Introduction
Genetic factors are very important in determining breeding improvement, and different alpacas vary in their ability to deliver genetic improvement to their offspring.

Geneticists can measure that ability across a range of characteristics (traits), and report to breeders which animals are most likely to pass on their genetic merit in any given trait to their progeny. They do so by gathering performance and pedigree data, collating these records, and applying a genetic analysis program to produce Breeding Values.

While genetic improvement may occur without the use of Breeding Values, applying them in mating decisions will normally increase the rate of genetic gain very significantly.

AGE and alpaca genetic improvement
In 2003 the AAA introduced a new Across-herd Genetic Evaluation (AGE) service to assist all members to achieve their individual breeding objectives; that is, to maximise their herds' genetic improvement.

A broad range of optional traits can be recorded and analysed to ensure all members' breeding objectives can be assisted. Private (and future Public) reports allow both breeders and commercial fleece producers to take advantage of the information produced by the AGE service.

In 2004 the AGE Project was extended to members of the Alpaca Association New Zealand (AANZ) who already have the necessary pedigree linkage through their own IAR database.

While involvement of breeders in the AGE service is strictly voluntary, the success of AGE will play a major role in ensuring prosperous development of the alpaca industry in Australia and New Zealand.

Breeding improvement
Traditionally, alpaca breeding advances in Australia and New Zealand have been based on show results, on-farm appraisal, and pedigree records in the International Alpaca Register (IAR). The IAR database is owned by the AAA, but independently managed and administered by the Agricultural Business Research Institute (ABRI), University of New England, Armidale NSW.

AGE is administered by the AAA and the AGE genetic analysis is conducted by Advanced Breeding Services, Orange NSW, a commercial arm of the NSW Department of Primary Industry. It is directly linked to the IAR, the combined databases enabling an extremely powerful selection tool that is revolutionising genetic improvement in the Australasian alpaca industry.

Those same genetic tools employed by the AGE have been and remain very effectively employed by the sheep, dairy and beef industries for many years.

AGE is suitable for all breeding objectives. Most alpaca breeders seek larger quantities of more valuable fibre, incorporating such things as fineness, softness, lustre, and colour evenness. For others the emphasis may be on better conformation, higher fertility, bigger body weights, or resistance to disease and illness. AGE offers many options for breeding goal priorities.

AGE service
The AAA and AANZ invite members to measure and collect performance data for their alpacas on characteristics important to them, selected from a broad range of optional traits considered important to breeding improvement.

The data collected and reported to AGE by breeders is used to calculate the genetic performance (breeding) values for individual alpacas and their relatives.

Most importantly, the breeding values produced by AGE take into account the effects of variables such as climate, management, sex and age and therefore enable comparisons across herds to be reported on a level playing field. Thus breeders can compare individual alpacas evaluated in the AGE, or any individual alpaca with the industry benchmark.

Alpaca Breeding Values (ABVs) can also be used to annually benchmark a herd or the whole industry, thereby allowing the rate of genetic improvement to be mapped over time.

Small cost

Note:
Fees, if any, for AAA members’ data will be discussed during upcoming budget talks. Members will be advised of the outcome via this website and in the AAA Ltd. National Newsletter

AANZ members will be charged $NZ 5.65 (incl. GST) per animal, per submission.

The genetic performance of all alpacas enrolled in AGE is automatically updated on each analysis as more data from their relatives is added to the database.

For the one-off fee breeders can report to AGE up to 30 of the optional AGE traits available (see list below.) To ensure performance is accurately reported clear and easy to use protocols are required to be used when evaluating the traits submitted to AGE. The traits and protocols have been defined with input from breeders, geneticists and other scientists.

Large Benefits
After breeders supply their alpacas' performance records, the AGE service provides confidential private reports for each enrolled alpaca indicating its performance in each of the assessed traits, as well as a comparison to the industry benchmark. By measuring those same values in relatives and progeny, geneticists can define what is called an Alpaca Breeding Value (ABV) for each trait evaluated.

Reported as a positive or negative value relative to the industry benchmark, an ABV is a measure of that alpaca's ability to pass on improvement in that trait to its progeny.

