Design of a village breeding programme for a llama population in the High Andes of Bolivia

No national breeding programme for llamas is in place in Bolivia. Initiatives for genetic improvement are rarely found and are usually carried out by NGOs working in rural development or improvement of livestock production or research stations. Farmers in the Province of Ayopaya in the District of Cochabamba have formed a breeders' organization with the aim of improving fibre production. In this study, a detailed outline of a breeding programme with a focus on organizational and technical details is described. Facing constraints like illiteracy of farmers, bad infrastructure and lack of finances, a simple breeding programme is set up. The breeding goal is a higher fleece weight while keeping the fleece quality at the current high level. Greasy fleece weight and fibre diameter are identified as main selection criteria. Mass selection of males is carried out. Selected males are either exchanged between farmers and used in the herds or are kept during the mating season in a central mating station owned by the breeders' organization. Model calculations were carried out with the program zplan, which is based on a deterministic approach. zplan evaluates the genetic and economic efficiency of breeding strategies considering one cycle of selection. Scenarios with only intra-herd use, using only the central mating station or combinations of those were compared in terms of expected genetic gain and expected increase of inbreeding. Fastest genetic progress is achieved when the males are kept in a central mating station as the selection intensity is on a high level. Rates of inbreeding vary between 0.08 and 0.32% per generation.