SRS® in Alpacas

We first attended our first Jim Watts SRS® alpaca workshop way back in 1997. You really can't attend a SRS® workshop without at least questioning whether your breeding philosophy and selection criteria is capable of unlocking the secrets of the pre-Spanish conquest alpaca.

Since 1997, we have used the SRS® breeding system as a guiding philosophy for our breeding strategy. This means that we have placed a higher priority on increasing the greasy fleece weight per animal on a strong, well balanced frame rather than directly chasing low micron.

We are a SRS® subscriber which means we use the the biological understanding of how wool follicles grow to guide our breeding strategy.

Our breeding objectives are:

• to breed for silky soft, deeply crimped fawn and white fleeces
• to breed huacyas that exhibit minimal 'micron blowout' when run on improved pastures
• to breed fleeces with both superior length and density
• to breed animals that do not exceed 25 micron on their fifth fleece.
• strong confirmation
• early maturity

Our selection criteria are:

• to select for very soft handle
• to select for deep crimp
• to select for ultra-bright lustre
• to select for sufficient nourishment
• to select for match stick size bundles
• to ultimately select for very high S:P follicle ratios in excess of 17:1
• to select for long fibre length
• to select for strong frames, heavy bone and deep barrel in the chest
• to select for loose, thin skins
• to use relevant Alpaca Breeding Values (EBV) to assist the selection process

We do not directly chase for low micron or follicle density as we believe that under improved pastures, it is more important to select for higher S:P follicle ratios and highly defined deep crimp.

The use of skin tests to determine the S:P ratio and follicle density/mm² are becoming a more widespread tool in alpaca breeding. Alpacas considered of good fleece qualities by current industry standards have, on average, a follicle density of about 40 follicles per square millimetre and an S:P ratio of 10 to 1. The fibre length of young adult animals averages about 0.4mm/day, and in older animals, about 0.25mm/day. The higher the fibre length to staple length ratio, the higher the crimp amplitude (that is, the deeper the crimp) is likely to be (Source: Dr Jim Watts, personal communications).