Like numerous European college-bound youngsters, I had dreamed of going to the US for my higher education and was thrilled when, in 1982, I was accepted by the University of California at Berkeley. I easily adjusted to my new environment to the point where I found myself inexorably tied to the American way of life for the next eighteen years.

After completing my degree, I explored numerous occupations that eventually led me to alpacas. It was in fact nearly a decade ago that I first saw alpacas while visiting a small county fair in New Mexico. At that time I had just purchased some land and had decided to become a full-time rancher. Alpacas seemed to be the ideal farm animal for an inexperienced city girl like myself who wanted to lead a ranching life in the American southwest.

I began with the then common practice of purchasing a package of two females and one male. None of those first animals were of very good quality but slowly a few more, and better quality, animals joined my initial group of three. It took me nearly five years to reach my objective of twenty breeding females. In 1995 I finally started to participate more actively in all the alpaca events that take place every year and began to realize how truly exciting and rewarding the alpaca business could be both professionally and personally.

At just about this time I met Ralph Uber, considered as perhaps the first American alpaca breeder. This kind, retired physician, told me something I have never since forgotten: "People do not visit farms for their females, but only for their herdsires." Until then, I had not really thought of, nor fully understood, the genetic and marketing significance of truly outstanding males. This realization launched me into a nationwide search for a unique male that would place me on the US map of breeders and would give a precise direction to my breeding operation.

I spent numerous months searching through many of the US farms that, at the time, were mostly concentrated in the northwestern part of the US. During this search, I learned another very important truth of this business: Breeders that have exceptional herdsires are unwilling to sell them, even at top prices! The only thing I could locate were promising, but very young, males or more mature alpacas of mediocre quality. It was a very frustrating experience that almost led me to compromise my newly established high standards. Fortunately, one of the last farms I visited was the small backyard of Ken Safley, another US alpaca pioneer, who had been working for years on improving the genetics of his own herd.

Ken Safley was dispersing his personal herd and his son, Mike Safley, was taking over as a leader in the still fledgling US alpaca industry. Within the dispersal herd, there was a four year old silver-grey male, sired by what was then the very well-known and highly prized herdsire, "Cisco Kid." This young but mature male’s name was "NWA General Schwarzkopf" and he was relegated to a background location on the Safley farm because Mike was, in the mid-90s, organizing some of the first Peruvian imports into the US. Mike wanted to make place for his new and prized arrivals and did not regard grey alpacas as a desired colour category in his breeding operation because the fleece is a mixture of white and black fibers of varying microns. For the above reasons, "General Schwarzkopf" was for sale.

I will never forget the day I first saw this stunning animal. As he came at full gallop towards us, nostrils flaring and tail up, he exhibited the qualities I so wished to find in a herdsire: compact and square conformation, huge bones and a dense coat of finely crimped fleece. Besides presenting gorgeous proportions, this young male exhibited an exuberant macho attitude that was unmistakingly bursting with hormonal excess. After my disappointing search, I couldn’t believe my good fortune in finding such an incredible male whose list of winnings indicated a shared appreciation from the show ring judges. I knew from the very first that this was the male that would establish my farm and herd within the industry.

The first year I owned The General I bred him to all my females, regardless of colour matches. He had no offspring on the ground and I wanted to prove him as quickly as possible. The white dams bred to The General produced solid black female crias. The brown females produced black females and so did all the other dams of my herd with the exception of a few grey females that gave me some grey crias. That first year was so amazing that I considered it to be a fluke of good luck that all my different coloured females gave me exclusively female crias of only these two colours. However, the following years further confirmed this unusual genetic feat: The General proved himself, over the years, to have an incredibly dominant black trait that overcame the colour of any dam he bred. Beyond the colour trait, he also consistently produced outstanding alpacas that were easily recognizable as his.

Few males have such a unique capacity for creating trademark offspring and I was very fortunate to have found a truly outstanding one. Although the sex of the offspring is established by the sperm, it is usually considered that the pH level in the uterus sets the conditions for sex determination. The Dam therefore has perhaps a greater role in establishing the sex of her crias than a herdsire does. Nevertheless, a very high number of female offspring can only further the reputation of any herdsire such as The General’s. This exceptional macho allowed me to market top quality animals with highly sought-after characteristics that bring amongst the highest prices in the US market and whose offspring rewarded all their owners with lists of blue ribbons from major US competitions. I couldn’t possibly have asked more from any herdsire.

