The Fireweed Farm has been at the forefront of the alpaca industry by offering continuing education as part of our business since 1992. Teri organizes or attends dozens of local and regional marketing and community events each year, and Teri and David both have had the honor of being the featured speaker on industry topics at seminars in several states and Canada. Teri and David have also written a popular book that is the companion manual for their “Alpaca Breeder’s Clinic: Getting Started with the Building Blocks of the Alpaca Industry.” They also hosted a number of other classes such as Neonatal Wet Labs with renowned Dr. LaRue Johnson and herd management to shearing, fecal & parasite clinics. In 2009 they debuted the fiber & shearing festival “Lets Get Naked”© and “Toes to Clothes”©.
Teri has used her academic background in conference & special events planning in the alpaca industry. Teri was the Conference Chair for the AOBA 1996 National Conference and has helped stage and organize the 1995 Denver Symposium on Importation, the 1996 National Fiber Co-op Forum, and the 1997 Mid-Winter Conference.
David worked as legal counsel with the Alpaca Registry to regulate the importation of alpacas coming into this country. David has been involved with the Alpaca Registry Screening Committee Advisory Committee, which developed the import screening and surcharge program in 1995. From 1995-1997, he served as General Counsel for the Alpaca Registry, Inc., where he was an integral part of setting up and administering the Registry’s import screening program, negotiating independence of the Registry from the Intl. Lama Registry, and establishing the non-profit Alpaca Research Foundation to support research into alpaca genetics, fiber and husbandry.