As a breeder, we love it when our alpacas clearly communicate their intentions, and wring our hands when they give us mixed signals instead. This is particularly frustrating during breeding, when despite our best efforts, the male and female do not connect. It was a situation like this, when I finally threw up my hands, looked the pair over, and proclaimed, "OK, you two work this out, I'm leaving!" I took my daughter to her music lesson, promising to separate the two star-crossed alpacas when I returned. Less than an hour later, as I carried my daughter's harp into the house, she ran up to me, "Mom, he's singing his song, he's singing his song!" Ah, music to my ears! What my 7year old was telling me was that the male was "orgling", a sure sign that something was happening in the breeding pasture. We both ran to the sound and sure enough, the two alpacas had worked out their differences, and were happily breeding.
So what happened? This was a proven female who readily accepted hand-breeding on her first pregnancy. She had no medical condition and was open. Why wouldn't this female breed with me at the end of the lead rope this time? My curiosity led me to seek answers about pasture breeding from Teri Phipps & David Schieferstein of the Fireweed Ranch in Banner Elk, North Carolina. They have been active in the alpaca business since 1993 and have extensive pasture breeding experience. I also consulted with Dr. David Anderson, DVM of Ohio State University, where he manages a research herd of 60 alpacas and llamas, including breeding males and females. Any article on pasture breeding would not be complete without capturing the views of Dr. LaRue Johnson BSc, DVM, PhD, a pioneer in diagnosis and treatment of camelid infertility at Colorado State University. He has worked with camelids for over 20 years, and provides veterinary services to a good number of breeders who use pasture breeding as their primary breeding practice. What follows is a question and answer session, with Fireweed Ranch answering as "FW", Dr. Anderson as "DA", and Dr. Johnson as "DJ."
Q: Please define what "pasture breeding" means to you. From the outset, I'd like to ensure we're either talking about the same practice or have identified some of the possible variations in use in the U.S.
FW: "Pasture breeding" is allowing a male to run in a large paddock area with his "harem" of females, and allowing the male to determine when the females are receptive for breeding. Once the female is confirmed pregnant and remains unreceptive for two to four months, we will typically remove the female to one or more separate paddocks comprised of all pregnant females. (If the female has an older female cria by her side, we might remove them from the breeding paddock a little earlier.) Then, when the female is within approximately 45 days of her expected due date, she is moved to a small paddock close up to the house, where she can be closely observed. (In fact, we have recently installed a pair of video cameras that allow us to watch the expectant females even more closely.) When we have females that are within 30 days of their due date, we rarely leave them unobserved for long periods of time, especially within the hours of 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. (In fact, out of 216 cria born on our property, only a handful have been born outside of that daily time period.)
DA: Pasture breeding refers to maintaining males and females together in a pasture during a period during which breeding activity is desired.
DJ: Allowing a male and generally a group of females to cohabitate without human involvement in the breeding process. As the term implies, it is generally accomplished in a pasture but can also occur in a pen. This will vary in length of time of exposure with the management practice, but generally, the female will be exposed for a minimum of 2 follicular cycles which would be approximately 30 days or until the female is pronounced pregnant by ultrasound or minimally behavior refusal or progesterone after removal from the male. Pregnant females and their crias are then removed to a gestating pasture and subsequently the females are once again confirmed pregnant after 75 days of gestation
Q: Many breeders want to have a pretty good idea of when the cria is due. How do you manage a pasture-breeding program to predict a due date with some degree of accuracy?
