More than one million smallholders in the Andean region of central South America exploit alpacas (Vicugna pacos) and lamas (Lama glama) as their main means of subsistence. Alpacas and lamas provide meat, milk, fibre, power and guano; in addition it is an important element of the cultural identity of their producers. With 3.9 million lamas and 3.3 million alpacas the total annual fibre production in the region exceeds 5 million kg. Nearly 30% of the fibre production is transformed on-farm or at the community level. About 80% of the marketed alpaca fibre is white and 12% is finer than 23 microns. Lama fibres have less value and are more variable in colours and fibre diameter than alpaca fibres. Both species of camelids have two breeds, each one with specific adaptation and fibre quality characteristics. Two wild species of camelids exist in South America: the guanaco (Lama guanicoe) and the vicuna (Vicugna vicugna). Both have fleeces with precious down fibres. Specific populations of these camelids are qualified to be captured, sheared and released, providing an additional income to the communities in which they live. Due to support to improve the production of fibre and other products of South American camelids, while preserving a valuable animal genetic resource, the cultural values of the associated production systems, and improving the livelihoods of resource-poor smallholders should be part of a global strategy involving a sustained investment in appropriate R&D.

Indigenous goats of Central Asia and Afghanistan produce cashmere, the warm undercoat grown annually to protect them from cold winters. Cashmere is appreciated in luxury markets, but there are no efforts to conserve these goats. Commercial assessments of their fibre quality have recently been undertaken. Poorer villagers in the most climatically difficult remote desert and high altitude regions are particularly dependent on raising goats. Villagers in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan started selling raw cashmere mainly to Chinese traders in the 1990s. Afghan producers have been selling cashmere for a longer time. In comparison with China and Mongolia, Central Asian and Afghan producers sell their cashmere unsorted and at relatively low prices. Traders do not offer producers differentiated prices according to quality, but world commercial prices are highly sensitive to quality. Producers thus lose potential value. Summaries are given of tests on the quality of cashmere from samples of 1 592 goats in 67 districts and 221 villages from 2003 to 2008. There are cashmere goats in these sampled districts which produce the finest qualities of cashmere typical of Chinese and Mongolian cashmere. There is impetus to increase the production, commercial value and income for producers from cashmere produced by Central Asian goats.

The Australasian Merino population has declined significantly over the last 15 years in response to a decline in the price of apparel wool, both in absolute terms and relative to the price of sheep meat. Over the same period, a national genetic evaluation system based on BLUP methods has been introduced, that is achieving steady growth in adoption by breeders. Genetic parameter estimates for the population provide evidence for considerable genetic diversity for all recorded traits, providing ample opportunity for genetic improvement. More recently, there is considerable evidence for increasingly rapid progress, both in fleece traits and a range of meat production and adaptation traits. The Merino population is evolving towards two broad types – one focused on high quality apparel wools finer than 19 µm and used in enterprises with a wool/meat income ratio of about 3:1, and the other a more dual-purpose animal producing 19–21 µm wool and an enterprise wool/meat income ratio between 1.5:1 and 1:1. Underlying these trends is a growing focus on adaptation traits including worm resistance; reduced need for veterinary interventions; and increased early growth, fertility and mothering ability. Together these trends point to increasingly ‘easy-care’ sheep and exploitation of the available genetic diversity to rapidly increase profitability.

Pacomarca is an experimental ranch founded by the INCA group to act as a selection nucleus from which basic genetic improvement of alpaca fibre can spread throughout the rural communities in the Peruvian Altiplano. State-of-art techniques in animal science, such as performance recording or assisted reproduction including embryo transfer, are applied to demonstrate their usefulness in the Altiplano conditions. Pacomarca has developed useful software (Paco Pro) to carry out the integral processing of production and reproduction data. Mating is carried out individually, and gestation is diagnosed via ultrasound. Breeding values estimated from a modern genetic evaluation are used for selection, and embryo transfer is applied to increase the selection intensity. However, the objective of Pacomarca goes beyond, extending its advances to the small rural communities. Training courses for farmers are organised while searching for new ways of improving the performance of alpacas both technically and scientifically.

Breed performs a central concept for animal science. It is used to define subdivisions of domestic species. This work analyses the evolution through time of breed concept, and the impact of science on breed evolution. Domestication effects are discussed from genetic point of view and breeds were classified as: primary, secondary, synthetic or mendelian. The concept was analysed within South American domestic camelids in which only primary breeds exist. Misleading concepts on Suri alpacas, white coated llamas-alpacas and pure breeds were also clarified. It was finally concluded that some private enterprise, NGO's and public organisations must follow the practical steps of selection to maintain the breed standards of llamas and alpacas.

