Jerry Forstner Selected for the
James G. King Industry Award
This award, created in 2012, was named in honor of Jim King, a longtime member and Board Member of both the Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association (AOBA) and Alpaca Registry, Inc. (ARI) who passed away unexpectedly on April 5, 2012. The James G. King Industry Recognition Award is awarded by the Alpaca Owners Association, Inc. (AOA) Board of Directors to a person who has given of themselves exceptionally and consistently toward the betterment of the alpaca industry.
 Jerry Forstner has contributed to the alpaca industry in every way for the past 30 years. An owner, breeder, competitor, marketer, and the one who established alpaca financing so that many of our members could afford better alpacas as they started their businesses, there isn’t a place in our industry Jerry hasn’t touched.
Elected President of AOBA in 1995, Jerry donated one of his buildings in Nashville for use by a dedicated staff so the organization would no longer have to be managed by an outside company.
If you’ve ever seen or heard of the television campaign, I Love Alpacas, you can thank Jerry for calling on 100 members to donate $5000 each to run that commercial nationally and put alpaca on the map in the United States.
Jerry and his wife, Libby, mentored hundreds of new alpaca owners over the years. And while their place, Magical Farms, has been retired, Jerry still shows up almost daily to direct traffic, chat with visitors, and anything else he’s asked to do at Majestic Farms in Ohio.
Faye Farley recently asked Jerry, who is battling stage 4 cancer, why do you still want to go to the alpaca shows? To which he replied, alpacas are my life. I love the alpaca business and I love the people.
Please congratulate the 2023 James G. King Award recipient, Jerry Forstner.
Watch the video of the James G. King presentation at www.alpacainfo.com/awards/james-king-award.
Connect with Jerry on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/jerry.forstner.
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Jerry Forstner has contributed to the alpaca industry in every way for the past 30 years. An owner, breeder, competitor, marketer, and the one who established alpaca financing so that many of our members could afford better alpacas as they started their businesses, there isn’t a place in our industry Jerry hasn’t touched.
