Article by Ahna Cafaro, Cornerstone Farm You’ve spent months and months, maybe even years poring over stallion ads, videos, and magazines. You’ve researched bloodlines, talked to breeders and stallion owners, and finally found Mr. Right for your mare. Then comes the biggest challenge....actually getting her pregnant. Fresh or frozen? Timing her cycle, monitoring her daily, ordering semen at just the right time. It’s finally time to breed her!! And now the long two week wait hoping and praying for that precious black dot. If you’re lucky enough to see that beautiful sight on the ultrasound, then comes the additional ultrasounds to check for twins, the heartbeat, and a good progression of the embryo. If you’re one of the unlucky, ones, you go back to the starting line and try, try again. And sometime, again and again. Breeding, as they say, is not for the faint of heart. So much blood, sweat, and tears goes into just getting a mare in foal. And when you finally do, you’re rewarded with 11 months of worry that all will progress normally until that magic day number 320. With all that goes into producing just one foal, many breeders are faced with the final decision of where the mare will have her foal. Breeders make that decision based on several factors, and both foaling at home and sending to a foaling professional have their pros and cons. Personally, I always choose to send my mares out for foaling for a variety of reasons. First and foremost is the fact that due to my job as a trainer, I travel regularly to horse shows. And inevitably, each year my mare is due during the week I’m scheduled to be in Kentucky. Every year, without fail. So far, I’ve been lucky enough to sell my foals in-utero so feel an added responsibility to make sure this foal has the best chance for an uneventful birth. The other reason I choose to send my mare out is due to my limited experience as a breeder. I’m relatively new to breeding and admittedly don’t even know what I don’t know. I’m terrified that something will go wrong and I won’t know what to do. I have found a fantastic farm in Ohio that only does breeding. It’s a husband and wife team and between them they have more years of experience than I have been on this Earth. For me, one of the downsides to this setup is not being able to be there for those first moments of that foal's life. I’ve felt that little bundle bouncing around in there for the last few months, and would love to be there when he greets the world. Last year, I was lucky enough to turn on the monitor just at the right time to catch my guy being born, so it was close to being there. That was one of the factors that led me to choose this facility-the ability to log on and check on my mare daily. I know her habits and her routine as she lives at home with me, and it goes a long way towards my peace of mind to be able to lay eyes on her daily. If you are choosing to send your mare to a farm to foal out, please do your due diligence. Go see the farm, ask for references, find out what vet is on call for any issues. You want to have every confidence that the direct staff and support staff will do everything possible to ensure the health and wellbeing of mama and baby. Another consideration is to research what the closest clinic available with a NICU is. Heaven forbid you need it, but if something goes wrong with your mare or foal, you don’t want to have to send them on a several hour long trailer ride. When mares and foals are in trouble, things can go downhill so quickly, and if there is a clinic very close, you are at least stacking the odds in your favor. Typically my mare stays at the foaling farm for a little over a month. I send her there about two weeks before her due date and leave her there to be rebred on the second heat cycle after foaling. So for me, it is very important that the staff be knowledgable about nutrition. I am a fanatic about keeping my mare at a good weight, and she is tricky due to having metabolic syndrome. Last year, she came home in great weight, even with a 4-week old colt nursing at her side. Overall, each breeder has to choose what route they are the most comfortable with. Sometimes I wish I could do it differently just to be a part of the miracle, but my practical side breathes a sigh of relief knowing mama and the munchkin are in good, capable hands. Especially when I get to bring this home.....
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Article by Jennifer DesRoche with Signature Sporthorses Editor's Note: The average prices listed below reflect the author's average costs of breeding expenses. Different areas of the country can vary significantly in rates and the below is intended as an example of one breeder's first hand experience.
