Message from the President

February 2000 -- By Jill Gallagher

PBA is moving along nicely with our on-line E-mail Board Meetings. We just completed our second one and I would again like to thank the board for working with me on this. Before I forget, any reports or agenda items for the next meeting are due on my desk by March 6th. And the Board Meeting will begin on March 14th.

At our last meeting Jackie Liner ask to resign as the Fleece Committee Chair and was so granted that request. Speaking for all of us, thank you Jackie for all you did with this position. The major thing she did was to get a pygora fleece showing and judging guideline going and that like all the other jobs we all do, took some time to gather the information and implement it. So Jackie, thank you for your time and work. And then Jackie noticed that she had an extra few minutes in her life with nothing to do; ha! So, she ask the board if she could be the new PBA Show Secretary, and we said with our votes, why sure. So please take note, when needing show applications and etc. for shows, you will now be dealing with Ms Jackie Liner. Thanks again, Jackie.

We are still looking for a few people for some PBA jobs. They are listed in this newsletter and added to it is now the Fleece Committee Chair. I want to thank all those members that took the time to vote on the issues that are concerning PBA. You will also find those results in this newsletter.

I am sorry the discussion group is not moving, I had to rethink the process as it took to much of my time before. So I have a new plan that was suggested to me before, and I now think that yes, they are right. So this is the plan. The discussion group will move to the Pygora List on the internet. If you are not on this, contact Inga Gonzales at Igonzo@goldstate.net and ask her to put you on the list. It costs nothing and if you find you don’t like it, it is easy to be removed. By doing it this way, when you push “send” it goes out to all people on the list, and I don’t have to forward anything. Yes, some people that are on the list are not PBA members, but we won’t be voting on anything in this format, just discussing. But it is good to get input from many different sources. And remember, the highlights of the discussion will be put in the PBA newsletters so everyone else gets a chance to comment. And this, in turn helps the membership and the board know what the people are thinking and can help us all when and if we need to vote on the issue. So for this discussion, to help get us back on track, the topic is “ When should the deadline be to registrar your kids by?” As it is, you pre-registrar your animal and then from 8 to 10 months you must have them registered if you wish to show them. And some of us are finding that that is a very short time frame since a major show is in January of every year. What do you all think? I will get this on the Pygora list and those that are not on the internet, write me your thoughts. This topic will be going to the board in March!

I have to tell you that I was so excited at one of the things that happened at the Winter Fiber Frenzy in Hillsboro, Oregon in January. Yes, I got to go! I was the back up Judge as the original Judge was unable to make it. And I had a great time. The thing that was so neat was this. I am going to explain this a bit more in detail for those of you that have not had a chance to see or attend a Pygora show. I get ask quite a bit, “what do you do with your wethers? Or what good are they?” And of course my answers is always “A wether is a wonderful fleece animal along with the fact that they can be a great pet. They are a fleece producer and not a reproducer.” Well, at the Pygora shows there is a class called, “Best Fleece”. All animals that were in the show; whether they are male, female or wether can be in this class. The class is divided up by fleece types. There are three groups: one of A type, one of B type and one group of C type . The judge then judges the class on the animals fleece only and comes up with one winner in each group. This is a really neat class to see, because you can really see the qualities that make up the different types of fleece. Well, I placed the class, looking only at their fleeces on their bodies. And after the class, it was brought to my attention that the three winners were Wethers, yes! They did it! They proved it! They helped prove that All Pygoras can be useful animals; whether they are used for milk, meat, fleece or to reproduce. Way to go guys! 

This was a great show and I hope all of you can some day get to it. I would like to thank all that helped with this show and all that make the other shows though out the years possible. And thank you Lisa Roskopf and George and Jackie Liner and Andy for the wonderful time I had at your ranches and for keeping this California girl warm and fed.

I look forward to hearing from you all soon. Enjoy those new kids!

Jill Gallagher
PBA President