FW: We also want to know the approximate due date of our females, which in the past we have been able to determine with very good accuracy via "two dimensional" ultrasounds, especially in the hands of an experienced operator. In Colorado, we had the great opportunity to use Dr. LaRue Johnson and Colorado State University for ultrasound work, and found those estimations of due dates to be extremely reliable. In North Carolina, due to the absence of any experienced ultrasound operators, we have been using a series of pregnancy tests including frequent use of behavior testing using other breeding males (often you get a good behavioral reading from merely watching how the other females react to a breeding taking place in their paddock) and then using our own "one dimensional" ultrasound machine (after a substantial amount of practice, I have been very satisfied with the diagnostic results that I have been able to get). Then, we also use blood progesterone tests to confirm these preliminary indications of pregnancy. Because we have fairly close observation of the male and females even when field breeding, and because we test every other week for indications of pregnancy, we feel that our estimates of due dates are typically accurate to within several weeks. Given the natural variation in gestation lengths that we have seen with most females, this is acceptable accuracy for our purposes.
DA: Semi-accurate breeding dates can be derived using ultrasound. If an ultrasound examination is performed monthly or twice a month, , the breeding dates can be estimated within one to two weeks.
DJ: Firstly, with the actual range of gestation being 340 +/- 10 0r more days, I'm not sure anyone can always be certain as to when a cria is to be born. With the herds that I am involved with, we generally do routine US examinations every 2 weeks during a breeding season so that by seeing the pregnancy at an early stage (21-45 days, even I can look pretty good about guesstimating stage and subsequent "criation" date.
Q: One of the purported downsides to pasture breeding is that detection of female breeding problems can go unnoticed for longer periods of time than would be detected in a hand-breeding practice. Can you comment on this statement?
FW: We still will observe and inspect any breeding that we do observe. And, since the alpacas are our full-time occupation and we work at home, we still observe a fair number of breedings. So, I feel that we probably catch most male and female breeding problems about as frequently as we would if we were using hand breeding.
DA: Certainly, reproductive problems are less likely to be diagnosed and treated early. This is a disadvantage of this technique. This is also true for the male (e.g. if the male has problems you are exposing multiple females to him). On the other side, I have had many infertile females donated to my research program in which I use pasture breeding. Many of these females have subsequently become pregnant. I wonder if, in some females, management over-intervention plays a role in selected fertility problems
DJ: With regular US examinations as part of the pregnancy diagnosis determinations, generally a problem female will be detected as early as may be the case in hand breeding and in my opinion with a whole lot less breeding attempts.
Q: There's some thinking that pasture breeding leads to more frequent and unnecessary breeding of females by an overly aggressive male, and that these multiple breedings can lead to more uterine infections. Please comment.
FW: Actually, we find that the males that are used to nothing but hand breeding have much more aggressive breeding habits. It seems that their breeding urges are more pent up and their only interaction with females is when they are finally led into a small pen where there is a single female. That male is much less likely to want to take "no" for an answer than is the more relaxed male who is used to inspecting a group of females for the "one" that is giving off the correct olfactory and behavioral indications of receptivity. In the situation of a pen breeding, an overly submissive female, even if pregnant, may not display sufficient behavioral signs to avoid being bred unnecessarily. We have had very few instances of uterine infections since using field breeding, and the incident rate of such infections seems to be largely unaffected by our change to field breeding.
DA: I actually find the opposite to be true. I maintain about 40 females with 5 to 10 males at all times. The males rapidly become accustomed to the females presence and learn quickly not to fight with each other and to breed only females that are ready. If you take a male that is only used for restricted breeding, such as hand breeding, and place him with females, he will certainly try to breed at will. This is natural based on his conditioning that every time he sees a female, he is supposed to breed. However, 95 % of the males that have been entered into out "free range" program have acclimated readily. I have only removed 3 males because of excessive aggressiveness. I think that many uterine infections are caused when over eager males accidentally enter the females anus and then reposition to the vagina. Males that are continuously exposed to females, I believe, are less likely to exert this behavior.
