For those of you that have done this, can you tell me what is involved in terms of quarentine, cost ect.
Thanks!
I did it with Don Principe 8 years ago and the cost was enourmous. I can’t answer for what it would cost you in Canada as the CEM quarentine is different.
Right now for the US, the base cost for a gelding is around $10,000.( back then it was around 6,000) Then add the additional vet costs prior to import for a stallion, additional quarentine on this side of the world and it adds up to around $15,000 I think.
[QUOTE=Marydell;7050708]
I did it with Don Principe 8 years ago and the cost was enourmous. I can’t answer for what it would cost you in Canada as the CEM quarentine is different.
Right now for the US, the base cost for a gelding is around $10,000.( back then it was around 6,000) Then add the additional vet costs prior to import for a stallion, additional quarentine on this side of the world and it adds up to around $15,000 I think.[/QUOTE]
Thanks for the info. How long did he have to stay in quarentine for? Did you do the quarentine on your farm? What was involved in the quarentine?
Thanks!
[QUOTE=Donella;7050840]
Thanks for the info. How long did he have to stay in quarentine for? Did you do the quarentine on your farm? What was involved in the quarentine?
Thanks![/QUOTE]
Donella, This can only be answered by somebody familiar with the Canadian rules - they differ form the US. Generally, the incoming airport quarantine is 2-3 days and will cost around 2.5K-2.8K, depending. Not all US States will allow private CEM quarantine (meaning in some States, e.g. Florida, you can set up your own quarantine station at home if your property has a certaiin layout, other States won’t allow this, e.g. CA). That CEM quarantine is anywhere from 15 days to a month and the stallion HAS to live cover mares in order for them to be tested. If you do this at home, you have to have mares lined up (which can be helpful if you plan to keep the foals anyway). CEM quarantine costs vary from station to station. It is, however, safe to say that a full stallion import, door to door from Europe, is at least 15K US, probably more.
USA and Canada differ in import quarantine requirements. Talk to Kathleen Sulz or Ruth Hanselpacker.
The USA CEM quarantine is now 30-35 days. I’m planning 15K for the flight and USA side, plus the charges in Germany for the CEM before Golden State leaves in September.
I Sold a stallion to Canada in 2001. They did the quarantine at home- they had done mares and geldings before. Costs ? I do not know.
"Stallions over 731 days of age — as with mares, stallions over 731 days of age will require a set of CEM swabs taken within 40 days of export and during the pre-export isolation period. Swabs must be taken from three separate sites: the prepuce, urethral sinus and the fossa glandis. Once the swabs have been taken the stallion cannot be mated by either natural service or artificial insemination.
On arrival in Canada stallions over 731 days of age will be taken to an approved CEM facility, where they will be retested by means of swabs and a specific test breeding programme which will take around 45-50 days. "
[QUOTE=honeylips;7051274]
"Stallions over 731 days of age — as with mares, stallions over 731 days of age will require a set of CEM swabs taken within 40 days of export and during the pre-export isolation period. Swabs must be taken from three separate sites: the prepuce, urethral sinus and the fossa glandis. Once the swabs have been taken the stallion cannot be mated by either natural service or artificial insemination.
On arrival in Canada stallions over 731 days of age will be taken to an approved CEM facility, where they will be retested by means of swabs and a specific test breeding programme which will take around 45-50 days. "
http://www.bbashipping.com/USA.asp[/QUOTE]
Thanks for all the info. We have done the CEM quarentine at our place before for a mare we imported, it was fairly simple. The part that scares me is that the stallions have to breed via live cover?? Jeez, isn’t that risky??
Donella, are you about to take a big step? 
Risky ? If you know what you do ?
Live cover is a perfectly normal way to breed horses (you know … mother nature and such ;-). There are still plenty of stations out there that do nothing but live cover. No more “risk” than any other horse handling, and it’s done by experts anyway. The quarantine stations know what they’re doing. You should be just fine.
[QUOTE=Maren;7051663]
Live cover is a perfectly normal way to breed horses (you know … mother nature and such ;-). There are still plenty of stations out there that do nothing but live cover. No more “risk” than any other horse handling, and it’s done by experts anyway. The quarantine stations know what they’re doing. You should be just fine.[/QUOTE]
Unlike at home, most of the places that do LC (like TB farms), will truss up the mare like a Christmas turkey – she couldn’t raise a fuss if she wanted.
If I had just imported an expensive stallion from Europe and he had not yet bred mare LC, I’d be nervous too. If he is experienced in LC, that’s a different story…
But if YOU are not experienced in handling horses for LC, then you should not try the quarantine at home – take him to a station where there are plenty of hands and experience.
[QUOTE=Kyzteke;7052228]
But if YOU are not experienced in handling horses for LC, then you should not try the quarantine at home – take him to a station where there are plenty of hands and experience.[/QUOTE]
This !!!
Agree with comments above that if you use a place that regularly does stallion quarantines, the live cover is really not that big a deal. Of course there is a slight risk “something” might go wrong, but the stallion quarantine places really know what they are doing, plus the mares are usually sedated and “trussed up like turkey”, as Kyzteke said.
There IS a risk the stallion will decide he LOVES live cover and becomes a bit more “difficult” to manage afterwards - is either way too gung-ho about breeding, or doesn’t seem to want to do the job off a breeding mount. I don’t think it happens super often, but there are documented cases. Ravel was one of them - was very “stallion-y” when he came out of quarantine, pretty difficult to manage in the stable, wanted to mount everything (including the wheelbarrow!), and he wasn’t settling down, so they gelded him.
A few months ago I spent the day at a veterinary breeding facility to get some of my CE out of the way. The stallion must LC two mares. This facility keeps ovario-ectomized mares for this purpose. So these mares are been-there-done-that and have very experienced handlers.
What a mess it was! The Fresian stallion that was being imported was YOUNG and acting as such. He was all over the place trying to mount the mare, the stud roll, a tree stump. They had trained him to a mount thinking that would help focus him when it was time to do the LC, but alas his brain went haywire. In the end they got it done, but it was not without some scary moments.
Lots of good advice, thanks guys.
[QUOTE=Donella;7051427]
Thanks for all the info. We have done the CEM quarentine at our place before for a mare we imported, it was fairly simple. The part that scares me is that the stallions have to breed via live cover?? Jeez, isn’t that risky??[/QUOTE]
“Live cover”…the way it’s been done for centuries…and still the way with TB’s. I see stories of stallions getting hurt on the breeding mount. Breeding is always risky…find good old “experienced” mares if you are worried!!
We do live cover every year and if you know what you are doing, mare is well prepared, there should be no risk.