Breeders can also combine several ABVs for any given alpaca into a single number called a Breeding Objective Value (BOV). This describes the animal's breeding value relative to the BOVs of all other AGE alpacas. In this way a group of alpacas can be compared and ranked against a breeding objective. A range of four industry-standard BOVs are currently available and in the future personalised BOVs will be able to be developed for a breeder and reported with their alpaca.

Overall, the rate of genetic improvement in alpacas by traditional breeding selection is likely to be about 1 - 1.5% per annum, following some 20 years of importation of outside genetics. Experience in other livestock suggests that using AGE breeders will be able to double the rate of their herd genetic improvement as well as benchmark their herd's industry performance and their herd genetic improvement over time.

Improved Accuracy of Breeding Decisions
An alpaca's ABV for any trait is more accurate than its measured performance alone, because ABVs account for the following effects which otherwise mask an alpaca's true breeding value:

• Early age effects. Age of the dam and progeny date of birth must be accounted for so that, for example, an animal born late in the season is not penalised relative to cria born earlier.
• Pedigree. Pedigree records allow the performance of relatives of an alpaca to be used to more accurately describe the performance that animal will pass on to its progeny. For example, an animal whose relatives all have well above average performance for a trait will breed progeny that also demonstrate above average performance - even if the animal itself shows only average performance. IAR pedigree records also provide the links that allow different mating groups, different years and different herds to be combined in the AGE so that all alpaca ABVs can be directly compared.
• Heritability and trait correlations. Once known, the heritability of a trait (how much of the desirable trait is passed on to offspring) and correlations between traits (the effects of one trait on another) are accounted for by the AGE analysis. Trait expression can change with age, which is why it is important to record an alpaca's age and fleece growth at the time of assessment. Measuring the change of some traits over time (e.g. fibre diameter and fibre length) will also be valuable.
• Multiple trait assessments. Breeders often measure traits such as fibre diameter a number of times over years, and often the best estimate of genetic performance is a combination of all assessments for the trait.
• Environmental variation. Variation between and within different groups of alpacas is affected by their environment and feeding, as well as other influences such as prior selection. To obtain accurate ABVs the assessed records need to be standardised to remove the effects of unusually high or low variance in the group resulting from their environment and prior selection.

Confidential AGE Reports
The following AGE reports are provided to participants as they are progressively developed for alpaca:

• Genetic Performance Report: Traits recorded in the AGE are reported as Alpaca Breeding Values reflecting genetic performance where the available knowledge permits these to be calculated. The breeder's brief recorded comments on an alpaca can also be included.
• Breeding Objective Value Report: All alpacas can be assigned a BOV for the Breeding Objective defined by the breeder, and then can be reported in rank order for a trait or BOV for the objective, or simply listed in tag order.

Future Developments

• Breeding Objective and Likely Genetic Progress Report: A personalised BOV will be able to be developed, and the likely genetic progress that will result from using that BOV in the participant's herd will be able to be described.
• Genetic Trend Report: The genetic progress that has been achieved in each of the previous years for the traits that are evaluated and the BOV will be able to be described.
• Mating Recommendation: Based on the genetic performance values and pedigree records of the herd, mating allocations can be made to maximise genetic progress and minimise inbreeding.

AGE training and support
AGE training workshops are periodically organised throughout Australia and New Zealand for members interested in the AGE program. Regional AGE mentor volunteers are also available to assist breeders.

How do I Start?
Please refer to the AGE Data Instructions and the Excel data form. Then decide which traits are important to your breeding aims from the Trait List and how and when you'll measure them. Fill in the data and email it to Janette in the AAA Office.

AGE training and support
AGE training workshops are periodically organised throughout Australia and New Zealand for members interested in the AGE program. Regional AGE mentor volunteers are also available to assist breeders.

"Five Star" AGE Service - promoting your commitment
Breeders will be able to promote their involvement in the AGE Service by using the "Five Star" AGE Service rating system. One star indicates that you are enrolled in the AGE and each additional star indicates a higher level of involvement - as shown in the table below. The "Five Star" rating system provides you with instant recognition of your AGE involvement for use in promotional and sale material. Clients will look for your AGE "Five Star" rating. The number of stars shown in the table indicates a breeder is providing the service shown at that level as well as the service at all the preceding levels.

