Well if anyone was in any doubt the paranoia that pervades this industry is alive and well. Apparently it turns out that the EPD Library is full of errors and the work on Satan himself !

So just to set the story straight for those right minded people who still exist in this industry...

Mike Safely did not write one single word of the EPD web site nor did he supply any content, nor did he have sight of it at any time before it was released to the general membership. Neither was he consulted at any time regarding the content, selection of articles, format, layout, design or indeed the perspective.

The site was entirely funded by myself (Adrian Stewart) not one penny came from Mike Safley, the IAC or Northwest Alpacas (or even Mulberry Alpacas) it came straight out of my wallet.

The site contains 44 pdfs each one selected personally by Dr Via (CV below) from a variety of other livestock industries about the use of EPD's plus 6 introductory pieces which Dr Via wrote herself.

The information on alpacas covers the programmes in Australia + New Zealand (with 2 years results) and Canada.

By contrast the IAC gets about 14 lines.

Dr Wayne Jarvis was twice invited to contribute to the site and did not reply to me on either occasion. (However, he is still welcome).

I made Bruce Beatty at ARI fully aware of the site and when the site went live I wrote to him and said that as soon as he had anything to submit he should let me know. He congratulated me on the site and said he would certainly do that.

The Contact Us section of the EPDLibrary.org web site makes it clear that articles and/or speakers and/or events can be submitted by anybody at anytime with any perspective on this topic.

The speaker list compiled by Gwen Wolff includes everyone that we know to be active in this area including Steve Hull, Mike Safley, Dr Wayne Jarvis and Brett Kaysen to name but four.

Susan Buser who has spoken out against EPDs and has an article on EPDs in the forthcoming edition of Camelid Quarterly has talked with me at length and told me that she makes reference to the site in her upcoming article as a useful resource for those wanting to learn about EPDs.

Dr Via and I both disclosed in the site that we are members of the IAC and make no secret of the fact that we are in favor of EPDs. There is no mention of breed standards.

As the name suggests the web site is designed as a library, an online resource to help alpaca breeders anywhere in the world understand more about EPDs. You do not need breed standards to generate EPDs but then you would need to actually read the website to work that out.

Oh yes the disclaimers……..thought to be so sinister by some… I copied them from Wikipedia as that seemed most appropriate.

I have nothing personally to gain from building this site other than to make it easier for fellow breeders to easily find articles about EPDs. But such is the paranoia in this industry that my efforts are discredited without any discussion or even a single article contributed to the EPD site in order to address the perceived imbalance.

So there you have it ..... is Elvis alive, did we walk on the moon, who shot JFK, did MI6 kill Princess Diana. The list goes on it appears to be part of human nature to look for sinister motives where none exist...sorry to disappoint...