I’m interested in doing embryo transfer on my mare this spring. I’d like to create a “proposal” for my husband 
. So, I need prices on everything.
I have a recipient mare, and will have both mares at my barn.
Also, any personal experiences you’d like to share would be awesome. I’d love to learn more about it. Thanks everyone!
Here is some pricing information different places to give you a rough guideline:
I have not used ET myself but I have heard from friends that it can be much easier to use a recipient mare from a herd rather than your own mare. A larger choice of mares gives the vet the ability to pick the “best” mare to receive the embryo on the day they are making the ransfer, rather than trying to get a specific mare to sync up exactly with the donor mare. My understanding is you’ll want to add a bit extra (~$1500-2k at least, I am told, but that may vary) to the cost if you want to use a specific mare and don’t forget to budget for her repro exam as well as the donor mare’s.
You’re going to hurt your success chances by using your own mare versus a recipient herd. It’s really difficult to time both mares exactly, and the success rates on a transfer are already not a sure thing.
The challenge you might run into at this time of the year is availability of recip mares/cost - they may already all be spoken for, and those that aren’t may demand a higher price tag. Generally, it’s safe to budget about $10,000 for an embryo transfer (excluding stud fee, including receip mare from a herd).
My biggest piece of advice is to also budget for foaling out at a dedicated facility. 95% of the time, everything goes right - and you may say, “but Arelle, mares have foals in pastures every single day the way nature intended”. However. That 5% of the time when it goes wrong, it typically goes very, very, very wrong. If you’re going to invest thousands of dollars and months of your life to get a live, healthy foal on the ground - it’s best to have access to the best medical teams possible at the last stretch should you find yourself part of the 5% crowd.
Thank you this is very helpful!
This is really good to know! I appreciate your advice!
Hi,
I have synced up my own mares and it is not as difficult as it is made out to be. You do have to be fastidious about timing and admining drugs. But if you start out with a quality donor and a quality recip, the chances are still very good for a positive result. My total costs were about 4,500.
I do understand why people utilize the commercial facilities and herds (I have had clients who do, and I will be this summer as well).
But agreed on utilizing a dedicated foaling facility, it’s less stress and more cost effective.
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