"Five Star" AGE Service rating levels

AGE Level	Nbr of Stars	Member's level of AGE Service required to use the rating
AGE	*	Pledge to use AGE
AGE	**	AGE is being used
AGE	***	AGE data is available to stud clients
AGE	****	Breeder is trained to use AGE
AGE	*****	Breeder provides client training in the use of the AGE

First Star AGE *
Breeders get their first star by pledging to use the AGE as soon as they have progeny eligible for AGE Stage assessment

Second Star AGE **
Breeders get their second star as soon as results of the first AGE evaluation are reported.

Third Star AGE ***
Breeders get their third star immediately they get their first results if they undertake to make all their AGE results available to their clients.

Finally, please remember that the more AGE pedigree-linked data is available, the more accurate and valuable the program will be to its participants. And ALL identified data is kept confidential to the alpaca owner as certified on the data form, but owners may publicise the results if they choose.

AGE Working Party authors: Bob Richardson, Ian Davison, Allan Casey, Colin Langford, Murray Bassingthwaighte

AGE Trait List
Breeders can submit performance information for any of the following OPTIONAL list of traits - ONLY

Abbr	Trait Name *	Units	Details and assessment
FD	Fibre Diameter	micron	Mean Fibre Diameter - mid-side fleece sample
CV	Coefficient of Variation of FD	%	CV is SD divided by mean FD x 100 to provide % variability of FD - mid-side sample
SD	Standard Deviation of FD	micron	Spread of fibres above and below mean FD containing two thirds of the mid-side sample
CF	Comfort Factor	%	Percentage of fibres up to and less than 30 microns - mid-side sample
SF	Spinning Fineness	micron	Calculation of FD CV to represent spinning quality - mid-side sample
Curv	Curvature	Deg./mm	Fibre curvature (degrees/mm) related to crimp frequency - mid-side sample
Med	Medullation %	%	Tested Medullation (% of fibres tested with medullation) - mid-side sample. (Can be tested for white only)
SS	Staple Strength	N/Ktex	Tested Staple Strength (Newton/Ktex) - mid-side sample
SL	Staple Length	mm	Staple Length (mm) as measured (not adjusted) - at the mid-side (average of three measurements)
FW	Fleece Weight	kg	Total shorn Fleece Weight - as measured (not adjusted to 12 months)
SFW	Skirted Fleece Weight	kg	Skirted Fleece Weight (kg) - as measured (not adjusted to 12 months)
MA	Mating age	mth	Age (months) at mating that produces the first live cria
CW	Cria Weight	kg	Body Weight at birth (kg)
BW	Body Weight	kg	Body Weight (kg)
TestL	Testicular Length	mm	Average size (length in mm) of both testicles
Lust	Lustre	1 to 5	Lustre: The degree of fleece lustre - standard score 1 [high] to 5 [low] - midside assessment
GH	Guard Hair	1 to 5	Guard Hair: Level of guard hair across the entire fleece - standard score 1 [low] to 5 [high]
Bite	Bite	1 to 5	Bite: the alignment of teeth and pad - standard score 1 [under] to 5 [over]
Fram	Frame	1 to 5	Frame: The size and proportion of an alpaca - standard score 1 [large & heavy] to 5 [small & light]
FC	Face Cover	1 to 5	Face Cover: The area of the face covered with long fibre - standard score 1 [bare] to 5 [covered]
SkinT	Skin thickness	mm	Skin thickness from special lab test of mid-side 1 cm skin sample
SFD	Skin follicle density	f/sq mm	Skin follicle density (follicles/sq mm) - lab test mid-side skin sample
SP	Sec:Primary follicle ratio	ratio	Skin secondary to primary follicle ratio - lab test mid-side skin sample
Worm	Internal Worms	Yes/No	Had significant internal worms - Yes or No
Stag	Staggers	Yes/No	Had Rye Grass/Phalaris/Paspalum 'Staggers' - Yes or No
Ecze	Facial Eczema	Yes/No	Had Facial Eczema - Yes or No
Heat	Heat Stress	Yes/No	Had significant heat stress - Yes or No

* All traits in the above table are optional and the order of listing is no indication of importance. However, traits particularly recommended for recording include: FD, CV, CF, SL and FW. At present, Alpaca Breeding Values can only be calculated from the major traits being recorded by breeders - but as more data is recorded additional ABVs will be able to be reported.