MAPACA Quarterly Meeting at New Bolten Center
? We recently attended the MAPACA quarterly meeting that was held at the University of Pennsylvannia New Bolton Center.? There was the usual business meeting in the morning where we were given details about the upcoming Jubilee show in Harrisburg.? It sounds like it should be another great year for the show.
After lunch we got to the part that everyone was waiting for, the presentation by Dr.? Walter Bravo on alpaca reproduction.? It was a very informative presentation, covering all aspects of alpaca reproduction, the three main areas being the females, the machos (males) and the cria.? He had great information on fertility and growth rates along with comparisons between South American and North American alpacas.
The final portion of the day was a presentation of what New Bolton Center has to offer alpaca breeders.? The main thing we were interested in was the availability of assistance for problem births and/or late term pregnancy issues.? They can also do quite a bit for infertility issues if that is a problem for either your female or male alpaca.? It’s nice to know there is such a facility near by, it would take us two ours to get there but somewhere like Ohio State would be eight hours or more.