone that would like to view the DRAFT website and provide feedback can do so by contacting Kim Kline at havenfieldfarm@aol.com. In the subject line, please put “PAOBA Website.” Thank you for being involved!
Contact Sarah Donahoe at Long Acres Alpaca Farm
TOFTREES RESORT State College, PA JULY 30 & 31, 2016 Special Speaker Sarah Cornelisse
Cost PAOBA Members Associate & Non Members JOIN PAOBA Farm JOIN PAOBA Associate
$50/Person $100/Person $125/Farm $40/Farm
Includes Class Material and Lunch and Break Refreshments! Register Online NOW!
Senior Extension Associate Penn State plus
Lynn Edens Wini Labrecque Brett Kaysen Mike Vigus Vern Butler and more!
Plan to attend PAOBA Summer Retreat MAKING A BUSINESS PLAN THAT WILL WORK FOR YOU!
BUSINESS PLANNING FOR ALPACA OWNERS Distinguished Speaker Profiles Business Planning: A Plan for Success Saturday July 30, 2016 ~ 9 AM This interactive, hands-on workshop will cover the major components of a business plan and provide guidance on how to approach the development of a management tool to meet your needs. • • • •
Goals & mission Feasibility & SWOT analysis Marketing Planning for profitability
Sarah Cornelisse Sarah Cornelisse is a Sr. Extension Associate in the Dept. of Agricultural Economics, Sociology and Education at Penn State University. Sarah works in the area of agricultural entrepreneurship, focusing on business planning and decision making, marketing, and value-added agriculture. She has particular interest in value added dairy and the use of social media for agricultural farm and food business marketing.
Winifred McGee Winifred McGee is a Senior Extension Educator for Penn State Extension who has 29 years with Penn State University, having started her career at their Small Business Development Center. She regularly delivers business development and agricultural business planning education for Penn State Extension, conducting needs assessments, designing promotional materials, writing Extension curricula, developing evaluation tools, mentoring new Educators and teaching farm entrepreneurship subject matter. She has provided business planning training to more than 205 farmers since 2002.
Sunday July 31, 2016 ~ 9 AM Brett Kaysen, PhD — Diversification—Joining Forces! How to and how not • What is Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) • On Farm versus Between Farm • Mixing within crop and/or animal systems •
Lynn Edens — Multiple Businesses of Like Product and Different Markets ACOA Updates • Imperial Yarn Overview • Our Back 40 •
Wini Labrecque — Turning a Passion into a Business Finding and Defining your market • Contracting for Knowledge • Networking • Take what you know and have proven abilities to • do and expand on it
Vernon Butler — What We Can Learn from other Livestock Models Applying large scale models to small scale practices • The complexities of price and demand •
Here are some questions every business owner should plan to answer….how many can you? DO YOU HAVE A BUSINESS PLAN? IS IT WORKING FOR YOU? WHEN DID YOU LAST REVIEW IT? WOULD YOU LIKE TO MAKE MORE MONEY? WOULD YOU LIKE TO SAVE MONEY RUNNING YOUR BUSINESS? WHAT OPTIONS ARE THERE TO EXPAND OR SIMPLIFY YOUR BUSINESS? HOW DOES YOUR BUSINESS DIFFERENTIATE ITSELF? WHAT IS THE NEED THAT YOUR BUSINESS EXISTS TO SATISFY? HOW BIG IS THE MARKET YOU ARE ENTERING? WHO WILL YOU BE TARGETING AS CUSTOMERS? WHAT ARE THE ECONOMICS OF YOUR BUSINESS? WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN TO BREAK-EVEN? WHAT WILL BE YOUR MOST EFFECTIVE MARKETING STRATEGY? WHAT IS YOUR EXIT STRATEGY?
Plan to join us in Happy Valley… aka Penn State…as we help you answer these questions and more! Our Guest Speaker will be Sarah Cornelisse, who is the Senior Extension Associate at Penn State, University Park in the Dept. of Agricultural Economics, Sociology and Education. Extension programming is developed to educate agricultural entrepreneurs on issues associated with business management and marketing. Sarah is currently focused on value-added agricultural entrepreneurship with a particular interest in value-added dairy products, business and marketing planning, and the use of social media for farm direct marketing. She has given countless
workshops and lecture series and courses on most topics related to a g r i c u l t u re b u s i n e s s p l a n n i n g , management and marketing. Sarah Cornelisse and an associate will begin Saturday’s session with lectures and discussions on business planning with special emphasis as it relates to the alpaca business. In the afternoon, we will break out into smaller work groups that will provide networking, opportunities for exchange of ideas and eventually, the development or revision of our own business plans. Participants can expect to leave with a good understanding of how their business plan needs to be unique, measurable and practical to their situation.
Hotel Information A block of rooms have been reserved at the
Holiday Inn Express Hampton Inn & Suites
We have an impressive lineup for Day 2 of Business Planning‌ Those of you who attended last year can attest to the enthusiasm generated from the presentation by Lynn Edens, Little Creek Farm, Salem, NY. Lynn will expand on her discussion of American Coalition of Alpaca Breeders (ACOA) and will have plenty of new information on the commercial side of alpaca fleece and terminal markets. If you want numbers and stats, this is the
place to see them. Plus we will see the results from last year’s collection and once again, we will collect your fleece for the 2016 bale. Wini Labrecque, Star Weaver Farm and Sorting, Grading, and Classing will have completed the first six months of a very successful new venture teaming with SUNY Cobleskill, NY and offering classes in sorting, grading and classing fiber. Wini has long been known as a fiber expert, and she will present
ways of using expertise and consultation as a service based business. If you’ve attended Wini’s classes in the past, you’ll agree that she always has something new and inspiring to offer.
B re tt K a y s e n ’s b i o g ra p h y i s probably too long to write about here, but suffice to say his lectures & discussions create an atmosphere whereby learning is entertaining and applicable. Brett can talk on so many levels and his presentation on Diversification is one you won’t want to miss….and definitely it’s an important one. Vern Butler, Morning Beckons Farm, will be presenting on various livestock models and their similar structure and traits in taking product to sale.
Mike Vigus, AOA BOD Secretary, and West Penn Alpacas will join us again this year and provide us with an update on the AOA Strategic Plan and other news and take your questions and comments. Check our website for updates! PAOBA is dedicated to supporting our Youth through various activities and financial support. Angie McClintock and Darwin Kell, Leaders in the 4H communities and active members of the Youth Committee, will update us on Youth Happenings as well as present information on the next PAOBA Princess & Ambassador Pageant. It is anticipated that Sabrina McClintock, PAOBA Princess, and/ or Marissa Shoemaker, PAOBA Reserve will make appearances.
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!
PAOBA SUMMER RETREAT 2016 MAKING YOUR BUSINESS PLAN WORK FOR YOU JULY 30 & 31, 2016 REGISTRATION Join PAOBA Farm — $125 yearly per farm Join PAOBA Associate — $40 yearly per farm Member Name & Email — $50 per person _______________________________________
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Non Member Name & Email — $100 per person _______________________________________
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Make checks payable to PAOBA Mail to Tammy Crum 448 Mountain Road Lilly, PA 15938 Fees include class materials, lunch, refreshments See our website for additional information www.PAOBA.org Online registration is available!
WE’VE CHANGED OUR DATE!!! NOVEMBER 12 & 13, 2016 Same Location in York PA
Registration opens August 15, 2016 Diana Timmerman, Female Halter Jill MacLeod, Male Halter Glen Finbow, Fleece & Performance