How much would you pay for a broodmare?

[Spike]

All that “breed for the best” etc. questions have made me thinking…

What is your breaking point when it comes to the price you would pay for a broodmare?

(edited to be more precise and to focus more on the question I wanted answers for… let’s see if it works better now):

If you have NO intent of showing the mare in upper levels (or lower…), and you buy solely for breeding purposes, and unless you are the kind of person who has so much money you just don’t know what to do with it… (if it’s your case, gimme a call I have PLENTY of ideas :lol:)… What would be the absolute maximum you would be willing to pay, for the PERFECT mare?

20k? 50k? 100k? More? How much more before you start looking for one of her young daughters instead?

Let’s assume for the purpose here that such perfect mare (proven producer, not too old, right size, excellent mareline, popular bloodlines and impeccable manners, great confo, movement and over fence scores) IS available for you to purchase.

[mareslave]

arm and leg.

[siegi_b]

The perfect mare will most likely not be for sale, so this is a completely hypothetical question that can’t be answered.

On the other hand, a very nice, young broodmare with excellent bloodlines could cost somewhere between 20 and 30K without being overpriced. (And I certainly wouldn’t expect the hypothetical 45 foals that you mention… :lol:)

[Bayhawk]

I don’t look at it like you do. I don’t think about how many foals I can sell for 15k. I think of how much that one will bring later.

I also don’t think in the first generation. How much will her grandchildren bring ?

Buy the very best mare you can get your hands on from a proven , productive line of mares.

[VirginiaBred]

If you really want a specific mare, you’ll pay the asking price.

A well bred mare is invaluable.

[Mistysmom]

Top mares rarely come for sale and IF they do, they are generally older (breeder already has daughter(s) to carry on line) and they are often only for sale to someone the breeder knows personally or through connections. That said it really depends on how much you like the mare and what your budget is. Better to have one or two outstanding mares than a bunch of so so mares.

I think a top breeder, and one doing it for the long haul (which IMO top breeders are) will not look at the amount for each foal but rather what type of horses and future generations will be produced. Often times, the cost benefits usually do not come until much later due to the initial higher cost of the mare. I would not even think about the 45 foals scenario at 15K per foal either (just wouldn’t happen!). The model for success is in what she produces and how much her offspring and daughters offspring bring later on. This is where a top mare should start to pay for herself. Like with any animal, there is also the risks that go along with it so it can be very costly!

I would be prepared to spend upward of 20K for a good quality younger mare, most likely unproven, with top bloodlines and easily 40K+ for one that is older and has some offspring going under saddle (if I could find one). I’m sure there are people who would spend more. Usually if you really like the mare, you pay the price :-).

[imajacres]

45 foals? what are you smoking? lololol. You cant harvest ETs like candy. If you over harvest, the mare goes on strike for a while. And your 15K, hey, you just spent 5-8K on your ET, fed your recip and your donor mare- you have 12-15 into that foal by the time it is born. (plus which, of these foals, only some will actually be good enough to merit a good selling price)
But that isnt your question, I know.

The mares you have are your business partners. You buy the best ones you can. OR you hope for “situations”. Or you buy old, and then pay more in breeding fees, ETS, maintenance etc.
AND those ones may not be for sale, since they are/have been so valuable for their owner.

You need to find mares that have real worth in the breeding shed- this generation and the following ones. For whatever your goal is. You have to figure that your foal, if not sold at 6 months ( at max. cuteness factor) will not sell again for good money until it is at least started. And how much will it bring then?

Your mare has to be exciting on HER merits. She is the key to it all. The stallion is icing on the cake.

Spend as much as you can, or if not, then pay good lease money to lease a fabulous mare for a foal, and start your own mare base.

[magicteetango]

Priceless to me. I am fully anticipating my next broodmare I will purchase as a weanling, probably the only way I can afford her. I got very lucky and stumbled into my broodmare, I don’t expect lightning to strike twice.

And although my mare is not proven, she is full sibling to a UL Eventer and her sire also sired a GP dressage horse and several other mid to upper level Eventers. She herself is just great quality, I would hate to think what sort of price tag I would put on her. Wouldn’t be cheap!

[Spike]

I would be prepared to spend upward of 20K for a good quality younger mare, most likely unproven, with top bloodlines and easily 40K+ for one that is older and has some offspring going under saddle (if I could find one). I’m sure there are people who would spend more. Usually if you really like the mare, you pay the price :-).

On the other hand, a very nice, young broodmare with excellent bloodlines could cost somewhere between 20 and 30K without being overpriced. (And I certainly wouldn’t expect the hypothetical 45 foals that you mention… )

THANKS! That was the kind of answers I was looking for. (and me neither re: the 45 foals lol!!!)

45 foals? what are you smoking? lololol. You cant harvest ETs like candy. If you over harvest, the mare goes on strike for a while. And your 15K, hey, you just spent 5-8K on your ET, fed your recip and your donor mare- you have 12-15 into that foal by the time it is born. (plus which, of these foals, only some will actually be good enough to merit a good selling price)
But that isnt your question, I know.

