Alpaca Journal

By Mike Safley

The indigenous Indians of Peru are unique in the modern world.  They are uniformly spiritual, uninterested in politics, and loyal to their families; they are not greedy or materialistic; they express themselves in shy smiles and rarely complain.  Their pride is intact despite the almost inhumane solitude of the Altiplano and dismal treatment by the last 500 years of history.  They have become a forgotten people, often abandoned by their government, exploited by the machinery of commerce and left behind by the advances of medicine and the march of modernity.  It is Quechua Benefit‘s goal to deliver a modest measure of relief and hope to the everyday challenge of their lives.

None of the chronicles written, mostly by Spaniards, that document the hundreds of years of subjugation of the Quechua people reports any instances of redeeming or enlightened treatment of the modern day Quechua’s ancestors.  The conquering Spaniards succeeded in killing hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Quechua men and women by commanding their services as beasts of burden.  There was silver ore to be mined and hauled from the mountains to the coast, tribute to be collected from the length and breadth of Peru, and military expeditions that required an endless number of human porters.  Hernando De Santilla observed that “down there [Peru] there is one disease worse than the rest: the unrestrained greed of the Spaniards.”

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Related Links:

Quechua Benefit: The Mission in the Andes
Quechua Benefit: An Expanding Mission in the Andes

By Mike Safley

 The October 2004 MAPACA Newsletter ran an article that was reprinted from Llama Life II entitled: ‘Registry Creators Condemn ARI Board Action’.  The article relies, in large part, on the point of view of Eric Hoffman and is critical of the role played by the 2003 ARI board, led by Libby Forstner, in canceling the ILR contract. Eric Hoffman’s persistent criticism of the leaders and direction of the American alpaca community is nothing new.  Earlier this year he penned an article for the British magazine, Alpaca World, which is entitled, ‘Ship of Fools’, where he was critical of the ARI membership decision to close the Registry.

For an in-depth look at Hoffman’s claims about Registry closure and his misgivings about our industry’s leaders you can read my article, ‘The American Alpaca Market: A Ship of Fools?  I Don’t Think So!’ at www.Alpaca-Journal.com.

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By Mike Safley

There is an amazing fairy tale floating about: a whodunit really.  The question is who has been managing the ARI database since 1998?  I was surprised to open the Winter 2004-05, issue of Llama Life II and find out that the ILR Registrar, Jan Wassink, was claiming that maintaining the database was never in the ILR’s job description.  After doing a bit of checking, I found that the ARI Board of Directors was equally amazed, particularly in light of the fact that the ARI has written over $1,600,000 worth of checks to the ILR since 1998. 

The issue of who was responsible for maintaining the integrity of the database is critical for several reasons: 1) The database that the ARI received upon terminating the ILR was a mess, 2) The state of the database adversely impacted the ARI’s ability to provide registration services to their members, and 3) The ARI’s credibility was impacted by the fallout from their termination of the ILR.  The mystery then is who was supposed to be managing the ARI database all those years.  I’ll present the evidence, each side’s argument and then leave it for you to solve the mystery.

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By V.E. Fish
From "Wool Technology and Sheep Breeding. 2002 50(4)"

The capability of instruments such as SIROLAN-LASERSCAN™ (LASERSCAN) and OFDA100 to provide measurements of fibre curvature has resulted in increased interest, within Australia among wool producers and exporters, and among overseas top-makers and spinners.  However, the metrology of fibre curvature measurement by these instruments is poorly understood.  Standardized conditions for preparation, and measurement procedures that stabilize the curvature of the wool fibres prior to measurement by either instrument, are yet to be defined.

Based on its strong association with crimp frequency, wool fibre curvature measurement holds promise as a specification, which can be used to add value to wool in production, trading and processing…

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By Bill Robbins

Bill Robbins is a fifth generation Merino breeder, who began raising alpacas several years ago.  He is an astute breeder and a senior alpaca judge.
Bill begins his article with a fascinating review of the history of the Merino in Australia and then seeks to draw lessons from the Merino past to the alpaca present.  He looks to the future of the alpaca with an interesting discussion of linebreeding.  The article concludes with Robbins’ vision of the ideal alpaca.

“My vision for Australia is to produce a huacaya that is square bodied, strong boned, deep framed, medium sized, producing dense, soft-handling, bright, independently stapled, well-defined and tightly-crimped fleece, of twenty-three micron or less.  The fleece will have little or no medullation or guard hair and will weigh five kilograms and above.

Suris will have much the same characteristics.  The locking will be lustrous and individual, with as many locks as is possible to achieve across the body without losing density.  Fleece weights will be similar to huacaya.”

I find his description of the ideal hard to argue with.

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From Beyond the Bale, Issue 1, August 2002.  Australian Wool Inovation Limited - Selective Breeding at Pooginook

Pooginook, one of Australia's best-known Merino studs, says its breeding trials show that random mating, the industry's most common practice, is costing breeders time and money.

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By
R.W. Ponzoni, R.J. Grimson, J.A, Hill, D. J. Hubbard, B.A. McGregor, A. Howse, I. Carmichael, and G.J. Judson

INTRODUCTION
Phenotypic and genetic parameters are part of the ‘building blocks’ required in the design of effective livestock genetic improvement programs.  There is currently no published information dealing with this aspect of alpacas in Australia, and very little worldwide.

In this paper, we report results of a preliminary analysis of young alpaca records, we compare them with other reports in the literature, and we comment on the likely implications of our findings.  We also contrast the alpaca phenotypic and genetic parameters with those derived from Merino sheep.

To read the complete study click here.