[Alpacasite] Re: Breeding Maidens (again)

--- In Alpacasite@yahoogroups.com, Tim Wilson <tpwilson2@a...> wrote:
>
>
>
> As far as to whether intact hymens are heritable I suspect that we
know
> far too little as of today to postulate such a theory and as such it
is
> pure speculation on our part. But if it is found to be heritable I
would
> certainly encourage breeders to breed against such a trait.
>

I think that you will find that in most species most things associated
with the reproductive system are highly heritable. Given that, I
would error on the side of caution myself.

That said, I have never paid a vet to examine a maiden prior to
breeding, and to my knowledge I have never had an issue with a hymen
as has been discussed here.

If, as an industry, we are truly interested in developing a fiber
based future, we really need to focus our breeding on production
traits. By this I mean we need animals that require the least amount
of intervention possible. It will become a numbers game in many ways,
and each animal may produce only $50-$75 worth of fleece a year. If
that is the case, then the costs of keeping the animal will need to be
sugnificantly lower than that.

The current industry practices are not sustainable. $25-30 per head
for shearing is one example. Throw in pharmacutical parasite control,
specialized feeds, routine veterinary interventions, vitamin
supplements, specialized mineral supplements, etc., and any chance of
a profit has vanished.

We need animals that are reproductively sound and that are hardy and
healthy. That may in fact require some changes in breeding
selections, and some significant culling - even of some very nice
looking animals.

I think you will find in other livestock endeavors that many problems
we see addressed repeatedly on alpacasite would not be tolerated.
Prolapses, hernias, consistently slipped pregnancies, poor milkers
requiring hand feeding, still births - the list is actually pretty
lengthy - all of these would be grounds for permanent culling,
particularly if the issue showed up more than once, or more than one
of the issues were experienced in the same animal.

In short, I sometimes worry that we are breeding for a very fragile
National herd in the quest for reduced micron and increased ribbons.

And, of course, this returns once again to the issue of BS, since many
of the issues I list above will/can not be contained in a simple
description of the "ideal" animal.

John Merrell
Gateway Farm Alpacas
http://www.gateway-alpacas.com
Alpaca, a natural elegance...

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