At this time of year we breeders get itchy to get started on the breeding season at hand. This is one of those instances when haste truly makes waste. Here is a check list before getting down to business: 1) make sure your mare came through the winter in good condition. Underweight as well as overweight mares will have a harder time conceiving. 1a)Consider supplementation w/ a natural immune system supplement (which we have found extremely helpful for subfertile mares), red raspberry leaves, Angus Castus (Vitex)products, and/or supplements high in Fatty Acids(especially Omega 3s) to help augment your mare's fertility.
2)watch her haircoat: make sure she's shed out at least 1/3 of her hair coat before you breed her. This is a good indication that her endocrine system thinks, "whoo hoo it's spring."
3)Make sure to get all vaccinations and worming out of the way prior to breeding so that your mares' immune system isn't stressed by these things in during breeding and/or the early stages of pregnancy.
4) Even if she's a maiden PLEASE get at least a uterine cytology if not a culture to go along with it. If you are cost conscious (who isn't these days?), have your vet pull a cytology and culture. If the cyto (Cytology) looks good, don't run the culture. If the cyto is questionable in any way, run the culture. Beware! A culture alone can give a false negative or false positive.
5) make sure you have "Mr Right" picked out and that you understand the SO's contract requirements,time/day when it will be necessary to order semen, days of collection, and any info relating to the semen that is necessary to know in order to have a positive experience (IE semen longevity for that stallion, etc.)
6) Above all, have your vet make certain (via ultrasound) that your mare is not in transitional estrus and that she has had AT LEAST one normal ovulation. Any attemp at manipulating your mare's cycle before this has happened is futile. Likwise, even if your mare has ovulated but remains in transitional estrus, you might have a hard time coordinating ordering semen on a timely basis which could easily result in mutiple collections for that one cycle(needlessly costly!)
If anyone has anything to add, questions, comments, or concerns feel free to PM me or post!!
"Haste makes waste." So true! It seems there are so many expressions that can apply to breeding. I wish I had paid more attention to these sage words when I started breeding... it would have saved time, money and most importantly, some heartache.
Many of us tend to begin our breeding "careers" by jumping into the deep end and forgetting the fact that equine breeding success rates only run in the 60 percent range... one of the lowest rates for domesticated animals. As is the case with so many things in life, we tend to hear what we want to hear and boldly set down what can be a very bumpy path. We spend countless hours researching and finding the right stallion for our mare. And we spend an equal amount of time visualizing the resulting foal and its future life. But we often spend very little time on how to help our mares create, nurture and if need be, protect that little black dot for the 342 days of gestation.
With that thought, there are two additional expressions I wish to add to Saret's.
1) "Go slow to go fast" 2) "Penny wise, pound foolish."
Remind yourself and remind your breeding vet of these expressions when you being the breeding season. In the long run, you will fare far better with the proper due diligence than with shortcuts.
At this time of year we breeders get itchy to get started on the breeding season at hand. This is one of those instances when haste truly makes waste. Here is a check list before getting down to business:
ReplyDelete1) make sure your mare came through the winter in good condition. Underweight as well as overweight mares will have a harder time conceiving.
1a)Consider supplementation w/ a natural immune system supplement (which we have found extremely helpful for subfertile mares), red raspberry leaves, Angus Castus (Vitex)products, and/or supplements high in Fatty Acids(especially Omega 3s) to help augment your mare's fertility.
2)watch her haircoat: make sure she's shed out at least 1/3 of her hair coat before you breed her. This is a good indication that her endocrine system thinks, "whoo hoo it's spring."
3)Make sure to get all vaccinations and worming out of the way prior to breeding so that your mares' immune system isn't stressed by these things in during breeding and/or the early stages of pregnancy.
4) Even if she's a maiden PLEASE get at least a uterine cytology if not a culture to go along with it. If you are cost conscious (who isn't these days?), have your vet pull a cytology and culture. If the cyto (Cytology) looks good, don't run the culture. If the cyto is questionable in any way, run the culture. Beware! A culture alone can give a false negative or false positive.
5) make sure you have "Mr Right" picked out and that you understand the SO's contract requirements,time/day when it will be necessary to order semen, days of collection, and any info relating to the semen that is necessary to know in order to have a positive experience (IE semen longevity for that stallion, etc.)
6) Above all, have your vet make certain (via ultrasound) that your mare is not in transitional estrus and that she has had AT LEAST one normal ovulation. Any attemp at manipulating your mare's cycle before this has happened is futile. Likwise, even if your mare has ovulated but remains in transitional estrus, you might have a hard time coordinating ordering semen on a timely basis which could easily result in mutiple collections for that one cycle(needlessly costly!)
If anyone has anything to add, questions, comments, or concerns feel free to PM me or post!!
"Haste makes waste." So true! It seems there are so many expressions that can apply to breeding. I wish I had paid more attention to these sage words when I started breeding... it would have saved time, money and most importantly, some heartache.
ReplyDeleteMany of us tend to begin our breeding "careers" by jumping into the deep end and forgetting the fact that equine breeding success rates only run in the 60 percent range... one of the lowest rates for domesticated animals. As is the case with so many things in life, we tend to hear what we want to hear and boldly set down what can be a very bumpy path. We spend countless hours researching and finding the right stallion for our mare. And we spend an equal amount of time visualizing the resulting foal and its future life. But we often spend very little time on how to help our mares create, nurture and if need be, protect that little black dot for the 342 days of gestation.
With that thought, there are two additional expressions I wish to add to Saret's.
1) "Go slow to go fast"
2) "Penny wise, pound foolish."
Remind yourself and remind your breeding vet of these expressions when you being the breeding season. In the long run, you will fare far better with the proper due diligence than with shortcuts.