I need to have a breeding soundness check on a mare I hope to purchase. Can anyone recomend an excellent Repro specialist near Ramsey, MN?
Thank you
Hi there,
This question really depends on what your breeding situation is. If you have a young, totally healthy mare who has had a clean culture AND CYTOLOGY as well as a clean biopsy, the “usual suspects” you will often be suggested are Anoka Equine or Stillwater Equine in the Twin Cities area.
I would recommend Stillwater above Anoka in my personal opinion. I would only recommend either of them if you are doing fresh breeding with a fertile mare and good semen.
If you are doing frozen breeding or else have a mare with any breeding issues whatsoever (fluid retention, subpar biopsy score, whatever) I would highly recommend working with Lisa Duoos, a grad student vet tech who coordinates with the vets at Cleary Lake Vets in Prior Lake, MN… Even if you have to pay extra for farm calls or else to send your mare there, PAY IT and consider it the absolute best money you will spend (and save yourself) on your breeding. She is by far the most knowledgable and successful repro specialist in the Twin Cities area, has a phenomenal success rate with very difficult mares and I honestly can’t recommend her enough. She did her grad thesis on frozen semen breeding and is the only repro person I have seen in MN so far that reliably uses the most up-to-date breeding practices according to the equine repro email lists to which I have subscribed.
I can’t tell you how much money I myself and friends have spent attempting to breed older mares with some prominent vet practices in the Twin Cities area (not named above, PM me, I’ll be happy to tell you who I would run away from screaming) and dealt with the frustration of breeding methods that were so outdated and contrary to current recommended practice they were borderline malpractice.
Two examples- my current mare and my friend’s mare, both of which were age 12 or older when bred and had fluid retention issues. We both spent literally thousands of dollars at multiple other vet practices with no pregnancies. After two years with various vets, Lisa got my mare bred on the FIRST cycle, and my friend’s mare caught on the SECOND cycle after about 2 years with 3 different vets.
People send mares to Lisa from all over the place, including Friesians (which can be notoriously difficult to get bred) and other “high risk” mares. She also does embryo transfer on a regular basis, breeds with frozen on a regular basis, etc.
Also, between the U and Lisa, I would say skip the U and go with Lisa.
I live in northern MN with my mare, and I can tell you I will pay the fee to haul my mare down and leave her with Lisa long-term to get bred next time around. She can arrange for affordable on-site boarding and the money spent is money saved, in my opinion.
Spectrum.
I’m so glad you posted, even though I’m not the OP. Thanks!
Do you have Lisa’s contact info?
Does she own Dove Hill Equine Reproductive Services now? It says a lot about her breeding TB’s but not much else.
You have a PM 
