Alpaca Embryo Research

Cas-Cad-Nac Farm was proud to be the first alpaca breeding program in the United States to ever register a Huacaya alpaca cria derived from a pregnancy that used embryo transfer technology (an embryo flushed from one female and then successfully implanted into a surrogate dam, who then carries the pregnancy to full term, delivers, and suckles the resulting offspring).

Jennifer Lutz, with the help of her mentors Dr. Paul Taylor and Dr. Curtis Youngs, has also been at the forefront of research pertaining to the applications of modern animal reproductive technologies in alpacas.

Jennifer, Dr. Youngs, and several colleagues in Peru have also pursued research into the implantation of previously frozen alpaca embryos – work which could have wide-ranging applications for the future for the global alpaca community. In 2019, the first ever live birth of an alpaca derived from a previously frozen embryo took place here at Cas-Cad-Nac with the arrival of a young female cria, CCNF Exuberant Frost Blossom. You can see the paper relating to that work by clicking here.