If Only I’d Known Then…
This is a new weekly feature with a tidbit of wisdom picked up along the way after ten plus years breeding alpacas. A nugget of knowledge that you don’t have when you are new to alpacas, but years down the road seems like a pretty important piece of info worth sharing.
Not to Pick The Most Handsome Male Stud
or
Don’t Judge A Book By It’s Cover When It Comes to Choosing A Herdsire.
It pays to look past the flash of good looks and ribbons and look at the science behind the male you are considering breeding to your female alpacas. Look at his offspring, his histograms, his skin biopsies, production records, etc. The “look” of a pretty face can set you back years behind the competition if you aren’t careful.
For more specifics read How Do You Know Which Sire To Hire by Alpaca Farmgirl Katy Spears
February 22nd, 2010 at 5:28 am
Thank you for your article. I am currently looking at herdsires to breed my girls to. I know they aren’t due until mid-June but I also have maidens ready to breed once the weather breaks.
I have struggled with a suri boy who is amazing but…not sure if he is the boy for my girls but he would correct issues with some other farm. He’s won ribbons and is amazing but on my farm he is basically a fiber male. Yikes!
Finding that perfect fit is a tough decision, especially when looking at unproven males or for a farm on a super tight budget. Breed Up is the only option.
I bookmarked your article. I will want to use it as reference in the future. Thank you.
wonderwhygal´s last blog ..Ravelympics 2010 — Fleece to FO
February 22nd, 2010 at 7:27 am
Glad you found it helpful, Wonderwhygal. When I was a new breeder, I always picked “the purtiest one”. And it is still tempting today to do that sometimes. And it can be very touchy when dealing with other breeders for sure.
I’m also a big believer that breeding is also an art as well as a science. And that it luck or the roll of the dice play a big part as well. You never know what you are going to get but if you do your research well you can really stack the deck in your favor.
February 22nd, 2010 at 10:05 am
Everyone should read your article, Katy. Proven males are so much more valuable than unproven ones for a good reason–f you just go for handsome you may be missing something. Where the boys are concerned “pretty is as pretty does” and the same is true for the girls. I have a couple of Plain Jane girls who have fairly consistently produced champions, who have had champions–all before I owned them, so far, but we’ll see.
Betty is a medium brown suri, the mom of our multi ZsaZsa. Betty has coarser fleece than I like (3), but she has a massive blanket and is totally healthy. We bred her with Kotzebue, a full accoyo, white with some of the softest, finest, most lustrous fleece. The cria, ZsaZsa, has Kotz’s fineness and luster with Betty’s quantity and strength and is adorable in her own right. We chose Kotz for Betty because of the cria he had already sired–and what we could see he had done in combination with other girls’ fleece. Of course, you also have to consider body type, coverage, head, heritage… Breeding takes a lot of work before the happy couple ever meets… and you do have to remember that once the breeding is accomplished, your assets are tied up for a year. You should not put an unproven male over all or most of your girls any more than you should invest all of your money in a get-rich-quick scheme.
Kathleen´s last blog ..Awaiting the First Alpacas in Oklahoma
February 23rd, 2010 at 5:00 am
When we picked out Corazon, we made sure his stats and heritage was good, but we would probably not have picked him if we didn’t like him as an individual too
We try to match quality and likability with all our alpacas, but even if we totally adore an alpaca that isn’t good enough as an breeding alpaca we will not pick him/her. If we had unlimited money we would be a little less picky, though
Rolf Barbakken/Knapper Alpakka´s last blog ..En fantastisk dag med alpakkaer, katter og gnistrende vinter
February 23rd, 2010 at 7:23 am
Kathleen – I think that you are a ringer and that I don’t believe that you are really a new breeder. Just sayin’.
Rolf – You make some good points. I have to admit that for all my scientific soapbox, I don’t pick “ugly” boys either. Lol. Or ones who I find unappealing. And when I first started my alpaca business I had more money to work with than I do now. I am also a much more serious breeder so my decisions have much more gravity on many levels.
Certainly if one has more money to play with there is more time to play with handsome boys. More farming as a metaphor for life…Lol.
February 23rd, 2010 at 11:01 am
These are great for new alpaca owners like me. Love that you’re doing these!
- Caryn (@Hellchick)
Caryn´s last blog ..Making Stuff, Week 6: Blood Oranges