So you've decided to breed your mare – what an exciting and fun undertaking! After all, breeding is a lot like gambling; and what’s more thrilling than that? No wonder those that get caught up in all the fun of equine reproduction tend to term it an addiction… but what are the actual costs you can expect when you’re embarking on a breeding adventure? First of all, make sure you select the best mare that your budget will allow. Remember that your mare can easily produce a duplicate of herself, so if you’re not ok with just that, make another choice! If you aren't able to purchase a new mare, there are many mares available for breeding leases nowadays if you beat the bushes a little bit. Normally these leases allow the use of the mare for breeding in exchange for paying for her normal care and expenses, so having a good quality mare doesn't necessarily have to cost you a fortune up front. Once you've obtained the mare you wish to breed, it’s a good idea to have a basic breeding exam done on her. It’s ideal to have a vet perform this exam when she is in heat. A basic exam, depending on your vet’s call fee, usually costs about $150, or slightly more with a culture. Doing a culture can be a good insurance policy against the time and expense of repeated failed breeding attempts due to an unknown minor infection that could be cleared easily if caught early. A biopsy can also be performed if you’re concerned about the mare’s age, if she’s had many foals, has a history of losing a pregnancy, or you just want to be thorough (add about $100). Let’s assume that your mare is clean, and there is no need for flushes or any further expenses in this area. Now it’s time to get serious! If you haven’t picked a stallion already, now is the time to do so. Stud fees for good quality stallions breeding with fresh semen in the US and Canada normally range from about $1500-$2000, though there are those who are a bit less or more. You are welcome to contact the stallion owner of your choice and see if they offer any discount for performance mares, mares with winning offspring, etc, and even to ask for their thoughts and recommendations for the breeding you’re considering. “Stallion Auctions” put on by many of the breed registries are also a good way to locate breeding contracts at very reasonable prices prior to breeding season. Frozen semen from many stallions in Europe is also available through several brokers and also private parties, but it is considered more cost and labor intensive, as well as possibly riskier. Therefore, using fresh semen is normally a better option for a first timer. Once you've picked a stallion and paid your stud fee, you’re on your way! Many mares show when they are in heat, so it’s not that difficult to tell when it’s time to have the vet come do an ultrasound to check her status. Most mares are cycling regularly by the beginning of April; of course some sooner, some later. As soon as you see her showing interest in a pasture-mate, or any other sign that she is coming in, call your vet to come check. If you can’t tell when she’s in, it’s ok to call and have the vet check her just to get a starting point in her cycle. There are also drugs available the vet can give to help bring her in, and also others to time your mare’s heat for a specific time period in case the stallion’s availability is limited. Each ultrasound will usually cost between $45-$65 depending on your practice’s charges, plus your call fee. So, perhaps plan for $100-$125 for each ultrasound check visit, depending on if sedation is used or not. Normally, you’ll need about 2-4 checks per cycle, depending on where the mare is in her cycle and how quickly she appears to be moving along. When the time arrives and you’re ready to order semen, it normally costs about $100-$150 for the overnight shipment, plus whatever collection fee your stallion’s owner is charging. First collection is sometimes free (yay!), or can range anywhere from $100-$350! This is a good thing to be aware of when you’re booking to a stallion, as multiple collections and shipments can get quite pricey. The vet will come do the insemination, which should include an ultrasound and an evaluation of the semen quality. This will cost about $125-$175 again depending on fees in your area. If the mare has not yet ovulated, the vet typically will come back the next day to check for ovulation and use the second dose of semen which is customarily sent. If this is the case, double the insemination expense. In 14-16 days the vet can come back and check for the coveted “black dot”, or a pregnancy! We will assume our fictional mare has conceived and we can do the happy dance. If no pregnancy is detected, she should be coming back into heat very soon and you can repeat the expenses from that point to try again. Plan for about $100-$125 for the pregnancy check cost, and then another subsequent check of the same expense at about 30 days to confirm the heartbeat. Some stallion owners will require the vet to fill out paperwork confirming the pregnancy and may even call for a check after 90 days, so when you plan your budget, just make sure to read the contract thoroughly. After your mare is safely confirmed in foal, expenses are pretty level for feeding and her routine care expenses just as if she were not pregnant. Her nutritional needs will increase in the 3rd trimester, so plan for an increase in hay and grain during that time. After foaling, she will need a dramatic increase in feed to sustain her weight through milk production. Your vet and/or fee nutritionist can recommend amounts for your particular mare, but our mares normally receive double their 3rd trimester ration during early lactation. At five, seven and nine months’ gestation, it is advisable to vaccinate your mare with a Rhinopneumonitis vaccine such as Pneumabort K to protect her from this virus that can cause abortion of the foal. These vaccines are typically around $20 per dose if you give it yourself, or you can have your vet come administer it if you’re not comfortable with doing it yourself (add the call fee and some markup). At the 10th month, or around 300 days, you’ll want to boost all of your mare’s vaccinations which usually falls in line with timing of spring shots anyway. Again, you can do this yourself (about $75) or have the vet come (probably closer to $150). At this time, it’s good to get your foaling kit together, which was referenced in a previous article. So the long-awaited day of joy comes and your foal is born! Hooray! The vet should come examine the mare and foal and do an IgG test for antibody transfer within 24 hours of birth; preferably closer to 12 hours in case any treatment is needed. You should budget about $150-$200 for your foal’s wellness check. Your foal doesn’t usually add a lot of additional expense while he or she is nursing from mom. You’ll need to have regular farrier care to add and then vaccinations when the time comes. After weaning, your foal will have full expenses just like the mare. Board and feed costs vary widely around the country! Just make sure to plan for those expenses when the time arrives. Also, make sure to keep registration costs in mind, as you hopefully plan to register your foal. Most registries charge $150-$250, and if you have to attend an inspection, plan for the corresponding travel expenses as well (gas, lodging if needed, braiding, handling, Coggins/health paperwork). Breeding and raising your own foal can be a very fun and rewarding experience. Knowing the costs involved helps to make the process a success! That being said, it is safe to plan on spending $3000-$5000 on average in added expenses in addition to routine board and care of your mare during the process, depending stud fee/collection/shipping costs and vet fees in your area. Article by Kimmy Risser, Hickory Manor From the outside, breeding may appear to be a simple math problem of stallion + mare = foal. However, once you’re in the thick of it you realize it’s more of ‘find x’ on the triangle, with ‘y’ and ‘z’ equaling stallion and mare. Deciding how y and z fit together to figure out x can be a complicated process that requires hours of studying, but when you get it all right the answer to ‘x’ can be very gratifying (if you haven’t already caught on, x is the foal).
