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When
I do a mobile mating I insist that the female be receptive
before I leave home, and that the dam owner spit check the
bred female on Days 6, 13, 20, 27, and 34 after breeding.
Re-breeds were done as necessary. The reason for this
timing is so that, if necessary, I can return to do a
re-breed at a 7-day interval. Alpacas have a 19-21 day
cycle (let’s not get into spontaneous ovulation right now)
so timing the spit checks at 7 day intervals helps hit the
alpaca’s receptive times with consistent accuracy. It also
helps to identify any hormonal issues that may arise. I
didn’t come across any alpacas that I even considered to
have a hormonal imbalance in 2007. Whether this was good
luck or not, I’ll take it!
Dam
owners were also encouraged to re-confirm pregnancies after
these dates and especially before the end of August in case
re-breeds were necessary.
You
are probably starting to wonder what my point is. Well here
it is. I am so anal (just ask my sister) about spit checks
that herd owners actually go out to the barn and do them on
the appointed day, because they know if I don’t hear from
them, I’ll be calling to confirm that the spit check is
done. The huge bonus here is that by holding the herd owner
accountable and not deviating from “the plan”, pregnancies
are confirmed and re-breeds are done in the shortest amount
of time necessary. With an 11 -11.5 month gestation period,
it is not hard to lose time between birthing and positive
pregnancy confirmation, and have to “hold over” a female
until spring to breed her. This lost time is lost money, in
the form of a cute cria you can sell or add to your breeding
program. If you have a female that consistently births at
11 months, you can actually gain time by breeding her back
at 14 days after birthing – providing you get a pregnancy on
the first breeding attempt! It is a goal well worth aiming
for.
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2007 Mobile Mating
Stats
Eighteen females were serviced by mobile matings using the
various studs at Sire Power Alpacas. Although there were
other breedings done with these studs, only the mobile
matings are used in these statistics.
| |
Day
1* |
Day 7 |
Day 14 |
Day 28 |
| 1 breeding |
10** |
|
|
|
| 2 breedings |
|
2 |
4 |
|
| 3 breedings |
|
|
|
1 |
| Not pregnant |
|
1*** |
|
|
* Day 1 is
considered the date the female was first bred.
** One pregnancy was
lost due to Embryonic Death at Day 112. The female was
rebred once more in late fall, but did not become
pregnant. She will be rebred in the spring of 2008.
Not pregnant at the end of the 2007 breeding season.
This was a mature female.
***
This female was
bred in the fall in an attempt to get a pregnancy in
2007. She was bred on Day 1 and Day 7, but did not
become pregnant at either of the breedings. She will be
rebred in the spring of 2008. Not pregnant at the
end of the 2007 breeding season. This was a mature
female.
Summary of 2007
mobile mating:
16 pregnant
females
2
not pregnant at the end of the 2007 breeding season
18 females in
total were bred using Mobile Mating
Over all
conception rate on first breeding was 55.5%.
Average number
of breedings per conception was 1.3
Maidens vs.
Mature Females
| |
Maidens |
Mature |
| Total Females |
5 |
13 |
|
Pregnant – 1st
breeding |
3 |
7 |
|
Conception Rate |
60%* |
53.8%* |
* Considered average
conception rate for maidens
** Although 53.8%
would appear to be lower than average conception rate,
please remember that no females were withdrawn from the
numbers for any reason. The ‘good’, the ‘sorry I
already ovulated’, and the ‘I’m not in the mood today’,
are all counted. There were also three females that
were ‘discovered’ to be open while spit checking another
female. These three posed a challenge. Even though
they were all responsive on the first breeding, only one
became pregnant on the first breeding.
Incidentally only one
female of the eighteen bred was non-responsive when I
arrived to do a breeding.
This female was also
on the only farm that I visited that did
not have a male on site to confirm that she was
responsive. We just winged it and
I got
to return 7 days later to do a successful breeding that
resulted in a pregnancy. It was a nice day for a
drive!!!
What do all these numbers mean?
Well, creating accurate statistics on anything makes me
happy, so I’m good. As for all
of you reading this,
use these stats for any purpose that seems realistic to
you, just please do it fairly.
This is the way the cookie crumbled
for Sire Power Alpacas in 2007. I am sure 2008
will have some different challenges,
but now I have a
yardstick (I avoid metric whenever possible) with which
to compare my progress.
May you all have genetic
improvement
in the next
generation.
Deb
Griffey
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