Sire Power Alpacas - 2007 Mobile Mating Stats

Vol. 4, No. 01 February 2008
Sire Power Alpacas

Submitted By: Deb Griffey
Email: deb@sirepoweralpacas.com

A Review of Sire Power Alpacas 2007 Breeding Statistics

There is still a lot of confusion as to whether on farm breeding is better than mobile mating or drive-by breeding. For that reason (and also because I can’t help myself - I really like statistics), here is a compilation of Sire Power Alpacas 2007 stats for anyone interested.

The results in this study are from an extremely small sample size, so at this point the results are not statistically significant. The more breedings I do and add to the study the more accurate they will become.

To refresh your memory, a mobile mating is when the stud is taken to the dam owners’ farm for the breeding.

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.

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 gain in the next generation.

Deb Griffey
1-519-343-3193
deb@sirepoweralpacas.com
http://www.sirepoweralpacas.com

Print this page