DJ: Quite the contrary, it has been my observation that actually less breeding occurs with pasture breeding once a male has become accustomed to being a "normal" herd sire. He learns to read the hormones of the females and only breeds when the estrogen peaks...something we humans are not capable of. A formerly hand bred sire may take a bit of cooling his jets as he is turned into a group of females, but after being rejected by spit and using his ability to ascertain the "right time", he will usually breed just once. I actually have dealt with more excessive breeding complications when owners have been hand breeding and especially in the case of maidens that are pre-puberal. Again, a " savvy" male will not be breeding those maidens that are not hormonally correct.
Q: On the male side, what precautions do you take (or recommend) to ensure the male does not injure himself during breeding? With hand-breeding, there is more control in this area - how do you manage the alpacas in a pasture situation in this regard? Do you keep the female tails wrapped or shorn to prevent the penis from becoming entangled in the fiber on the tail?
FW: Again, just because we use field breeding, our layout and work schedules still permits us to observe and even inspect a fair number of breedings. In addition, while we do trim tails when it really seems necessary, alpacas have been breeding successfully without such extraordinary intervention for a long time. After years of raising alpacas, and after hundreds and hundreds of breedings, we have never had the misfortune of having a male injure himself while breeding. (Just a note of caution, we prefer to trim tails, as we have seen instances in which females sent to breed at our ranch had previously lost their tails because they were wrapped so tight that blood flow to the tail was severely restricted!)
DA: Good footing, clean surroundings. You want them breeding on grass, not mud. You wan them to be clean, so ensure good hygiene such as tail trimming, etc.
DJ: While I appreciate that there is a lot of truly "hands on" breeding (i.e.) placing the males penis into the vagina, in my opinion, we are not selecting for good breeding characteristics. A male that cannot successfully mount and achieve intromission on his own should not be used. Good grooming/shearing management of the male and females will generally circumvent the need for tail wrapping. I would never routinely recommend wrapping of tails of pasture bred animals.
Q: Here in the U.S., we place great value on keeping breeding records. How do you keep track of the male's performance in regards to normal length of breeding? Is the fact that the female became pregnant the only record that matters?
FW: For us, it is by far the most important matter, with the second most important factor being how long it takes before we receive an indication of pregnancy. We have never placed too much importance on the length of time that a male breeds, as we have had confirmed pregnancies result from even very brief matings of as little as seven minutes.
DA: Depends on your perspective. Knowing how long the male breeds does give you important information on his libido, changes in his condition, problems with the females, etc. When you are pasture breeding, you are accepting that the only information you will collect is "pregnant or not pregnant". This gives you less control and less knowledge about the health of the male and female.
DJ: Observation of libido, ability to successfully mount and serve the females are important records as well as the success of mating. While pasture breeding implies constant contact by the male, removing him for a day and then observing his behavior upon readmission will allow observation of the interaction with his "harem". It will also perk up his interest in that he will definitely have been concerned that another male has taken over during his absence.
Q: I've read that researchers in South America found that males became complacent after being with the same females over time. What has been your experience in your herds (observing others' herds)? If you noted male complacency or lack of libido, what management practices did you employ (do you recommend) to restore interest or prevent complacency in the first place?
FW: There is some truth to this on rare occasions, but it is not much of a problem unless a female is for some reason having difficulty establishing a pregnancy and is therefore in with the male for a long time without results. In such instances (after checking for a uterine infection of retained CL), we can switch a new male in if we have an appropriate male. In many cases, simply having a breeding male with females in the adjoining paddock will cause the complacent male to take a second look at his own girls. What does not work is having a lone breeding male in the adjoining paddock, as many males will pace the fence line worrying over his girls and defending his territory, to the extent that he neglects breeding altogether.
DA: Again, this depends on your expectation. Males in South America have more of a breeding season. We do not observe that in North America. We breed year-round. Males that are kept with females all of the time, will be less aggressive to the females. They select their breedings more carefully. This is natural and expected. I do not consider that a problem. Males are not supposed to be riding females every day. They are supposed to breed when indicated by the females cycle. I have observed very few breedings on our farm during the last several years, yet we have an 80% + pregnancy rate. A male that looses libido and will not breed in a pasture setting may be unhealthy or unfit to be used as a breeding male.
