Alpaca Breeding: Breeding Males

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Males become sexually mature much later than females. The exact age that males begin manufacturing sperm has not been determined. In practical terms males begin settling females at about two and a half years of age. Some begin a little earlier, some a little later. My experience is that once a male changes his milk teeth he will breed and settle females.Males have a fibro-elastic penis which is adhered to the lining of the sheath at birth. These adhesions must break down before the penis will extend during mating. Once a male reaches puberty (10-14 months) the adhesions begin breaking down over time until he can fully extend his penis and penetrate the female during copulation.Alpaca males are drip ejaculators and it takes about twenty minutes for them to deposit 2 ml of semen in the female’s uterus. The male’s penis penetrates the female’s cervix during mating.Small testicles and ovaries are associated with infertility in other species. A mature alpaca male should have a total scrotal circumference of 1.57 inches (4cm). Size alone does not guarantee fertility and animals with large testicles can have other problems such as cysts or poorly formed epididymis.
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A National Alpaca Improvement Program

History gives us many lessons about how to create a superior herd of almost any breed of livestock. The science of genetics is highly refined and entirely accessible by anyone who wants to breed anything for almost any purpose. The question becomes how we proceed toward that goal of superiority in the alpaca industry.

There has been a worldwide textile industry for more than eight centuries. While people have always made their own textiles, industrial developments have radically changed the way textiles are produced and marketed, developments such as the invention of machine spinning, the worsted spinning process, knitting and weaving machines, the rise of the cotton gin, the steady evolution of fabric finishing techniques, and the development of man-made fiber. Add to this a constantly changing fashion industry based on affluent consumer preferences, and you have a textile market that can best be characterized as a moving target. This combination of conditions has created challenges for livestock breeders whose product is fiber. But it has also created opportunities for breeders to create animals whose fleece meets a specific need.

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