Breeding with what’s going on.

[RTF]

I already bought the stud fee, now it’s spring, and do I move forward with breeding the mare?

I can afford to do the breeding, the mare is lovely, the stallion is wonderful. I do have a three year contract on the sire, but I hate to leave the mare open. Especially since we may not have a show season.

How is everyone moving forward with this. My initial plan was hauling mare to the vet for ultrasounds, and AI. Now I want to limit my exposure to anyone outside. Do I look for a drop off clinic? Do I wait to see if things slow down towards end of spring? What are other breeders looking at? I don’t know how easily my mare will settle if she’s moved. She’s definitely a homebody.

[Interstellar]

With current times, I’m only breeding the mare who’s foal I’m keeping. I’m postponing breed the second mare until next year or two. The vet I’ll be using has a breeding package where they contact the facility sending the (frozen) semen and return the container for me. So all I have to do is bring the mare. I’m going to take her in to have an exam and see where we are at to get our timing close to the time she will ovulate. If we’re off by a few days I’ll be paddock boarding her there so they can have her there and ready to AI on the best date and I’ll pick her up when she’s ready. My mare is super friendly and loves food she’ll be fine wherever she at. Lord knows I’ve moved my herd quite a few times in the last several years. I want to get her bred ASAP so she can be rebred earlier next year too.

[anon69112984]

Guess it is a bit different depending on where your live in the world right now. I covered my mare (fingers crossed) by bringing her to the station twice.

First time she wasn’t ready second time it was a go all in scenario in which she stayed two nights - the second night only because it was Sunday Easter weekend.

Everybody at the station kept their distance and the closest we ever were to anybody was me holding the horse and someone closing the bar in front of the princess so we could examine her.

If you’re smart about how you interact with people I believe it is kind of safe. Normally stables and clinics are quite airy so to speak. Still it is scary as hell. And if you need to stop and fuel up your car and such you of course expose yourself a bit more. Especially on our route which was to the outskirts of the hot spots in our country.

[ElementFarm]

I was originally planning to breed three this spring. I’m now planning on just breeding one, -maybe- two.

Other years we’ve used Nc state Repro to handle our mares and get them in foal. This year Nc state is only seeing emergency cases, and their therio is closed all together. We’re using a local vet who comes to the farm. We leave the mare in with a halter on, and they handle everything while we remain at least 15 feet away. We’re currently on the 2-week-wait, so I can’t say yet how effective this will be.

[mvp]

If I were breeding and certain of my ability to feed the the foal for the next few years, I wouldn’t let the contact-with-people part of getting a mare bred stop me.

And was an Early And Often social distancer. I am playing by hardcore West Coast rules in the “It won’t happen to me” Southeast.

Breeding a mare AI can be almost as easy as having her spring shots done from a social distancing point of view. I would not go into the clinic, but I’d happily hand my horse off to a vet tach in the parking lot and wait for her outside.

My large- and small animal vets are conducting their appointments this way. If a vet couldn’t get the mare bred without having me too close to them, or both of us come inside a building, then, yes, I’d concede to the power of the virus.

[TKR]

Is this affecting stud fees? Are stallion owners offering any deal or breaks on their regular fees? What about shipping fresh from Canada to US or vice versa? What a mess!

[anon69112984]

@TKR

Is this affecting stud fees? Are stallion owners offering any deal or breaks on their regular fees? What about shipping fresh from Canada to US or vice versa? What a mess!

Here in Europe some of the stallions/stations come with great deals right now so I would be surprised of the North Americans based stallions wouldn’t be offered the same way.

For border crossings I did get my swimmers across a closed European border but I also know of some who at this point won’t succeed in getting the stallion of their choice for the very same reason. Guess it is all down to the governments way of looking at horse breeding.

[StormWarriorC]

Since I did fresh cooled we were able to AI my mare 9 days ago on the farm. It was outside and I didn’t get close so we al felt relatively safe. They handled my mare, I watched and asked necessary questions (this is my maiden year as a breeder of my own) and we were all on our way.

This first foal I’m breeding for myself, so I know I’m not going to be worried about selling it until way later if at all, so I think I’m good. If it were three or four mares, I’d be worried.

[RTF]

I decided to go ahead and proceed. My vet is still breeding mares, and the stud fee is paid for. I have been wanting to do this cross now for two years. Fingers crossed everything goes smoothly.