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Pacomarca:
AGiant Step Toward
Controlled Genetic
Improvement
By Renzo Morante and Alonso Burgos
F
OR MANY YEARS
,
ALPACA BREEDING IN
P
ERÚ WAS AN ACTIVITY OF THE POOR
HIGHLAND PEASANTS
. Not much thought was given in terms of genetic selection
for fiber improvement or simply better fertility rates and lower mortality
figures. Alpacas were raised primarily the same way the Spaniards left them
after the conquest. Few people and only two companies did make isolated
efforts to improve things, even if this meant only a resemblance of what
alpaca breeding must have been during the times of the great Incan Empire.
76
Alpacas
Magazine