Before I begin this breakdown of the things to consider when choosing a stallion to breed your mare too, I must stress the importance of viewing the mare and stallion objectively. There is no such thing as perfect conformation, and it’s crucial to be able to acknowledge the strengths and weaknesses of your mare or the potential stallion. I understand that our horses tend to be our pets, so if you’re unable to take off the rose colored glasses, seek out the help of an experienced breeder. Arguably, the most important component to breeding is the mare. Although there are differing opinions, I believe the mare is at least 70% of the equation. Of course, some genetics are stronger than others but that is all part of the research. The mare is the base line, the foundation of what you’re hoping to create; you can tweak or improve but you cannot change what is there. It is important to understand you’re not starting with a blank slate, you’re starting with a bit too long of a pastern, too straight of a hock, a great neck set, or really fantastic movement. From that baseline, you can begin to develop a list of potential stallions for your mare. The stallion can help improve or strengthen certain traits, or he can detract from them. It is not a perfect science, but creating a list of what you’d like to improve or keep the same with your mare is a good place to start. A mare or stallion does not just appear one day, it is the product of centuries of breeding. Every horse has a mother and father, a grandmother and grandfather, and so on. There are countless genetic traits, both obvious and hidden, that make up a horse and when breeding, those traits can be passed on or skip a generation (or 3). I think color genetics is a good example of that; you can breed a bay mare to a bay stallion and end up with a chestnut (ask me how I know!). A mare that may be 15.3h may not necessarily produce shorter offspring, she could have height all throughout her bloodlines and maybe it just skipped her but will be passed on to her foals. Same goes for stallions - a tall stallion won’t necessarily always produce tall babies. When you put it all together, it is a crap shoot but doing your research past just the first generation will help narrow down the end result. Evaluating the offspring of a stallion is a major component to your research. Any consistency among the offspring can provide you an idea of what the stallion will pass on (good or bad) or improve. Again, it’s important the know the dam of each baby as well. Researching similar crosses to what you’re hoping to do can narrow down the end result even more. Horsetelex.com is a good resource for seeing the offspring from each stallion (as long as it’s been entered on the site), and I personally like watching videos on Youtube to see the horses in action. If the stallion is old enough to have produced horses of show age, looking up the show results of the offspring can also be beneficial not only to show their work ethic and athleticism but also for marketing purposes if you intend to sell your foal. Choosing which registry you will go with will help to narrow down the choices quite a bit. If you mare has not been entered into the mare book of a registry, you will need to get her to an inspection for which she is eligible so that her foal can also be registered. A major benefit to having a mare in a registry is that you have access to guidance and suggestions from the judge who has seen thousands of offspring from a wide array of stallions. The judge will be able to give you a list of stallions that would benefit your mare and help produce the best offspring that she can. Temperament is a biggie! You’ll need to decide if the foal will be a keeper, or one you will sell. Will it be a professional ride or more geared toward amateurs? Are you looking for an upper level horse or a steady eddie for the lower divisions? All of these questions are important, b/c the temperament of both mare and stallion will effect the offspring and that’s offspring’s ability to perform in their career. If you’re looking to produce a pro ride for the upper levels of the sport, you can choose a spicy stallion with truly amazing talent. On the opposite end, if you want a safe child/adult hunter you’ll need a stallion who not only possesses a great temperament but also passes it on to his offspring. As a side note, rideability and temperament are not always interchangeable so keep that in mind. Once you have you gone through your checklist and matched up a good selection of stallions, look up the stallion contract (usually listed on the breeder’s website) or send an email to the stallion owner and request the contract to look over. Not all breeding contracts are the same! Some contracts may only give you 2 years to achieve a successful breeding, and if you have a tried and true foaling warrior that may not be an issue but for an inexperienced breeder or mare, a contract that gives you 3 years may be more beneficial. Live foal guarantee is another item to look at, some cover only once the foal is up and nursing, and some can last up to several months. Collection days are a biggie in my book, I will only use a stallion that is available for collection Monday-Friday. Some stallions are only available for M-W-F collection, and if you’ve ever spent more than 5 minutes with a mare you’ll understand they do not care about contracts or your schedule. I wouldn’t say that M-W-F is a deal breaker, but it’s important to understand that part of the contract going in so you aren’t shocked when you order on Thursday and your request cannot be fulfilled. If you’re breeding to a performance stallion, be sure to request show dates ahead of time or at least insure that the stallion