Hmmm, I wonder what sort of search traffic that will refer?

Anyway, despite the early flippancy this is a really serious subject. As wannabe alpaca breeders, we’re facing the questions every newbie alpaca owner has to answer. Top of the list is how to select a quality foundation herd. Everything flows from this point, so it must be the correct blend for your circumstances. For us we’re starting off with the bare minimum herd size due to finances – a couple of pregnant females with cria, which we’ll then breed from. Which brings us to the lads.

Stud males cost a fortune, which reflects their immense value to breeders: a stud male will ’share’ its genetic material to the sum of 50% to all cria born. So stud males have a significant influence on your herd’s genetics. It’s important to get the selection right.

So as a new alpaca owner how do you identify a quality male? One that has won shows is an obvious quality. But does ‘best in show’ really translate to best for your starter herd? The male that won that coveted first prize was only judged against its competitors on the day. And who knows? Maybe that winning stud looks great but doesn’t get down to business that well.

Maybe it’s producing a lot of fibre. Maybe its fibre characteristics are impressive (this is a whole other post waiting to happen, I’m learning all about this at the moment). But you must also look at the temperament – how does it act around other males and females? When it’s introduced to an open (erm, ‘receptive’) female, how does it act? Really you need a calm, self assured, confident lothario that knows what to do. What if the show winner uber fibre producing male is actually aggressive to females? Alpacas don’t do kinky, so a male should not start biting and scratching its new acquaintance.

It turns out there’s an established set of criteria for objectively assessing a stud male’s suitability. Every industry has its bible, and in the alpaca world it’s Eric Hoffman’s (hallowed be thy name) The Complete Alpaca Book. This is to the alpaca industry what John Seymore’s Guide to Self Sufficiency is to The Good Life generation. It includes the charts detailing physical characteristics, criteria for judging phenotype, genotype,  behaviour and sexual potency. So here we get to the title: if you had two male alpacas with similar genetics, behavioural and fibre characteristics to the point you couldn’t choose between them, go for sheer testicle size. Seriously: the bigger, the better.

Delve further into the murky world of male stud selection here. And a big thanks to Katy from Fairhope Alpacas for the picture of stud muffin Brutus’ Firecracker. Even the name is potent.