DJ: I'm also aware that there can develop male complacency or reluctance to breed certain females in a herd. The best solution is to remove the male for a few days to allow him to recuperate and then to more closely observe his/their behavior upon reintroduction. You may find that some females just have his number and will not let him get to "first base"...you'll just have to forgive my male sport term! In S. America, they will actually introduce a new male to cover the unbred in a group of females.
Q: Are there some males more suited to pasture breeding than others? If so, what characteristics do you look for?
FW: A mature, experienced male, especially one that is used to field breeding, seems to readily learn to leave females alone when they are not receptive. An inexperienced male may need to learn from watching other males and simply from experience, and on rare occasions will not be aggressive enough with an older, dominant female. I would guess that an older male who has never known anything other than pen breeding might require some time to adjust to a field breeding situation.
DA: Yes, but I think that this has a lot to do with rearing and conditioning. I have had males that were stud males until we "put them out to pasture". They tried to breed incessantly and ultimately had to be removed. Other males have been intimidated by dominant females and learned not to approach the females. These males failed as pasture studs. These are the exception, not the rule. Observe behavior closely over the first few days. The male should be curious, but not overly aggressive and not completely inattentive
DJ: Innately, these animals are of course presumed to be able to breed without training and in a real production setting, selection pressure will be based on not only the aesthetic criteria that N. American breeders use, but also the ability to breed. There is no question in my mind that the male that has been hand bred prior to pasture breeding will attempt to breed anything that is willing to lie down for him, but after a period of the female herd training him, he will generally settle down.
Q: Alpacas have both physical and social needs for optimum health. How does pasture breeding contribute to the social development of the male alpaca and the herd social order as a whole? Does territorial possessiveness lead to more aggressive males?
FW: We believe that field breeding is a much more "natural" situation, in that it is much more similar to the situation found among wild herds of guanacos and vicuñas.
DA: I would say that we do not fully understand the South American’s perspective on herd behavior. We have a much different management style. Running males and females together may increase social stresses and should be done carefully. This practice is not for everyone to be sure!
DJ: Pasture breeding returns the social structure to what it would have been prior to domestication and hand breeding. The male will of course be territorial and definitely aggressive to new introductions. Whether male, gelding or even a new female, they will receive the herdsire's undivided attention until he finds out she is non receptive to his advances. As a true herd/harem sire, the male will not be observed to pace the fence as much as he did as a hand breeder. 
Q: There is some concern that a stud will either injure or try to breed the cria of the dams in his pasture. Please comment. Also, does pasture breeding result in weaning these cria earlier and separating them out of the stud's pasture?
FW: We have never had a problem with the stud attempting to bred the very young cria, especially when the male is used to being with a mixed herd of females and their young and has a number of females with which to concern himself. As stated earlier, we do separate the female (and their weanlings) out after about two or three months once we have a confirmed pregnancy, so it does not typically enter into our weaning decisions.
DA: In our experience, male breeding of offspring does not occur before the females are ready (e.g. puberty). Typically, our females get pregnant between 14 and 20 months. I have not observed early weaning problems.
DJ: Initially a former hand bred male may do some weird things, but after being "normalized" will not be inclined to breed anything that is not hormonally ready. Only in special circumstances would I condone that a stud continue to be in constant contact with females and crias. During the early postpartum period (3-6 weeks), breeding should be taking place, after which, the pregnant female and cria should be removed. While most alpaca weanlings will not develop puberty before 12 mos., the occasional animal has been impregnated as early as 6 mos. making stud contact with these young female crias undesirable.
Q: What do you like best about pasture breeding? Least?
FW: As a breeder, we find that field breeding is somewhat less time consuming, produces better behaved males, and simplifies our pasturing arrangements. And, because our breeding males are typically pastured with their harem, we do not have a large group of older, breeding males that have to be pastured together, or worse, kept in segregated, small paddock areas.