In northern Patagonia (Argentina), local goats are reared under extensive production system with low inputs. Approximately 700,000 goats of local breeds (Criolla Neuquina, Colorado Pampeana and others) and 550,000 Angora, which produce cashmere and mohair are being raised by about 6000 small holders. Cashmere has a potential development of 15 tons. Due to considering the high variability in fibre traits, good response to selection is expected. Based on participatory processes, development of handicraft and industrial products are promoted. Mohair production is being improved. Argentina is the world's fourth largest producer of fibre (825 tons). Its current development is promoted by the “Mohair Program”, that based on organisation, use of appropriate technologies for shearing, fibre classification and breeding. The “Program” as a whole sells 10% of total country's production, with fair criteria to determine quality and trade values. Solutions to productive problems have been facilitated by strengthening the organisations and by the participation of producers. Extension and technology transfer contributed to improve quantity and quality of the traditional products. Moreover they focus positively on the traditional productive processes. In the cases: cashmere and mohair producers are strongly connected to land and goats, on which they are dependent. They perceive themselves as valued thus overcoming the restrictions of the system.

The Alpines Steinschaf is an old and traditional sheep breed living in the Alps for several hundred years. In 1985 only a few small flocks of this breed could be identified in special alpine regions in Germany. A breeding programme was established by some interested breeders and official breeding organisations. To maintain rare breeds for the future, it is necessary to develop special programmes for their use and marketing. In 2004 the breeders in Germany and Austria created a programme to market high quality products made of Alpines Steinschaf wool. The project ran very successfully, and the population of the Alpines Steinschaf has been increasing annually since then.

This article describes the important role of shepherdesses of the Tzotzil ethnic group from the mountains of Chiapas State, in southern México, not only in the historical rescue of several Spanish sheep breeds but also in the conservation of this species. Due to the legacy of their millenarian Mayan culture and the historical blending with elements of the Catholic religion during Colonial times, the Tzotzil women are responsible for caring for their sacred sheep that receive given names and special consideration. Women are also in charge of making all the woolen clothes that identify the members of their ethnic group. The typical garments are handmade with the fleeces obtained from the local sheep, processed by means of traditional textile techniques such as the spinning of threads with a spindle and the weaving using the back-strap loom of pre-Hispanic design. Clothes for daily and ceremonial use, both for Tzotzil men and women include heavy black coats and skirts, white woolen ponchos, brown blouses, black shawls, all of them made out of wool, and this has represented the need to preserve the diversity of sheep with different phenotypes and kept under a traditional management system.

The population of llamas (Lama glama) from Argentina and southern Bolivia high altitude plateau (altiplano) meets special characteristics in relation to the rest of this species. While interest in this population has been established as a genetic resource many works have not been done describing their productive attributes. In this paper, the relationships between age, sex, animal morphology, coat colours (pigmentation patterns and white spot design), fibre quality (degree of fineness and mean fibre diameters, fleece types or styles and colours) of flocks in six areas of the northern of the province of Jujuy altiplano (143 flocks, 10760 animals) were established. Using a clusters experimental design, frequencies of the different characters and correlation coefficients between them were calculated. Relationships between fleece types, morphology of animals and fleece types between them, fleece types and fineness, fleece types and pigmentation patterns, the relationship between white spot design and fineness was established. It can be concluded that the domestic camelids populations studied here were composed of animals with high fibre production potential and have great possibilities for improvement through breeding programs.

The present work is intended to describe the variability of fibre colours in the population of alpacas from the region of Huancavelica, Peru. The population structure, the incidence of defects and the quality of the fibre, were also analysed. A total of 2341 animals from 22 flocks from seven communities with colour alpacas were characterised. The quality of fibre was analysed using a small subsample (121 alpacas). 10% of the animals were Huarizos and about 20% of stained colour. 96% of the animals of solid colour were from Huacaya breed and only 4% of Suri breed. Sixty six percent of the alpacas were of white colour. The cream and coffee colours were well represented, not however the black and grey. For the Suri breed, the conservation problem goes beyond its colouration, the breed itself being at risk. The population structure and the presence of defects seem to indicate less attention in the handling of the colour alpacas than in the white alpacas. Also the quality of the fibre of the coloured animals was less than that of the white alpacas, decreasing as the dark tone of the fibre increased.

