SRS® breeding of alpacas involves the direct selection for low primary fibre diameter and for high levels of fibre density and fibre length.
This approach is adopted mainly because the genetic regulation of fibre diameter is known to differ between primary follicles and secondary follicles.
Primary fibres are produced by the first-formed follicles in the unborn alpaca's skin at about day 214. The secondary fibres, which outnumber primary fibres by about 10 to 1, develop later from about day 343.
The fact that alpacas worldwide still have primary fibres that are on average, 10 microns coarser than the secondary fibres, is a sign that effective breeding strategies to reduce guard hair are not yet in place.
The mean diameters of the primary fibres and secondary fibres need to reduced to less than 17 microns in order to remove all guard hair and fibre medullation.
Another compelling reason for adopting the SRS® breeding approach arises from research work indicating that fibre density, fibre length and fibre fineness are likely to be regulated genetically by the number, distribution pattern and activity of pre-papilla cells in the foetal skin.
The working hypothesis for maximising fibre density and length is:
- pre-papilla cells regulate wool follicle formation and fibre size
- a large starting population of pre-papilla cells need to be available in the foetal skin to create the potential for a large number of wool follicles to be formed
- pre-papilla cells need to be distributed as small clusters to form a high density of wool follicles
- because all the clusters are small, the fibres, whether originating from primary follicles or secondary follicles, will be fine in diameter and non-medullated
- these small clusters need to emit strong signals from the base of the wool follicles to stimulate the growth of long fibres
Laboratory tests show that the density of different alpacas vary from 20 to 90 follicles per square millimetre of skin and the fibre length from 0.20 to 0.60 millimetres per day. Doubling the density and length of fibres on an alpaca would change it from producing a fleece of 3 kilograms of 25microns to the equivalents of 7.5 kilograms of 20 microns or 4.2 kilograms of 15 microns.
So, how do we breed an advanced alpaca producing high fleece weight of fine diameter wool of exquisite quality?
Several things need to happen simultaneously.
- the mean primary fibre diameter needs to reduced to less than 17 microns in order to remove all guard hair and fibre medullation
- the density and length of the fibres need to be increased
LATEST NEWS UPDATES
30/08/10 - SRS® Conference in Western Australia - thanks Carolyn & Peter
On 21 and 22 August, 51 of us gathered at Carolyn and Peter Richard’s Suncloud Farm in Merredin WA for a series of talks, discussions, and demonstrations centered on the theme of working together to breed, consolidate, and deliver superior alpaca fibre to high end, luxury markets. The write-up in the Weekly Livestock (Western Australian version of the Land newspaper) was titled 'Positive focus on Australian alpaca industry'. The article was very supportive of the work undertaken by SRS®, Breeding Advisers and working parties to push the industry forward into the fibre and textile market.
The facilities at Suncloud are magnificent, and Peter and Carolyn (a powerhouse pair) and their enthusiastic team warmly welcomed us all and ensured that we were warm, dry, instructed, entertained, and very well fed over 2 days; giving us not only a superb 4 course conference dinner in the Igloo on Saturday night, but a 3 course breakfast at 8am the following morning! All our Western Australian subscribers attended – well done - and were joined by subscribers from New South Wales, Victoria, and New Zealand.
We are indebted to Carolyn and Peter and their team for the superb facilities we enjoyed at Suncloud, and for their great organisational skill in ensuring all who attended had such a wonderful and exciting 2 days. Thank you again.
12/07/10 - Sunshine Coast Alpacas on Show
This excellent event, organised by Australian Alpaca Association Ltd., Queensland Region, was held on 3 and 4 July 2010. Approximately 160 alpacas were entered. Judging was expertly done by Nerida Aldred. SRSAI breeding advisor, Jim Watts, presented a workshop on the Sunday which was well attended and received keen interest from alpaca breeders.
24/05/10 - Latest Newsletter
In Subscribers Resources- Updates for Subscribers is the latest newsletter. One from Dr Jim Watts detailing the genetic improvement in alpacas in the last 4 years as well as important changes to the fibre standards form 1 July 2010. The second is a report from Julienne Gelber and the Fibre Working Party.
22/05/10 - Alpaca workshop on 3 October 2010
SRSAI will hold an alpaca breeding and fleece preparation workshop at Pat Bova's property at Penrose, NSW, on Sunday 3 October 2010. The workshop will be an opportunity to highlight the WA conference proceedings of 19-20 August and to invite subscribers to bring along their top alpacas and fleeces for display and inspection.
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