Thank You Mike & Steph Barnhart of Alpaca Trading Company
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Alpacas Without Borders™ is committed to promoting genetic diversity within the North American alpaca population. Through marketing, education and the production of exceptional alpacas of mixed heritage, Alpacas Without Borders™ strives to advance the concept of breeding alpacas based on positive individual attributes without regard to heritage. By promoting genetic diversity, Alpacas Without Borders™ believes that the resulting offspring will not only surpass our expectations with respect to positive fiber attributes, but will also exhibit a strong, lifelong correct conformation while retaining the health and breeding vigor of their native ancestors.

Alpacas Without Borders™ does NOT advocate importing additional alpacas from South America. Our mission can be completely satisfied with the current ARI-registered breeding stock.

Alpacas Without Borders™ “came out” at the recent MAPACA Jubilee. We passed out buttons and membership forms and chatted with a lot of breeders to explain the group’s purpose. The message spread by word of mouth, and we talked with more breeders and passed out more buttons. All in all, a very positive start for what we hope to be a heightened appreciation of (1) valuing an alpaca based on its individual physical attributes and of (2) genetic diversity.

The goal of AWB is to promote the philosophy of valuing alpacas based on their individual phenotype – regardless of the country of screening of the previous generation(s) – and to promote genetic diversity. With a collective experience of over 40 years in the alpaca industry, the four organizers observed a growing, and increasingly disturbing, trend towards valuing an alpaca based on its heritage rather than on the attributes of the individual alpaca. We believed that many high-quality alpacas were devalued because they, or their progenitors, were not screened in Peru.

OK, the P-word has come out. Before I go any further, let me state that we are NOT opposed to Peruvians. In fact, all of us have full Peruvians in our herd. We also have many other awesome alpacas of alternate heritages – Chilean and Bolivian crosses or full Chileans and Bolivians. But from our own experiences, and in discussions with other breeders, we have noted an increasing demand from new and potential breeders to focus exclusively on the full Peruvian alpaca. The existing market also places a higher value on a full Peruvian vs. a mixed heritage alpaca of equal quality. We believe that robust marketing efforts have led to a perception that full Peruvian alpacas are ‘better’ than alpacas with a mixed, or alternate, heritage.

We recognize and appreciate the strong message emanating from these marketing efforts, and in response, have decided that this is a time for a similar effort to be put forth by alpaca breeders who are also focused on breeding the best alpacas possible – but have followed a different path - i.e. breeding for the best without regard for country of heritage. Thus, our goal is to promote the philosophy that an alpaca should be valued primarily on tangible positive attributes. In addition, we plan on supporting this philosophy through educational references and concrete examples of award-winning “American Alpacas”. Looking to the future, we would hope to see alpacas marketed and promoted based on their positive qualities related to fiber, reproductive ability, conformation and performance.

The concept of the “American Alpaca” embraces genetic diversity. Alpacas Without Borders™ feels strongly that genetic diversity within the American alpaca herd should be encouraged. The population of alpacas that constitute the North American herd has already suffered four genetic bottlenecks: (1) the Spanish invasion, (2) the culling of colored alpacas, (3) the land reforms and the terrorists of the 1970s and 1980s, and (4) the importation into North America. As a result, the North American alpaca herd is genetically limited (although to what extent, no one has determined at this time). Within this country, we have a tremendous opportunity to retain the vitality and reproductive strength of the alpacas’ ancestors by breeding for hybrid vigor within our herds. The availability of genetics from Chile, Bolivia and Peru allows a breeder not only to select the attributes he desires for his breeding program, but also permits the promotion of hybrid vigor through carefully chosen matings.

We encourage all members of Alpacas Without Borders™ to be ambassadors for the “American Alpaca” and genetic diversity as it is our sincere belief that the industry’s long-term success will be best served by this philosophy. Member input is also welcome with regard to creative ideas for enhancing the perception of the “American Alpaca”, reaching new and potential breeders, options for networking among Alpacas Without Borders™ members, educational formats or other strategies for raising awareness.