I purchased my first Alpacas 12 years ago this week. So I’ve been thinking a lot about what the Alpaca industry was like back then, how it is now and what things will be like in another 12 years, in 2029.
Back in 2003, I initially became interested in raising Alpacas for three main reasons. First, Alpacas produce a renewable resource that is both highly saleable and does not require the slaughter of the animal to harvest. Second, Alpacas are “browsers” rather than “grazers”, making them the perfect livestock for the natural forage of the mountain regions of the Great State of Colorado. And third, compared to other livestock such as horses or cattle, Alpacas are still relatively new to North America, there is still breeding work to be done, improvements to be made and therefore money to be made by those willing to conduct those improvements.
One of the first females I purchased in 2004 was a 2002 birth and granddaughter of the great, Peruvian Bueno G173. She produced a half dozen high quality offspring for us over the years and with hindsight, if I could go back and do it over again, I probably would have repeated this purchase. It was one of the few good decisions I made in the early years. However, with a very light fawn or a dark beige fleece color, her fiber micron tests as an adolescent were in the low 20s and for 10 years as a breeding production female, they fell between 25 and 26 microns. This is not good enough.
The truth is that I do not expect awesome fleece numbers from my production moms. Especially during the winter months, I would rather feed a higher protein forage to the lactating moms so that they may sufficiently feed their crias and produce a solid foundation for healthy growth into the future. The trouble is of course, if they get too much protein, they put the excess into their own fleece growth and their fibers grow much thicker, up to 25% to 30% thicker. But still, in this case I would rather err on the side of too much protein rather than too little.
When it comes to fleece production numbers we want AFDs under 20 microns. Average Fiber Diameters under 20 microns will feel just as soft as cashmere, will not be itchy and can be worn next to the skin without irritation. This is where the money is, these fibers will be made into high-end luxury items. However, there is still a good use for the fibers that fall into the 20 to 22.9 micron range.
Using sub-20 micron Alpaca fiber to produce hats and socks is overkill. Because the sense receptors in human skin are farther apart in the areas around the head and feet, Alpaca fiber under 23 microns worn on these parts of the body will still not feel itchy. And due to the superior insulation properties of Alpaca fiber, hats and socks can be made thinner and not bulky, items worn where nobody wants to have to carry around a lot of bulk to stay warm. So utilized in this fashion, sub-23 micron Alpaca fiber still produces a distinct benefit to the end user and that creates value. The ACOA pays $19 per pound raw for Alpaca fiber in the 20 to 22.9 micron range.
Fibers over 25 microns are going to itch no matter where you wear them. For this reason, fibers that fall into this range are best used in fiber art projects or in items such as rugs or wall hangings. But because commercial yarn production can run in the $25 to $30 per pound range and labor costs in North America are high, these items are usually just produced at the cottage industry level. Thus, most Alpaca fiber measuring above 25 microns produced here in the United States never makes it to the yarn stage, it is utilized in insulation projects or it’s made into felted items like dryer balls or boot inserts.
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***)So there it is. While sub-20 micron fiber is ideal, there is still sufficient financial benefit to a healthy production mom making offspring with good growth rates and sub-23 micron fiber. But over 25 microns, unless they’re shearing more than 10 pounds per year, the margins are much too small to make a profit with a small or even medium-sized operation here in the U.S. So the breeding female mentioned above that I purchased back in 2004, with the 25-plus micron fiber production is just not fine enough for the breeding market in 2017. But her descendants are.
Her great granddaughter, born three generations later on 10/12/14, is named
Phoebe57. Phoebe’s early fleeces tested in the 15 to 16 micron range and she is beginning her breeding production career at 18.0 microns. With reasonable care and management, Phoebe57 should produce sub-20 micron fiber throughout most of her career and at the very least, she should always remain in the sub-23 category. So yes, mission accomplished, but it took three generations. And because Alpacas have an 11.5 month gestation period and only one offspring each year, those three generations took a total of 12 years to grow out.
Moving Forward, Looking Towards 2029Many Alpaca farms and ranches across the U.S. are now generating animals that will shear sub-20 fiber throughout their production careers. But a significant majority of these Alpacas fall into the white or light category. With 22 natural colors available, there is still a lot of improvement to be made, especially in the darker varieties, the blacks and greys.
Have you heard of CRISPR? (Pronounced crisper), it’s short for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats. A simple version, CRISPR-cas9, has very recently been adapted to edit genomes inexpensively. So yes, using similar technology to what some large biotech firms have used to create pesticide-resistant corn and soy plants, we will soon be able to edit the Alpaca genome, someday for as little as $1,000. The question of course, is, should we?
I agree there is a romanticism to breeding the old way. But you ask any breeder who has been at it awhile and you will find some level of frustration. Sometimes it works out or we wouldn’t bother trying, but sometimes you don’t get the fineness you were seeking or don’t get the color of fiber you were breeding for. So I ask you, would you rather breed three generations over 12 years to get what you seek, or pay to have the genome edited and get the proper fineness in the proper color in 11.5 months?
