Camelid Reproduction 101

Pamela G. Walker, DVM, MS, DACVIM

Alpaca Jack’s Suri Farm – Findlay, Ohio

The Ohio State University – Columbus, Ohio

 

Most alpaca farms in Ohio try to avoid winter births if possible; which means careful planning of breedings sometimes two or more years in advanced.

 

To get started, review your records for all your open females that you intend to breed. If any female had a dystocia (difficult birth), an assisted birth or a retained placenta, they should have a complete reproductive exam including a vaginal speculum exam and ultrasound to determine if any abnormalities exist. Females with a history of dystocia can have many complications that will prevent further pregnancies. It is safer and healthier for your female to have these identified before she is bred many times and damaged further. Possible problems include vaginal adhesions (scar tissue in vagina) severe enough to prevent breeding or cervical tears that will prevent maintaining a pregnancy. Other more rare complications are tears of the urethra or urethral opening. Some of these problems can be repaired, especially if discovered early but many are irreparable. Another possible problem is a uterine, cervical or vaginal infection. Any of these could either cause infertility or early embryonic death. A vaginal speculum exam is required to diagnosis these conditions. Treatment will be discussed below. If a female had an unassisted birth, is in good body condition (BCS 4-5/10) and is 15 – 20 days post - partum it is acceptable to breed her two to three times before seeking veterinary help for possible infertility. See table below.

 

Next, evaluate your maiden females. It is important not to breed your maidens too early, conception and pregnancy maintenance is affected by weight of the female at breeding. They should be a minimum of 100 lbs and 15 to 18 months of age. If you have a 12 to 15 month old female that is “big” for her age and is showing interest in males (“flirting with the boys”), have her evaluated by your veterinarian. Maidens should have a complete reproductive exam done including a digital vaginal exam to determine the presence of a hymen. A hymen is a membrane across the vaginal opening, it is usually a thin membrane, with an opening in the middle. On occasion, it is an overly thick complete wall of tissue that will prevent easy penetration by the male. If this condition is found, the female should NOT be bred by an aggressive male in an attempt to break the hymen down. This can result in possible damage to the female and permanent injury to the penis. A complete hymen may be an indication of a condition called vaginal aplasia (segmental aplasia) which is a lack of complete connection between the vagina and uterus. To diagnosis this condition an ultrasound is required to determine if fluid/mucous is trapped in the uterus. If there is fluid/mucous present, the female can not be bred and should ideally have her uterus removed in the next few years. If there is no fluid in the uterus, your veterinarian can carefully break down the tissue, on rare occasions complications can occur and an opening into the abdominal cavity is made. Once the hymen is broken down, then a vaginal speculum exam can be done to visualize the vaginal cavity and cervix. This is to confirm the presence of a normal cervix. Camelids can have more than one cervix, in which case they should not be bred. Next an ultrasound exam should be done to confirm the presence of two uterine horns and two ovaries – all of normal size and hopefully follicles seen on the ovaries. Many abnormal conditions can exist such as only one uterine horn, too small of uterine horns and or ovaries. If any of these abnormal conditions exist, the female should not be bred. Another factor to keep in mind when deciding the best time to breed maidens is they do not always produce as much milk as they will in later lactations, so plan for late spring, summer or early fall births to give their crias the best possible start.

 

In order to have a successful breeding program, some basic reproductive physiology facts need to be known by alpaca breeders. As a general rule, we tend to think that if a females cushes, she has a mature follicle and since many females will have overlapping follicular waves, this may be true (80% of the time). However, receptivity is actually a reflection of progesterone concentration (low) not estrogen concentration. This explains why some females will have a history of “always breeding”, but not becoming pregnant, indicating a lack of follicular development. Receptivity is also a function of temperament, especially in maidens, a submissive female will cush with any display of “aggression” by a male placed in a confined area. To confuse the issue further, in early pregnancy there is still follicular development and some females will allow breeding. This can be a combination of both temperament (submissive) and the balance of progesterone and estradiol concentrations. I have had several females presented to me as “problem breeders” that were actually pregnant!  Yes, this is all very complicated and confusing! So, below are two tables to help with breeding decisions.

 

 

SCENARIO ONE

 

SCENARIO TWO

 

The above regimens are recommended by two well know camelid reproductive specialist (Tibary, Vaughan) and are meant to maximize the possibility of pregnancies while limiting damage to your female. In camelids, the male dilates and penetrates the cervix and deposits semen into both uterine horns. Breeding lasts on average for 20 – 25 minutes (range 5 – 65 minutes) and even in normal situations inflammation and irritation of the uterus can occur. If breeding is done on consecutive days or serially over several months (to years, and yes that does happen) considerable damage can be done to the cervix and uterus, sometimes irreversible with infertility as the end result. In addition to needless trauma to the female, there is no physiologic advantage to consecutive breedings as the hormone responsible for ovulation (luteinising hormone – LH) is unable to be released again for several days (reason why 7 day intervals). Without taking the unique physiology, anatomy and breeding behavior into consideration many harmful breeding practices have been proposed by owners and veterinarians.

 

Using the above regimen, 90% of normal females will become pregnant. Unfortunately those are not usually the females owners are concentrating on, but the 10% that do not become pregnant. Problem breeders can be very frustrating for both the owner and veterinarian as sometimes, even with the most complete evaluation of the female, a specific problem can not be found. Owners rarely want to accept that not all females can become pregnant (or pregnant again). Some problems encountered that can usually be resolved are possible persistent corpus luteum (CL) and uterine infections. Persistent corpus luteum are not as common as everyone thinks but actually may be what is termed persistent haemorrhagic follicles. Frequently these are follicles that do not ovulate (anovulatory) and instead of producing estrogen, produce progesterone. Most of the time giving Estrumate^®  1 mL, IM for 2 to 5 days will resolve the problem. Another problem is uterine infections. This can happen after a dystocia, retained placenta, uterine prolapse or frequent breeding and/or contamination while breeding. Some females will have a discharge from their vulva or seen on the underneath of their tail; but frequently there are no outward signs and a vaginal speculum exam is needed to diagnose the condition. Treatment starts with culture of the discharge and use of systemic antibiotics; this can be combined with a uterine flush using 500 mL of sterile saline with 2 – 3 mL of Betadine solution added (looks like weak tea) if there is a large amount of discharge present. The purpose of the flush is to rinse out any debris in the uterus and not to just instill antibiotics. These females should not be bred for two weeks.

 

This paper covers information on normal females and the more frequently encountered reproductive problems in camelids. The main take home point is to have your females evaluated if bred three times and not pregnant. It is also important to have your maidens evaluated before they are bred to determine if they are normal. As a group, alpacas have good fertility, so thorough examination is warranted in any female that has not become pregnant in a well designed breeding program.

 

References:

 

Vaughan, JL, Tibary, A., 2006. Reproduction in female South American camelids: A review and clinical observations. Small Ruminant Research 61, 259-281.

 

Walker, P – clinical experience