Garole is a breed of sheep reared in the Sunderban region of India and Bangladesh. The animals of this breed are adapted to the hot and humid coastal region and are often seen grazing in water. Garole are reared as mutton sheep. The value of their wool is grossly ignored and presently wasted. The raw wool obtained from this breed can be stored for a long time without any significant deterioration in quality, that might be attributed to the genetic tolerance of the breed towards fleece rot. The wool quality parameters of Garole sheep indicate that the wool is coarse but has an excellent felting property. The raisers of these sheep are economically challenged members of the society, and handicrafts produced from the wool can assist in the alleviation of poverty as well as provide an alternative livelihood. An organisation has taken steps in scientific sheep rearing in the region and has assisted in training members of the community in the production of rugs from the wool. The organisation is also providing assistance in marketing the products developed on behalf of the beneficiaries.

A study of the genetic diversity of Sardinian sheep identified a small population of Pecora Nera di Arbus sheep. This population is composed of about 1000 ewes located in the southwest of Sardinia (Medio-Campidano district), mainly in the area surrounding the village of Arbus. The main features of this breed are black fleece, small size, small or absent auricles and a high frequency of horns in both sexes. These ancestral traits suggest that the population escaped the selection process, that was mainly oriented toward milk yield and the white colour of the fleece, for which the predominant white strain of Sardinian sheep was established. Currently, a programme of promoting this new breed is ongoing. It is mainly based on the production of natural black wool for apparel without chemical dyes.

Leicester Longwool sheep are pivotal in the history of standardised sheep breeds. The breed was imported into the United States in 1990, and it was never imagined as more than a minor sideline to the array of breeds in the United States. Eighteen sheep were originally imported from Tasmania, with further contributions via semen from 12 rams in Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. In subsequent years the population of this breed in those source countries has plummeted, leaving the United States with the largest national flock (800). The decline in numbers worldwide have made the genetic management of the North American population increasingly important. The wool is sought by handcrafters and brings a premium price. Attention to maintaining the breed with its original fleece characteristics is an important priority, especially given the breed's role in the development of multiple longwool breeds. One divergence of the American flock from the other countries is the registration of coloured animals, and these make up 6% of the current flock.

Navajo-Churro sheep have been part of the subsistence of three cultures in the Southwest of the United States for over 400 years. These cultures include Navajo (a Native American nation), Hispanic and Anglo. The Navajo-Churro breed nearly became extinct in the 1950s to 1970s, but farsighted conservation programmes were then begun which involved all three cultures in saving this unique breed. Navajo-Churro sheep are a distinctive double-coated Criollo breed. The fleece type is superbly suited to the textiles produced in the local region and which are famous throughout the United States for their unique qualities and cultural relevance. A registry system involving ongoing inspection of each generation assures that the type remains traditional. Census numbers are now close to 3000 head as the breed moves beyond its original homeland to become more widely established throughout the United States.

This study reports the results obtained in the search of chromosomal regions affecting fleece traits in a population of Angora goats in the Argentinean Patagonia. Six hundred thirty-four offspring from 14 parental half-sib families were used. Nine phenotypic fleece traits were recorded at 4 and 11 months of age. A genome examination using 85 informative molecular markers was conducted. A linkage analysis was performed using a regression interval analysis. Our study identified 10 genomic regions affecting the average fibre diameter, coefficient of variation of the average fibre diameter, percentage of fibres with diameters over 30 µm, greasy fleece weight, staple length, average curvature of fibres, percentage of continuous medullated fibres and percentage of kemp fibres located on five goat chromosomes (1, 2, 5, 13 and 19). These results show that the average size of the quantitative trait loci effect was 1.6 phenotypic standard deviations for different traits and families. The aims of quantitative trait loci detection is the potential use of these molecular markers to increase accuracy in predicting the genetic merit of breeding and its implementation in animal breeding schemes through marker-assisted selection.

The South African Angora goat industry makes the largest contribution to global mohair production. Mohair is a luxury fibre and production of a high quality clip is essential. For many years genetic improvement of Angoras in South Africa was based on quantitative selection. Genome mapping efforts provided new avenues for improvement and a quantitative trait loci (QTL) study was initiated to identify QTL associated with mohair traits. The aim of this study was to describe the genetic diversity of the reference population using the available stud and commercial herds with full phenotypic records. The most appropriate QTL design was identified based on the population structure with regard to the families and number of bucks available for breeding. Four herds, consisting of 1067 pure bred goats in 12 half-sib families, were included. Blood samples were obtained from the herds, 94 markers were tested and diversity parameters were estimated. The average number of alleles per marker varied between 5.4 and 7.2 amongst the herds, whereas the observed heterozygosity varied between 0.59 and 0.67. The genetic structure of these herds was found appropriate for use as a reference population as they showed sufficient genetic variability.