| IAC vs. ARI
I am often asked about the ARI EPD program that is competing with the IAC program. People want to know:
- Which program is best?
- Should we belong to both?
I have never had any contact about EPDs from the ARI other than the occasional ARI Gram. There is little or nothing posted on their website that explains what their program is and how it works. I am not even sure about the ARI’s motivation, although I assume they intend it to be a revenue generating vehicle. I would have the following questions for the ARI Board of Directors if they were interested in discussing my experience in creating a functioning EPD collection and reporting system:
- What is your budget to build the program?
- Will it be a manual input system or web based collection system?
- Will ARI board members have access to the individual farm’s results?
- Who will designate the reference herdsires?
- How will you justify using ARI funds collected from members who oppose EPD collection to the benefit of members who favor EPDs?
- Will your membership be in favor of a program that designates superior alpacas on behalf of individual farms?
- How much do you plan to charge breeders for the service?
- Why are so few details of your plan available?
- Have your members been asked whether they would rather allocate the ARI financial resources to marketing or research, as opposed to EPDs?
- Why is the ARI spending money to duplicate an EPD system that is free, up and running, and open to everyone?
After 25 years in the alpaca business, and a passing knowledge of alpaca politics, I have been quite surprised that there has been little or no debate of these questions.
Should there be two programs? Any scientist involved in EPDs will tell you, in no uncertain terms, that it is bad for the breed if there are two sets of EPDs being distributed for the same national herd. As organizer of the only operating EPD system in the U.S., I have tried to address this issue with the ARI board members and explore ways to cooperate. Unfortunately, to no avail.
Which program is best? The truth is that ARI has not given the information necessary to answer the question. As proof of this statement I invite you to visit the ARI website and compare the information available about how they plan to create an EPD program, to the information available on the IAC website about how to participate in and up and running EPD program.
The ARI recently proclaimed that they are the leaders in EPDs. But, they have none. They say they have plan, but it is not published. I can tell you that after five years of building a working EPD collection system, and reporting two years of EPDs, that this is an expensive proposition that the ARI is taking on and it involves a steep learning curve. We will see how they perform as the costs and details are revealed.
In future IAC Newsletters, we will address the negative impact of two EPD systems operating in the national herd by inviting animal scientists to contribute articles on this subject. I hope that by then we will have answers from the ARI Board of Directors on the questions posed above. In the meantime, I would urge people to chose one program or the other, but do not participate in both.
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