Love is in the air....

Well, it is officially February! I am reminded by my frisky open girls, flirting with the males across the fence, that breeding season is almost upon us. And, so is birthing season this spring -- my favorite, albeit most anxious, time of the year.

I love seeing the results of all our carefully thought-out combinations. I once attended a lecture where the speaker, a renowned professor that often talked about husbandry and growth of the alpaca industry, reported that he spent many hours (somewhere along the lines of 60-80 hours) researching his key pairings. What? That seemed really long. Maybe we weren't holding to our proper business goals as well as I had thought.

Well, he said that he reviewed all the previous offspring of this female and their heritage vs. the results (their characteristics). And, he reviewed each potential male candidate on his list, and then all of their offspring vs. their characteristics. He weighed the pros and cons of each and weighted that against his goals for his breeding program and specifically this female. Well, then I understood! We also do that. It's part of what I love in determining our breedings, seeing if we are achieving our goals -- one step at a time, one cria at a time.

So, my advice is to put as much thought and research effort into your breedings as you have hopes and desires for the outcome. Then, you are always gaining something, even if it's only knowledge of how better to plan this year. Good luck!