While my alpaca business was taking off, another major event occurred in my life: In the winter of 1996 my son Hugo was born. His arrival added a new dimension to my life and slowly my priorities started to shift. I realized that the high altitude desert of Northern New Mexico, renowned for its spectacular beauty and isolation, was not the ideal place to raise a little boy. I decided then that it was time to move out of the desert and closer to civilization. When it became known that I was intent on moving, I was encouraged by my family to return to Italy and relocate in Tuscany.

Within three months from this decision, I succeeded in selling my entire herd as well as The General, for whom I received nearly six times his purchase price. I held on to only two of his offspring; two of the only six males The General sired while on my farm! Both young males are outstanding, both have won over four blue ribbons respectively and one is a solid true black while the other is a gorgeous silver-grey with a black nose.

These future herdsires were ideal candidates for export to Italy to serve as a genetic foundation for my new alpaca operation. I had learned from my US experience how important a herdsire is both in determining the overall quality of a herd, as well as establishing a specific farm image on the market. I was intent on bringing some of The General’s genetics back to Italy in the hope of recapturing some of his magic and perpetuating some of his stunning characteristics.

Unfortunately my endeavor to export these two US born males proved itself to be very arduous. The European Community bans the export of live ruminants from the US for fear of diseases such as Blue Tongue and Vescicular Stomatitis. Unable to export them directly into Italy, I then requested an import permit from Switzerland. Unfortunately, once the export quarantine was begun, my black male "ABQ Mephisto" showed positive for the antibodies of blue tongue. Although further testing revealed that he was not infected with the disease -but had only been exposed to it- he was disqualified for export and we had to begin a new export group. This time, my young silver-grey male "ABQ Quicksilver" was entering export quarantine as the only alpaca of a group of five llamas that belonged to Austrian breeder Gerhard Rappersberger, also attempting his first US export into Switzerland. With the assistance of Irene Grether, an alpaca and llama breeder who applied for the import permit on our behalf and supervised the Swiss quarantine process, we finally succeeded in exporting our very small group of American-born, ARI registered camelids in the Spring of 1999.

While tribulating over the US export, a protocol between Chile and Italy was formalized. This connection allowed me to execute the very first direct import of Chilean alpacas into Italy and to bring along some very rare coloured Suris. As a matter of fact, I decided that I would not import a single white or fawn Huacaya in order to better match the colour genetics of my US herdsire. My Chilean females were exported with the calculated intent of breeding them to the known colour potential of my US male. All selected females were fine fleeced black or grey alpacas with a third of the export group in varying shades of browns to be matched with the four ARI registered males coming out of Chile.

Although "ABQ Quicksilver" represents only half of my intended genetic export from the States, and is only one male, I still place very high expectations on the contributions he will be able to make to my breeding operation. His pedigree is documented for over five US generations, all his male ancestors have been winners of their generations and his colour background is fully known. Just as The General had a tremendous impact on my overall breeding operation in the US, I am counting on his young successor to help me establish a new, quality oriented breeding operation in Italy. And for obviously more emotional reasons, this element of continuity between my previous and current alpaca breeding operation is a highly satisfying and reassuring link.

Most significantly, however, this male’s importance lies in the information I have about his potential genetic contributions as a breeder. The detailed knowledge of genealogical records of any animal provides breeders with invaluable information to further improve their stock. The strength of such information can be had only with the existence of registries such as those found in the US or the UK. These registries are valuable indicators of their respective Associations’ strengths and I believe that such organizations should be present in every country where alpacas are actively being bred. I hope that soon Italy itself will have sufficient breeders to justify the establishment of its own association and participate in the European movement towards the establishment of controlled registries.

I am now finally back to work in my native Italy, with my promising young American herdsire, four ARI registered Chilean males and my coloured herd of Suri and Huacaya females. Armed with the experience acquired in the US and the knowledge that my new European neighbors are establishing ever increasing high standards within the industry, I look forward to joining and participating in the growth of the alpaca market throughout Europe.