Bahaha I know I know… It was an over-exageration, to strech the possibilities of # of foals to a barely-possible maximum… An illustration let’s say. In french we would use the expression: “streched (or pulled) by the hairs” but I don’t think it has its equivalent in english expressions

I was only trying to do some maths because I know that there’s small if any profit at all to make in the breeding horse business, and I know also about all the “think for more than one generation”. But at the same time, I can’t believe that NONE of you are keeping records of costs for producing foals, and when buying a new mare, you don’t have in mind how many foals she possibly can give you before retiring, or in what price range you can expect to sell them or not, if they are decent to good, to very good. That you will sell your house and husband for the better good of breeding because a great mare is “invaluable”… We have all bought mares for breedings and I doubt there’s many among us who jumped on a 18yo mare and paid 300k for her just because… oh look! she’s the dam of 5 approved sons, her damline is stellar, she’s still lovely and let’s forget about the price because she might give me a filly to retain before she is too old! (OKAY… that kind of mare is not for sale in the real world… I k.n.o.w.)

Top mares rarely come for sale and IF they do, they are generally older (breeder already has daughter(s) to carry on line) and they are often only for sale to someone the breeder knows personally or through connections.

I know that too. It was a theorical (theoritical??) question. Only.

I was not looking on advices like buy the best you can,etc. I already know that and work on building something decent, with the means I have. I just tought it would make up for a nice conversation, about what is a decent price limit for the perfect mare… to YOU personnaly, wether in real life you have or not that kind of money to put on a mare. See… when I hear that someone spent 50K on a DRESS… I find it is obscene. But some will think it is perfectly decent if you love the dress…

My question was more… that for the ones who have no budget limits, or very large limits or who says “an arm and a leg”… What your arm and leg worth? What IS your limit for the best mare? 50k? 100k? 200k? Do you know anybody who paid in the 6 digits to buy a mare for breeding purposes only? How did it turned out? Did the mare started a legacy for this breeder? Did her foals sold better than others? Was she worth that extra 0 at the end of her price tag?

I would love that a french forum like COTH exists, I’m sorry if sometimes I am not clear in what I am asking. My level of english is probably not high enough for me to be more precise or subtil in my phrasing of questions

[Spike]

Ok I will edit my question so it might brings more answers and less critics.

[VirginiaBred]

Breeding your next best mare is what we all are doing (in my opinion). I’ve held on to a 2010 filly for that very reason!

[River_Maiden]

I suppose the only realistic answer is “the best one you can get for the price you personally can afford to pay”!

[Donella]

My question was more… that for the ones who have no budget limits, or very large limits or who says “an arm and a leg”… What your arm and leg worth? What IS your limit for the best mare? 50k? 100k? 200k? Do you know anybody who paid in the 6 digits to buy a mare for breeding purposes only?

When I was last in Germany I was at a farm that owned a really amazing collection of broodies including a full sister to Don Schufro (used only for breeding). I am guessing she was pricey .

[megsherman]

Thanks for the information. Guess I should raise my price on my Feiner Stern mare:). She’s been an excellent producer and I now have a daughter from her…

[columbus]

Think of your challenge 3 ways. Breed…raise…market. What can your market bear? Do you have the facilities to keep a mare of that value and present your farm at the top of the market…easier today with the internet. Can you afford to keep, insure and breed to the stallions who get top prices? With a theoretical 15K foal…can you sell a 15K foal to your market. In my area there are no buyers for foals let alone 15K foals. That means I have to be able to market such a foal nationally. That requires a lot more than a top mare. Do you have access to the inspections as that is important in presenting top market foals? I think most of the people selling at the top of the market are or were pretty active in the breed societies. THAT gets you access to top mares coming available and the people looking to buy top fillies…who you know. It may be for your situation the top broodmare is not the best choice. What makes a top German broodmare has a lot to do with who owns her and what has been done to make her name…it will be much much more than that she is a lovely specimen. You might also find that a top mare is no longer a top mare out of the hands of the person who made her a top mare. I remember in the olden days…a simpler time…that a mare price was 3 times the value of what you could sell her foals for…she should pay for herself in 3 foals.

[omare]

it seems part of the problem of getting a good young mare is the price may reflect not only her value as a (prospective ) broodmare but also value as a performance horse which I am guessing one all hopes ones mare has?!

[Sabino_Farm]

As a breeder, I find that an older mare with creditials is much more valuable than a younger mare with potential. I prefer to be breeding and not out campaigning mares so I can breed in the future.
Bloodlines aside, it takes a lot of time, money, and luck to achieve a good resume under saddle, predicates, and proven offspring. Yeah, one might argue that they have less years left to breed, but the younger one has a lot of homework to get done before she is having foals anyway…unless you do ET…which ain’t cheap or easy.

[camohn]

So much depends. Age,breed, riding sound or only breeding sound (aka cannot be sold as a riding horse if she does not produce what you want), has a show record or not, bloodines, confo, produce record (if she has one or not).