DA: Best - Ease of management and more natural conditions for the male and female.
Least - Inaccurate records for expectation of birthing and poorer records on parentage.
DJ: Pasture breeding is a lot less work, and much more successful with less breeding per pregnancy and a lot less complications from over breeding. Least? Nothing
Q: Dr. Johnson, are there situations where you would not recommend pasture breeding?
DJ: When we are dealing with unknown or questionable breeders, it would be ideal to supervise and observe the contact. Otherwise, once proven normal behavior and performance wise, they should be allowed to be "natural".
Q: Are there questions you've been asked about pasture breeding that I haven't covered here? What are they, and what additional thoughts do you wish to share?
FW: We feel that field breeding, or at least our variation of it, works best for folks that may be handling a large number of breedings and have someone around to closely observe the herd at most times. (At our current farm, we will typically conduct about 40-65 breedings a year. At times back in Colorado, we were managing as many as 8 herdsires at a time and conducting more than 200 breedings a year!) If we were only doing a few breedings each year, and especially if the animals were spending extensive amounts of time completely unobserved, then we might opt for some variation of pen breeding.
DA: In general, I do not recommend pasture breeding. Our clients desire accurate breeding records. Collection of data regarding duration of breeding, receptive behavior, and rejection behavior, etc are tremendously beneficial when trying to diagnose causes of infertility. None of these records are accurate when pasture breeding. However, pasture breeding may have a place for some llama and alpaca breeders. As the industry moves closer to mass fiber production, pasture breeding will likely be the dominant style because of the least cost nature inherent to this management scheme.
DJ: As more has been learned about camelid reproductive physiology, the various programs of hand breeding used over the past years here in N. America would suggest that breeders have been moderately successful in spite of themselves. Pasture breeding lets this physiology express itself naturally and in my opinion still allows accurate records for prediction of "criation" and parentage verification. Periodic removal of the stud also allows observation of his behavior upon reintroduction.
Q: Dr. Anderson, I noted that in your final comment you do not support pasture breeding largely because of the breeder's need to have records, or the "human error factor"? Is that a fair summary? In what situation would you recommend pasture breeding?
DA: This is an issue of economics and emotions. These animals are extremely valuable and people have a strong emotional attachment to them. Pasture breeding, if it is not coupled with an intensive ultrasound screening process, may result in the unfortunate loss of crias or even the females if the birthing process is not observed. This is evident in the cattle business. Extremely valuable cattle are artificially inseminated or have embryo transfer done and the birthing process is closely monitored. Sometimes, even C-sections are performed to "guarantee" a live birth. However, the "average" "market" cow is pasture bred and checked once or twice daily during a finite "calving period" (usually 60 to 90 days) to see if she is in labor. Imagine not knowing if your female will give birth this month, the next, or the next. If we do not know when to expect criation, we invariably do not do as good a job as we could in preparing the dam for birth, ensuring a safe birth, and intervening only as needed. If the pasture breeding program is coupled closely with an ultrasound evaluation of gestational development, there is no reason that this should not be an excellent breeding tool.
I would like to conclude for now by saying that there is no clear consensus here, just options for different breeding schemes depending on the particular farm operation, and what works best given the circumstances. What is clear though, is that pasture breeding as discussed here, is not a passive scheme, where the herdsire is left to languish in the female pasture or bully his way into breeding non-receptive females. Rather, pasture breeding requires a very proactive approach, and for many breeders, is becoming worthwhile from a production standpoint, and from a herd health standpoint. The frequent use of ultrasound to detect pregnancy is critical with a pasture breeding scheme.
Oh yes, "Cute Sweetie?" Given a few minutes of privacy, she accepted the male on her own terms, without human intervention, and was confirmed pregnant several weeks later.
*the names of the alpacas were changed to protect their privacy! ************************************************************************************
