Alpacas must be registered with the
Alpaca Registry Inc., or ARI, in order to be shown in most alpaca shows. The Registry is very important because it provides proof of parentage for each registered alpaca through DNA blood typing and it makes these records available to its membership. The registry has a very informative website with plenty of useful information on how to draw blood and register your alpacas. They recommend taking blood from under the tail or the back of the ear. Please!!! try not to draw blood from the jugular when it is not absolutely necessary! We lost a perfectly healthy alpaca this way with a veterinarian drawing the blood. Many vets and alpaca owners still draw from the neck but we do so only when we need a large amount from an adult male.
Here is how we draw the blood we use for both DNA typing and progesterone testing of females to verify pregnancy. Tom is drawing from the inside of the thigh. The alpaca is on our shearing table. This is also the method we use to draw for progesterone tests on our females.
Below is a DNA typing card. Only a few drops are needed to fill the circles with blood and then the cards are sent to the registry for DNA matching against the sire and dam listed on the application.
