SRS® Alpacas International

The Objectives of SRS® - Achievable Aims

The objective of the SRS® Breeding System is to assist breeders to achieve accelerated genetic gain in fleece traits for their breeding programs. Integral to the concept of accelerated genetic improvement is that of developing an identifiably unique Australasian alpaca that has been specifically bred to meet the highest standards in commercial fleece and conformational traits, an alpaca that will ultimately benchmark international standards, and will be sought after as seedstock by other breeders around the world. SRS® is a system that identifies and produces those commercial fleece traits that the marketplace is seeking: fineness, handle, lustre, length and style, and delivers these traits with higher fleece weights.

The 'package' of desirable follicle and fibre characteristics we are seeking to breed in our alpacas is:

• Very fine primary fibres of uniform diameters (eventually finer than the secondary fibres).
• High follicle density associated with high levels of secondary follicle branching (the latter equates to high secondary follicle to primary follicle [S/P] ratio. Hence the secondary fibres are also fine, uniform in diameter and highly aligned.
• Very long fibres of uniform length.

The Objectives of SRS® - Progress to Date

Today

Skin tests have shown that alpacas of good fleece quality by current industry standards have, on average, a follicle density of about 40 follicles per square millimetre and an S/P ratio of 10 to 1. Primary fibres are mostly medullated and about 10 microns coarser than the secondary fibres. The average fibre diameter in adult animals generally varies from about 20 to 30 microns.

The fibre length of young adult animals averages about 0.40 millimetres per day, and in old animals, about 0.25 millimetres per day. The higher the fibre length to staple length ratio, the higher the crimp amplitude (that is, the deeper the crimp) is likely to be.

Tomorrow

It is certainly possible to breed animals that are a lot denser, finer and longer than current industry standards. The SRS® breeding goal is to breed alpacas that have primary fibres finer than the secondary fibres, secondary fibres that are up to 10 microns finer than currently seen in adult animals, follicle densities above 85 follicles per square millimetre and S/P ratios above 20 to 1. Ultimately, no fibres should be medullated, irrespective of the age of the animal or the follicle type. The objective is also to improve fibre length to 0.70 millimetres per day or more and maintain this length throughout much of the animal's life.