Meet the Bozedown Team

Since 2000 Joy and her niece Mary-Jo have worked closely together to improve and create Bozedown as we are known today.

Joy & Ken have now retired from being involved in the day to day running of the business.

Mary-Jo is an accredited BAS Alpaca judge, and is continuing to take Bozedown forward with her wealth of knowledge and ability, ably supported by her husband Iain Smith.

Joy continues to be involved on a consultancy basis.

We pride ourselves on being a friendly and helpful family run business available for advice and support thoughout your Alpaca journey.

 

Joy Whitehead

My introduction to alpacas was in 1989, when I immediately saw the potential for their wonderful fleece, which easily rivals cashmere. I bought my first alpacas, a male and 4 females, in June 1989, and have been learning about them ever since. Three of the females arrived with all the fleece they had ever grown; one of these was 4 years old, with fleece reaching the floor, so right away I had to find a shearer. That first winter I learned to spin, in order to obtain a greater understanding of the fibre, and in 1991 went trekking high in the Peruvian Andes to see the alpacas’ natural home, and to study the local spinning, dying and weaving of alpaca fibre.

My first selection of alpacas from the altiplano of Peru in 1998 was quite an adventure! I was the first European to do this, and the first woman from anywhere in the world to select alpacas from South America. Staying in the communal guest accommodation on Peruvian fundos (farms) was part if the adventure, with no running water or electricty. But the catering was plentiful and nutritious, providing you didn’t mind having a sheep’s jawbone in your bowl of breakfast stew!

That first selection changed the face of British and European alpaca breeding, as the UK alpaca industry rose to challenge those in Australian and North America. Several generations down the line, and some of the genetics from that first selection are in the background of some of Bozedown’s most successful World Class pedigrees today.

My life has been taken up increasingly with all things alpaca ever since 1989. I served on the British Camelids and BAS committees for a total of 11 years. In 2005 British Camelids presented me with the Benevides Trophy, a very proud moment, for my services to the British Camelid Industry.

I have attended and organised many Conferences and Seminars, and I have enjoyed sharing my knowledge with many other breeders. I have researched processing methods for the fibre, producing some wonderful end product.

I was privileged to do archaeology work alongside Dr Jane Wheeler in Peru, in her investigations into the mummified remains of pre- Conquest llamas and alpacas in El Yaral in the Moquegua valley. Her groundbreaking work, proving by DNA investigations that alpacas are domesticated vicunas and llamas are domesticated guanacos, was published in 2003.

I enjoy being on the farm at shearing time each year to get my hands on the fleeces again, test my ability to still be able to gauge micron values accurately, and see for myself the general improvement in overall fibre characteristics, fineness and density year on year. I put this all down to Mary-Jo’s expertise in alpaca breeding.

I believe that the welfare of the animals should be the prime concern of all alpacas owners, as it is hugely important to produce healthy strong crias and good quality fleece for our growing fleece industry.

 

Mary-Jo Smith

Mary-Jo joined her Aunty Joy at Bozedown in 2000.

Mary-Jo grew up in a farming community in Northern Alberta, where she acquired plenty of experience in many aspects of agriculture. Upon graduating from St. Francis Xavier University in Canada with a BA in Business Administration degree with a major in Accounting she came to join Bozedown.

Over the years Mary-Jo has developed a passion in breeding and identifying quality traits in Alpacas, which is evident in her breeding programme.  In 2001 Mary-Jo ventured to Peru where she selected Galaxy.  On the day Galaxy was being delivered Mary-Jo did not want to be on the farm, worried what her Aunty Joy would think of her choices.  She should not have been worried as Galaxy has sired many fine animals and Joy was thrilled with her choices. That selection proved beyond doubt that Mary-Jo has a good eye for a great Alpaca.  Galaxy was selected on Mary-Jo’s first selection Peru, among 12 wonderful stud males, all of which have sired many fine progeny and as such have made a major contributions to Bozedown’s breeding programme.  This selection also included Bozedown The Chief and Bozedown Dazzler. Mary-Jo maintains that none of this would have been possible without Joy’s teaching and sharing her invaluable knowledge and experience with Mary-Jo.

Mary-Jo’s passion for Alpacas is evident by her knowledge of “who’s who?” (alpacas, that is!) on the farm.  All the staff love to try to catch her out on identifying an animal but rarely manage it!

Mary-Jo is always on hand to advise people on selecting the right breeding stock.  She also teaches a variety of courses, breeding and fibre seminars enabling her to pass on her endless knowledge on Alpacas.

Mary-Jo served 2 years on the BAS board, and was an originating sponsor of the Futurity and Alpaca Showtime.  She is also involved in Judge training, having qualified as an BAS alpaca Judge herself in 2010.

 

Iain Smith

Mary-Jo’s husband Iain, use to be a “typical” farmer but has now adjusted to Alpacas as being “real farming”.

In the years that he has been at Bozedown, Iain has gained a great knowledge and understanding of Alpacas, especially in breeding and development.

Iain will be the face you see when receiving your Alpacas.  With his vast knowledge and experience he will be able to assist you in advising paddock maintenance and husbandry.

Iain plays a very important role being in charge of the pasture maintenance and grazing rotation as well as maintenance and welfare of the animals.

Iain is from a farming family, graduating with Distinction from Berkshire Agricultural College.

 

Ken Whitehead

Ken is Joy’s husband, he has played a very important role in our marketing and all the beautiful pictures you see on our website are compliments of him.

 

 

Kirsten Smith

Kirsten, who is Mary-Jo’s sister in-law joined Bozedown in the winter of 2007.  She very quickly became an invaluable member of our team.

Kirsten calls herself “The Alpaca Madam” as during the summer months she is entrusted to carry out Mary-Jo’s breeding programme.

Kirsten is also very involved in the extensive Husbandry routine in caring and looking after our large herd.

Kirsten also has background in agriculture as she was brought up on a large mixed farm.

 

Ros Davies

Ros is the sweet voice you hear answering our phones on a Wednesday and Thursday.  Her role is to input all the farm records into our vast database, which is essential to the management of our herd.  She also will lend a hand at any other tasks thrown at her.

Ros is also our local landlady at The Sun Pub in Whitchurch Hill.  This is were you will find her when she is not in the office.

Claire Whitehead

Joy and Ken’s daughter, Claire Whitehead graduated in 1999 from the Royal Dick School of Veterinary Studies in Edinburgh. She worked in both mixed and small animal practices in the UK, before moving to the US where she completed a 3 year Residency programme in Large Animal Internal Medicine (specialising in Camelid Medicine) in 2005 at The Ohio State University in the United States. There she worked under David Anderson. She gained her Masters degree with a research paper into the transplacental and transmammary transfer of Vitamin D to neonatal alpacas and llamas, and also passed board certification examinations to become a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (Large Animal). Following the residency, she worked another year as a Clinical Instructor at Ohio State before returning to the UK where she established a referral service for camelids at The Royal Veterinary College, London. This sadly lost funding under the government education cuts of 2010. Claire has lectured widely in the US and Europe. In 2011 she set up Camelid Veterinary Services, which provides camelid reproduction services and consultancy for medical, reproductive and herd health issues affecting alpacas and llamas. Claire provides a consultation service for many UK vets, and advises and supervises Bozedown Alpacas in her veterinary capacity. She also runs education courses for both vets and breeders. Her web site is  www.ukalpacavet.com

Gerry Handcock worked as part of the Bozedown team for many years and sadly he felt it was time for him to retire and enjoy life at the end of 2009.  However, we are very pleased that we see him regularly and he is always readily available to assist and advise on any technical issues.  He is our IT man!