owner will give you a heads up for when the stallion will be showing. Another option for performance stallions is a fresh/frozen contract, where they will only be available for a certain time period fresh and if you are unable to breed during that time, frozen will be sent and the LFG is still applicable. Also looking into the collection fees, since some can be much higher than others and it’s a fee you will have to pay for each breeding if your mare doesn’t take first time. A lot of these choices really depend on your comfort level and how competent of a vet you have. Speaking of Vets, that is a MAJOR component to breeding. Although not necessarily related to picking a stallion, you’ll need a good reproduction vet to make a foal possible so I wanted to include this part. Not all vets are reproduction vets; sure they can get it done, but when you’re spending all this money you want a vet that is educated and experienced. Speak with your particular vet about your plans to breed and ask for their experience in the matter and success rates. If breeding is not their forte, ask your vet for a recommendation or reach out to local breeders in the area to see who they use. Last but certainly not least, you have chosen your stallion and now need to sign the contract and seal the deal! If it’s early enough in the season, many stallion owners offer fantastic early booking discounts on stud fees. If you don’t see it advertised, do not hesitate to ask. Other discounts could include performance mares, proven offspring, or elite mares. Another option is the stallion service auctions, which usually start around the end of January. Each registry will put on an auction in which stallion owners can donate a breeding that will be sold to the highest bidder. If you haven’t narrowed down your list to just one stallion, this is a good way to track the bids of the stallions you like to see if you can get one for an especially good price over another. For this information, just look on the registry websites. If a stallion is approved with more than one registry, you can buy the breeding from another registry auction and still use it and register the foal with the registry of your choice. This article serves as a generic list of things to consider when choosing the right stallion for your mare. Depending on which discipline you are aiming for, there will be countless more items to check off your list that pertain to that specifically. Scope for the jumpers, style for the hunters, suspension for dressage, the list goes on and on and many times it comes down to personal preference or trends in the sport. For research, going to nearby shows and seeing what is winning and succeeding will help guide your choices. Speak with professionals in the sport as well for their preferences, especially if you’ll be looking to sell the foal. There is so much work to be done to insure you’ll be creating the best possible outcome, and even then breeding truly is a gamble, but putting as many tools in your ‘breeding toolbox’ will help put the odds in your favor. Article by Kimmy Risser, Hickory Manor Editor's Note: The USSHBA recommends that all breeders consult first with their veterinarian and/or experienced foaling manager to develop their specific foaling plan. The following are recommendations from breeders, but is not a complete list and all supplies/drugs or techniques should be discussed in advance with your veterinarian and used under veterinary supervision.
The Well-Stocked Foaling Kit
Tips, Suggestions, and Experiences “...We have mats in our stalls and the foals can have a hard time getting up on them with just straw as bedding, so we put shavings down first then straw on top. This works well as the shavings do a great job of absorbing all the fluids. 15-20 minutes after the foal is out we change the soiled part of the bedding to keep everything clean and dry.” - Dr. Rachel Kane, DVM “Milk testing: You want to test the pH and the calcium, low pH (around 6) and high calcium (500+) usually means foaling is imminent. Use a ratio of 6:1 with water and use spa test strips or aquarium test strips just make sure the pH goes low enough and calcium goes high enough.” - Kimmy Risser, Hickory Manor “When the front legs first start to appear, I always follow the legs up into the birth canal to make sure I can feel the head in the right position. That way if there is an issue with position I can detect it right away instead of waiting until the problem becomes obvious.” - Jennifer DesRoche, Signature Sporthorses 'Milk out the mare shortly after foaling and feed the foal the colostrum from a bottle before he stands. That way he will get the much needed colostrum in his system to build immunity right away and to give him the energy he’ll need to stand and eventually nurse. It can help the mare pass the afterbirth quicker as well and prevent meconium impaction in the foal' - Several breeders The USSHBA's #1 mission is to support the efforts of U.S Sport Horse Breeders through education, recognition, and outreach. In our continuing efforts to do so, the Education Committee is please to announce the start of a Breeders Blog on the USSHBA website.
Educational blogs will be posted regularly our website on a variety of topics of interest to sport horse breeders. The Education committee is also reaching out to USSHBA members and outside professionals that are experts in their fields to contribute as Guest Bloggers. Just a few of our upcoming topics will include:
We gladly welcome questions and ideas for the blog and submissions of articles as well! Please direct your input to Kimmy Risser. |
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January 2021
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