- Parasite larvae live in the lower 2 cm of grass AND need water to survive (dew, rain). Longer pastures enable alpacas to graze away from the worm larvae and reduce worm pick-up! more »
- Use drenches most effective on your property: ideally those that are 98% effective, as shown by a drench test. Especially important for strategic summer drenches in winter rainfall regions. more »
- Alpacas and llamas are susceptible to many of the gastro-intestinal nematodes or “worms” that infect sheep and cattle, including barber’s pole worm (Haemonchus spp) and the scour worms. The behavior of worms in alpacas is not well described and is currently being studied at the University of Melbourne. The project is identifying worm species, worm behaviour, methods of diagnosis/monitoring of worm burdens and worm control in alpacas. In the interim, camelid farmers need to extrapolate from sheep research on how best to control worms. more »
- The aim of this research was to estimate for the first time the heritability and genetic relationship between medullation and fiber diameter in each fiber by itself. A total of 21,600 fibers from 36 samples from white fleeces, 600 fibers each sample, from males between 0.4 and 10.4 years old from Pacomarca experimental farm (Inca Group, Puno, Peru) were tested using projection microscope (PM). The individual fiber diameter (FD) and the category of medullation (CM) was recorded in each fiber. CM of each fiber was assigned to one of the five categories established in the literature. The percentage of medullated fiber ranged from 12.33% to 91.67% per sample. The correlation between OFDA 100 ® medullation percentage and PM measurements was 0.79. The statistical model used for estimation of genetic parameters for CM and FD included the age as a linear and quadratic covariate as systematic effect, and the additive genetic and the permanent environmental as random effects. The pedigree that served to predict genetic values was very robust and strong, allowing obtaining reliable and significant parameters. Univariate and bivariate models were used to estimate heritability for CM and DF, as well as its genetic correlation. Different models considering CM as continuous or categorical trait were tested. The highest heritability estimate for CM was 0.36 ± 0.13 obtained using a bivariate continuous model. Using the same model, the heritability estimate for FD was 0.35 ± 0.15 and the genetic correlation between CM and FD was 0.93 ± 0.12. These results implied that selection against medullated fiber is feasible while at the same time reducing the FD in alpacas. Since measurement of CM per fiber sample was time-consuming, PM measured by OFDA 100 ® would be useful as an indicator to reduce the number of medullated fiber in alpaca fleeces. more »
- Alpacas can only produce one offspring per year. In order to accelerate the genetic gain of a herd, superovulation and embryo transfer can be used to produce multiple embryos from superior females. We hypothesized that the use of dual siring with superovulation would result in the production of multiple embryos sired by different males. After administration of the superovulation protocol, receptive females were bred to two proven males (A and B) 8–12 h apart and ovulation was induced by gonadotropin at the time of the first breeding. Growth of multiple dominant follicles was successfully achieved in 95% of cycles. Females that were receptive after FSH treatment and were bred with both males (order A–B or B–A). Embryo collections were performed 8–9 days post-breeding on 15 cycles and 73% of collections recovered ≥1 embryo. A total of 46 embryos, were recovered for an average of 3.13 ±3.1 (range 0–10) embryos/flush. Parentage analysis was performed for 23 embryos (6 from A to B, 17 from B to A). Twenty-two of the 23 embryos were determined to be sired by male B, being six embryos from breeding A-B and 16 embryos from breeding B-A. A single embryo from breeding B-A was sired by male A. In conclusion, FSH administered at decreasing doses can be used to promote superovulation resulting in collection of multiple embryos per cycle. However, slight differences in male fertility may affect the frequency of embryos sired by each male. more »