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Alpaca DNA for Dummies

"The sire does not qualify." Words that terrify breeders.
"The dam does not qualify." Words that make people say that ARI is composed of idiots. Hang on there, let's look at how this whole DNA thing works, maybe it's not their fault.
In order to prove parentage, a minimum of 7 markers must match. First the dam is checked, if she matches, the sire is checked. If they both have 7 markers that match, the registration is validated, and your little girl is registered.

You can see your alpaca's DNA detail at the ARI website. After logging in, click "Perform Database Queries", then click "Review Your List Of Registered Alpacas"

Click the DNA detail radio button on the right, and the DNA detail for that alpaca will pop up. This is the DNA data.
Note that although 14 markers were tested, they were only able to get results on 13. the -1/-1 means the data was not reliable on that part of the test.

Until September of 2005, 10 markers were looked at, and with new technology came the ability to look at 14, and one marker was eliminated. Now let's do a comparison on this cria and his parents, and make sure the dam and sire were correctly chosen.

Note that his sire was tested before September 2005, so he only has 9 markers on file. I will compare the dam first, and mark the matches in pink. If the dam passes, I'll check the sire out and mark the matches in blue.

On this cria, we had 8 matches to the dam, which is sufficient for registration. The minimum requirement is 7. In a perfect world, we'd match every line. Perfection of course, only happens in the movies, so let's look at possible causes for errors:
I touch it with my thumb, and leave some of my own DNA on it. The cat walks over it while it's damp. The postman spills a bit of coffee on it There are a lot of minor things that can make a test partially or completely unusable.

So, how can you put this data to work?
It's not uncommon for us to make mistakes, we select the wrong sire at registration, or someone leaves a gate open and all the boys join the girls, and a girl or two gets pregnant. By doing a little work on your own, you can save yourself time, money, and frustration.

If you don't know who the daddy is, request the available DNA markers from the cria and do your own comparison to all of the boys that could be the culprits. Don't forget the weanling males, even an 8 month old may have done the deed. You may find that you can determine who the daddy is.
Another time this might be useful is if you have 2 crias born on the same day, and accidentally switch the cards.

On this particular cria, the sire does not qualify. By updating the sample as requested on the ARI website, you will increase the likelihood of a quick registration.
The girl below is due in a couple of months, she'll be getting a new FTA card when she delivers. Maybe now is a good time to check your alpacas.
With this girl, I'll send her card in and wait for the results to show up before I register the cria, as it will prevent the retest request and save time and money in the long run.

Now, I'll explain an exclusion, and another chance for error. This error is based on the lab processes used. Keep in mind that in criminal investigations, DNA matching could somemtimes be in the thousands of dollars. We're paying $39.
Every allele can only come from one parent or another. If we were paying $1000 per test, we'd likely see perfect matches, but we'd also likely need to send in 3 vials of blood to obtain it.
If we have 7 matches, we are allowed 1 exclusion. If we have 8 matches, we are allowed 2.
An exclusion is a variation of more than 2. Example, a cria has LCA19: 150/170. Let's say I look at the dam and see LCA19: 150/174. I know where the 150 came from. I look at the sire and see LCA19: 86/100 That's an exclusion, I can not identify where the 170 came from on the cria. If the sire had LCA19: 152/176, that would be within the margin of error on the test and not be counted as an exclusion
Here's one that I'm working on now, note I marked one as an exclusion in bold italic green. The dam only matched 6 markers, the sire matches 7, there is one exclusion. The dam only has 8 markers to begin with, so it's not surprising we didn't hit 7. We're sending new FTA cards for the dam and sire, which should clear things up

If you'd like all of the scientific data, you'll find that info HERE