Wouldn’t it be just so cool if you could breed your dam to a herdsire 2000 miles away without her and her cria ever leaving your farm? How about having multiple babies a year from your very best dam? Those are just a few of the benefits that could become reality with the use of reproductive technologies.
I used to think that the main obstacles to widespread use of Artificial Insemination (AI) were business-rooted. Some breeders I’ve talked to are adamantly against it. They feel that it would boost breedings for larger farms and away from smaller. Ironically, some larger farms feel the same about reverse. Others feel it would cause a drop in stud fee prices. But this all turned out to be a moot discussion, because the real impediment is the unique reproductive science of the alpaca itself. It’s also important to know that under current rules, alpacas conceived using assisted reproductive technologies are prohibited from registration in the Alpaca Registry (ARI).
So I’m not a vet or a researcher or anything even remotely qualified to speak as an authority on this topic. However, I do want to share what I’ve found among published work. To avoid any conflicts, I openly and freely admit right here and now that none of this work is mine – I’ve just gathered what I could find from published work from sources such as Jorge Reyna of Alpaca Breeding Technologies, Drs. Jane Vaughan, David Galloway, David Hopkins, David Anderson, Katherine Morton, W.M. Chris Maxwell, and the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) in Australia.
The three most common reproductive technologies being researched are Artificial Insemination (AI), In Vitro Fertilization (IV or IVF), and Embryo Transfer (ET). Of the three, ET is currently in some use in Australia while AI and IV still remain in the research phase.
Artificial Insemination (AI)
Research into artificial insemination (AI) in alpacas began in the 1960’s in Peru. At this time, there are no established AI services in use worldwide, due to the difficulties presented by the unique mating characteristics of alpacas and especially the males. A small number of pregnancies have been achieved through AI. Further research would be needed to productize the use of this technology and achieve a reliable success rate.
Artificial Insemination Advantages:
- Wider use of top herdsires
- No need to transport animals
- Facilitates progeny testing
- Accelerated improvement of the national herd
- Permits cross breeding to change a production traits
- Reduces risk of spreading sexually transmitted diseases
The problems with AI are due to:
- Lack of reliable technique to collect sperm . Current technique is an artificial vaginal tract (AV)
- Length of copulation (17 to 43 minutes) with multiple ejaculations
- Unique mucoid character of the sperm makes it difficult to mix homogeneously with extender for the purposes of freezing and inseminating. Extenders are required to protect the semen against cold shock during freezing procedures.
- Low spermatozoa concentration and low mobility in the ejaculate
- Variation in quality of ejaculates both within and between males
- Frequency of use of the male
- Lack of techniques to store sperm in chilled or frozen form – current success rate 40% at 65 days
- Characteristic of induced ovulation in the female – timing of AI requires preparation of the female prior to insemination
- Use of vasectomized male
- Hormones such as GnRH or hCG
- Seminal plasma (.8-1.0 ml) IM in use in Peru
The most recent work I could find on AI was published in June 2008 on the RIRDC website: Continued Development of Artificial Insemination Technology in Alpacas by Katherine Morton, Jane Vaughan, and W.M. Chris Maxwell.
In Vitro Fertilization
In vitro fertilization is a technique where eggs are collected from a donor female and fertilized and grown in a laboratory , then implanted into a recipient female. IV has not been successfully deployed due to the longer development time of the alpaca oocyte (immature ovum) and its dependency on certain hormonal and lipid (progesterone and prostaglandin) changes in the host female to develop.
Of the three reproductive technologies, in vitro fertilization appears the furthest from development into productization.
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