Preparing Mares for Breeding Season
Preparing Your Mare for Breeding Season
The cost of breeding mares can be quite high and mare owners must
make every effort to prepare for the breeding season in order to minimize
costs and insure a return on their breeding investment. Both your mare
and your paper work should be ready for the breeding season to get a
clean start. The following check list may be used to assist the mare
owner in these preparations:
Stallion – Select a stallion (carefully)
Breeding Contracts – Complete and return contracts and any up
front fees required (booking, semen, shipping, chute fee, and etc.)
Embryo Transfer – Have contracts in place with breeding farm and
appropriate breed registry forms as well as any required fees paid.
Delivery to Breeding Farm – Make arrangements on when to deliver
the mare to the farm; owners of pregnant mares may want to have the
mare foal out at the breeding farm to avoid shipping a young foal.
Reproductive History – Give any special treatments or precautions
to breeding farm (i.e. Due date if pregnant, ReguMate, don’t tie, mare
kicks, etc.)
General Health – Soundness issues and systemic illnesses should
be revealed as completely as possible.
Nutrition – Body condition of 5 or 6 is desirable (too fat is as bad as
too thin); vitamin and mineral supplements may be necessary in some
areas.
Vaccinations – Should be up to date; appropriate vaccines will
depend on the requirements of the breeding farm, pregnancy status of
the mare and diseases in your area should be addressed.
De-worming – Should be up to date with consideration to avoid
harming the pregnancy.
Disease Testing – EVA and EIA testing and health certification may
be required by the breeding farm or if the mare is crossing state lines.
Caslicks Procedure – If sewn down, an episiotomy should be
performed prior to foaling.
Reproductive Health – Owners of problem mares may want to have
a uterine culture and/or biopsy performed and some farms require these
procedures (these procedures should be performed while the mare is in
heat).
Lights – Open mares may be placed under lights to simulate a 16
hour day starting December 1st.
The cost of breeding mares can be quite high and mare owners must
make every effort to prepare for the breeding season in order to minimize
costs and insure a return on their breeding investment. Both your mare
and your paper work should be ready for the breeding season to get a
clean start. The following check list may be used to assist the mare
owner in these preparations:
Stallion – Select a stallion (carefully)
Breeding Contracts – Complete and return contracts and any up
front fees required (booking, semen, shipping, chute fee, and etc.)
Embryo Transfer – Have contracts in place with breeding farm and
appropriate breed registry forms as well as any required fees paid.
Delivery to Breeding Farm – Make arrangements on when to deliver
the mare to the farm; owners of pregnant mares may want to have the
mare foal out at the breeding farm to avoid shipping a young foal.
Reproductive History – Give any special treatments or precautions
to breeding farm (i.e. Due date if pregnant, ReguMate, don’t tie, mare
kicks, etc.)
General Health – Soundness issues and systemic illnesses should
be revealed as completely as possible.
Nutrition – Body condition of 5 or 6 is desirable (too fat is as bad as
too thin); vitamin and mineral supplements may be necessary in some
areas.
Vaccinations – Should be up to date; appropriate vaccines will
depend on the requirements of the breeding farm, pregnancy status of
the mare and diseases in your area should be addressed.
De-worming – Should be up to date with consideration to avoid
harming the pregnancy.
Disease Testing – EVA and EIA testing and health certification may
be required by the breeding farm or if the mare is crossing state lines.
Caslicks Procedure – If sewn down, an episiotomy should be
performed prior to foaling.
Reproductive Health – Owners of problem mares may want to have
a uterine culture and/or biopsy performed and some farms require these
procedures (these procedures should be performed while the mare is in
heat).
Lights – Open mares may be placed under lights to simulate a 16
hour day starting December 1st.