Kathy began her alpaca adventure in 2000 with what was thought as an innocent comment from her husband regarding an article he was reading on what his alma mater's past president was doing during retirement. From there, the internet was all it took for the fun to begin. Growing up on a farm and being actively involved in 4-H raising cattle & showing horses, it was easy to see the potential of this fiber animal and to embrace raising alpacas.

She spent hours volunteering at fleece and halter shows and enjoyed scribing during numerous annual AOBA National Conference Fleece shows. She started the first alpaca 4-H club in Franklin County and has donated her time to coach various 4-H clubs as well as judge 4-H alpaca events across her home state. She has held clinics and presented seminars on varied alpaca topics. She's currently an active member of AOBA, CABO, ARI and the Suri Network.

Kathy is certified to judge suri/huacaya halter, fleece & performance. Her "on-the-job" experience includes some of the most competitive shows in the US such as the TXOLAN, Alpacafest West, the Mid-America Show, the Indiana Invitational & MOPACA to name a few. She enjoys delivering her oral reasons in a way that each participant gets accurate and meaningful information as to why their alpacas placed as they did reflecting her desire to enhance the exhibitor's show experience.

Kathy, her husband Earl and their herd of suri and huacaya alpacas, reside at Jefferson Laurel Farm located near Columbus, Ohio.

Rick lives in NSW, on the east coast of Australia, half way between Sydney and Brisbane. In 1997 he discovered a passion for alpacas, and gave up his plumbing business to spend all his time pursuing this new interest. For some years he ran a mobile breeding service utilising a stud male sourced from Peru, as well as an Australian bred one. His main aim as a member of the alpaca industry is to breed the best quality animals possible, and to help improve the quality of the Australian herd generally.

In 1999 he was invited to train as a judge, and has since been appointed an A grade judge for the Australian Alpaca Association. Each year he judges a number of shows locally within Australia and in New Zealand. He judged the Canadian Futurity in 2005, the UK National show in 2006, the Australian National Show in 2007, and the NZ national show in 2009.

He is delighted to be coming back to Canada, and is looking forward to seeing developments within the Canadian alpaca industry in the last five years, and to renewing aquaintances with members of the Canadian association. Rick remarried recently, and will be accompanied by his wife, Judy.