Log a mating

To log a mating, go to the Breeding hub and press Log mating. This records one sire covering one or more dams. Each dam you pick gets its own breeding record.

Steps#

1. Breeding → Log mating. This opens the mating form.
2. Sire. Pick the male. The list has four groups: Your studs (your males marked as studs), Outside studs (studs from other farms you used in the last two years or added recently, each with his farm, like "Nicecracker · Alps Alpaca"), Other males, and Used before (every other outside stud you ever used, A to Z). Sold or dead males never show. Using a stud from another farm for the first time? See Use a stud from another farm below.
3. Date. Set the mating date. It cannot be in the future.
4. Method. Choose Natural or Artificial insemination.
5. Females. Search and tick one or more females. A female that is already pregnant is shown but cannot be picked. A female marked unconfirmed mating can still be picked. If she was mated again after a check, with the same male or another one, don't log a new mating: on her existing mating press Log a check, choose Sat, then Mated again and pick the male. A female marked planned for a date already has a planned mating; if this is that mating, change the plan's date with Edit mating instead of logging it twice.
6. Notes (optional). Add anything you want to remember.
7. Log matings. The button counts the females you ticked, for example Log 2 matings. Each female now appears on the Breeding hub under Pregnancies, in Awaiting confirmation. See Log pregnancy checks and confirm a pregnancy.

Use a stud from another farm#

An outside stud is a male from another farm that you take your females to, or who visits for the day.

1. Sire → + Outside stud. The button sits next to the Sire label.
2. Stud's name. Type his name. Studs you already saved show under Already saved, also old ancestors from an import. Capitals and accents do not matter. Press Use on the right one.
3. Not there? Press Not in the list? Add “name” (if nothing matches, this part opens straight away). Pick His farm (optional) from your farm contacts, or press + Add new to save a new farm. Then press the Add … button that shows his name. A saved stud with the same name can be a different animal, an old ancestor say: then press Not this one? Add another “name”. The year under each saved stud helps tell them apart.
4. Log matings. He is saved together with the mating. If you close the form without saving, he is not added. If the save is refused, fix it and save again: he is not added twice.

He becomes a reference animal: he shows in your pedigrees and does not count toward your plan's animal limit. A stud that lives on your farm for a while, even a leased one, belongs in your herd instead. See When to add a reference animal.

Good to know. Mated again in a pregnancy check shows the same grouped list, but without + Outside stud. For a new stud there, add him first under Animals → ⋯ → Reference animals, with Sex set to Male.

Watch out: a lethal color cross#

If the sire and a dam are a known lethal color cross, such as grey with grey, AlpacaKeep shows a warning when you save. Tick I understand the lethality risk and save again to record the mating anyway. This is a safety prompt, not a block. A grey with solid white pairing gets a gentler caution on the female's own New mating form instead, with no tick. See The grey-on-white breeding warning for what it means and what a DNA test changes.

Good to know. One sire can cover several dams in a single log. AlpacaKeep makes a separate breeding record for each dam.

Watch out. Logged a mating that never happened? On its row under Awaiting confirmation, open the ⋯ menu and choose Delete mating. You have 30 seconds to undo. If it happened but didn't take, choose Didn't take / lost instead.