BREEDING
At Windy Ridge we use the “hands on” method of breeding. All breedings are monitored and charted. Our breeding season will usually start in early June every year, we do not breed any of our females before June and we do not breed anyone after the middle of September. This way we are expecting our first cria mid May and we will not have any cria after late summer. Too prepare for the breeding season, we make our breeding decisions before hand, by assessing the females traits and the males traits and considering the results we have gotten previously, a chart is done up with the females name and who we will be breeding her to. This of course is not written in stone, once the cria arrives we will assess it and then make a final decision.
We keep a detailed breeding record for each female. When a cria is born we will mark down the birth date and we will schedule the breeding for 14 days after the birth date. If we have had a difficult birth or a bad dystocia we will breed at 21 days or later. We do have a few females that will become receptive after just 10 to 12 days, if they have had a normal birth and they are in good condition we will breed them.
We always keep the breeding records from the previous year handy to review how the female responded the year before. Our maidens are bred at a year of age (or older) and a healthy weight of 100 pounds or over. With our nutrition program, we have never had a maiden female that needed to be held over due to the fact that she was under weight or not mature enough to breed.
Once we have our potential breeding dates set up, they are recorded on a chart and we then schedule the breedings as the dates come up. There are some breeders who will do breedings, in groupings, on days that are convenient for the breeder, we do not practice this method. At Windy Ridge the females are bred when they need to be bred. This method has worked well for us and we have a high percentage of females on our farm that catch and hold with the first set of breedings, including the maidens.
We have a breeding area set up with 4 pens and a possibility of a 5th, so depending on our breeding schedule we could be breeding 4 to 5 females at one time. We do our breedings in the early morning after feeding. The females are led into their separate pens and then we will bring out the males one at a time. We carry a small notebook with the names of females to be bred and the sires we will be using on those females, so no mistakes are made.
Two things can happen once the male enters the breeding pen, either the female will be receptive and go down for the male or if she isn’t ready yet she will spit or do a lot of running and kicking. There is the odd female who is receptive but has a nasty attitude and will spit and scream as she goes down for her breeding. This can be a bit intimidating to a young male trying to do his thing for the first time.
Once the female goes into cush position and the male goes down on her, we will make sure the tail is out of the way and we will always check to make sure the male has penetrated and is in the right place. It is important to check to make sure the male is in the right spot, otherwise you could be wasting the breeding and your female will not get pregnant. Some males may need assistance getting into position, you can help the male by gently holding the outer sheath of the penis and guiding the penis in place. Once the male is in place, make sure he is flush to the female and his hind legs are placed tight up against the female’s thighs. If the male happens to lose his place or come out of the female you will notice because he will no longer be tight up against the female. If this happens and the breeding is not finished it is a good idea to make sure he gets into place again. Breedings can last as short as 10 minutes and as long as one hour.
Sometimes the female is the one who won’t stay in place, some females will start out in cush position and end up lying on their sides. For most males this position isn’t a problem and the males don’t even lose their place when the female rolls over. You can also have the odd female that is constantly moving around, when this happens you just have to monitor that breeding closely and make sure the male can keep up with his partner.
When each pair has begun breeding we will record the time it starts and will make any notes on the behavior of the female and the male. We monitor all the breedings, if we are doing more than three we usually have two people in the breeding area. When someone finishes we record the time and escort that male back to the herdsire area.
One other thing we do during the breedings is to bring the rest of our females into the breeding area to see if we have anyone open. Because all the breeding pairs are in pens, the other females can walk around freely, if someone is receptive they will go down near a pen and we will make note of it. When the breedings are done, we will take the last male to finish and do a round of spit checks, the results are noted on a spit check sheet and in the breeding records.
If we have a male who is going to breed for the first time we always make sure we start the other males of first and then start the new guy. This way he can hear all the orgleing and hopefully he will get excited enough to want to try it out himself. Most of our young males breed at the age of 2 years.
Once the female has been bred it is now a good idea to note when she has ovulated. We have some females that will spit at the male the next morning (obviously ovulated within the 24 hr period). Some will take a second breeding the morning after the first, and a small few actually need to have 1 to 3 days in between breedings. We note this behavior in our breeding records so we will have a good idea of how to successfully breed that female the next year.
We will continue with our spit checking sessions and once a female has held passed the 21 day mark we are pretty confident that she is pregnant and will hold the pregnancy. For those females that we are unsure about or for any female on our farm for an outside breeding, we will do a blood test to check the progesterone levels. We will continue to spit check until our breeding season is over. If a female comes open in the late fall she will be held over until the next season. In ten years of breeding we have had only two females that had to be held over because they came open outside the breeding season.
With accurate breeding dates we can determine a due date for the cria basing it on a 340 day gestation period. With previous recorded births on hand we can also note if a female has a shorter gestation period or a longer one.
Some other things to consider at breeding time:
Never breed animals in full fleece, especially the males. They can easily become over heated, males can become impotent and could even die from heat stress.
If you are doing outside breedings it is a good idea to make sure the female has had all her shots before coming onto your property. And always ask the owners if there has been any recent health issues on their farm, like infections or mites. If so, you might want to reconsider allowing that female on your farm, or take the necessary precautions to ensure the health of your alpacas.
If the female to be bred has any abnormal discharge it would be wise to have her checked out before she is bred, especially if she is from another farm. You don’t want your male to catch something that can be transferred to your females.
Have a breeding contract available outlining any special previsions that your farm may have.