I think the simple answer to this very complex question would be most would opt for the shortcut. The trouble is though is that once this method becomes available, it will change the industry for everyone involved. Because if you choose to not take the shortcut, there will be no way to compete with those who do, you will literally be left behind. History is not kind to industries that collectively shun large leaps in advancement, so let’s assume for a moment that the Alpaca industry embraces CRISPR technology. What would the Alpaca business be like in 2029 then?
Well, to be sure, the first attempts at Alpaca genetic improvement are not going to be $1,000, they will cost much, much more. So, per usual, the greatest leaps in advancement at the start will only be available to the rich and powerful, or those who collectively need it the least. The theory being, once the genome is mapped for an ideal female medium silver grey Huacaya with a 16 micron adult fleece, the wheel will not have to be re-invented every time per-se, that work will have been completed. So why not make it available to all Alpaca owners? Sort of like open-source code in the computer programming world or a free Firefox browser to search the internet.
So let’s double-down on our optimistic views of this future Alpaca business and pretend that we as an industry all agreed to collectively improve our businesses using CRISPR to edit the Alpaca genome. An obvious first step and the purpose of phase one could be to create an Alpaca that shears sub-20 micron fiber throughout a reasonable production career in each of the 22 natural colors. We could both fund this endeavor and search for candidates for the procedure by incorporating it into Alpaca Shows. For instance, the only Alpacas allowed to “donate” DNA, or become the basis for future genetic improvement would be Color Champions or Reserve Color Champions. The only Alpacas allowed to “accept” DNA alterations to their future offspring would have to be a 6th place winner or better.
Genome editing was first begun in the 1970s. If you compare a DNA strand to a very long book, early genome editing efforts were akin to adding, removing or replacing a
whole chapter. So imagine if you had a big, heavy, hard-cover book of a long, epic story. In chapter 117, one of the characters you like suffers a dreadful fate. So you go find a chapter you like, from a paperback western where the hero saves the lady in distress. Now take chapter 117 out of the big hardcover and replace it with the chapter from the paperback. And hand over your new creation to an unsuspecting friend to try and make sense of it. I’m sure you can already see where I’m going with this and why genome editing in this fashion can become dangerous.
The most advanced genome editing efforts completed in 2015 using CRISPR-cas9 technology, would be like having the ability to edit a single word. Now imagine that big, heavy hard-cover, long, epic story is the whole contents of the DNA of your 6th place winning Alpaca female. You would begin by locating the “chapter” on fiber fineness and then within, the “words” designating coarse fiber. And from the big, heavy hard-cover, long epic story of the DNA of the corresponding Color Champion female from the year 2029 Alpaca Owners Association National Show, you would also locate the exact same chapter, but this time, the words designating fine fiber. Then simply replace the “coarse” words from your Alpaca’s book with the “fine” words from the chosen one’s book. Plant the edited DNA into a fertilized egg, transfer the new embryo into your female and in 11.5 months... You have successfully skipped three full generations and have leapt forward 12 years in Alpaca evolution.
What if it cost $1,000 to have your 6th place Alpaca female’s DNA mapped and say, another $2,500 to have the edited embryo implanted? Would you do it?
One of my favorite things about my Alpaca business is that I have learned what it can produce. Over the years I have tried specific male to female combinations, I have chased certain traits (like breeding fine to fine) and have tried for improvements (such as breeding coarse to fine). Of course I cannot be 100% accurate, but more or less, I know what works. Nobody else knows my herd like I do and it took years of paying attention and a lot of work to get here. And with CRISPR, all that effort goes out the window. All breeding improvements will be made at the genetic level on a computer. While I am sad to see the old way go, taking the CRISPR shortcut is the smartest thing to do. See, all that time and effort put into learning my herd is limited. It’s limited to only my herd. And other breeders are investing incredible amounts of time into learning their herds. If we collectively made it unnecessary for so many to spend years learning their herds by way of trial and error, think of how much money, effort and time could be spent solving other problems we face in this industry?
Imagine an Alpaca industry where every single cria born, of any of the 22 natural colors, would as an adult shear a sub-18 micron, 8 or even 10 pound blanket over a 12-year production career. Each Alpaca would generate more than $1000 in raw fiber each year. That is a real business model that I think could be viable for families even living in the suburbs. (Gasp!) One-half acre lot, a few chickens, a garden and/or a greenhouse and three Alpacas. Chickens to scratch in the Alpaca poo piles, Alpaca poo compost for optimal garden production. It’s a three-way symbiotic relationship with the humans benefiting at every turn. In North America, having a few Alpacas in your backyard could one day be as commonplace as having a family dog.
Please View Our Additional Alpine Ranch blog posts:
Superfine Natural FibersTop 10 Reasons to Get Started with Alpacas in ColoradoThe Best Natural FiberThank YouLocated in Elizabeth, Colorado,
Alpacas at Alpine Ranch is the home to 30+ huacayas. Breeding quality Alpacas since 2004, we specialize in Foundation Females, Starter Packages & Stud Services for sale. 27 miles S/E of Denver, 32 miles N/E of Colorado Springs, due east of Castle Rock.