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Posts: 14
| I see a lot of conflicting opinions on here about managing broodmares. I bred my first mare this year. I want to know why you feel that you should or shouldn't get the ultrasounds at 14, 28 and 90 days? Why do you feel it's better to know or better to wait on nature? At this point my mare is confirmed in foal and is at about 3 months in after live cover breeding. I wanted to know the first available time, just in case the mare didn't catch so I could return her in the next heat cycle. Now my vet is recommending that I return to have her ultrasounded again (3rd time) before I just let her be. We have had blood work done because she is an older mare. Her progesterone levels are good. Would you return again after two positive ultrasounds, or would you just let nature take it's course?
I was lucky enough to procure a beautiful mare from a farm I have been mare watching at for the past few years. They are primarily a thoroughbred operation, but had one lingering appendix quarter horse mare from a brief time in quarter horse racing. I was interested over the past few years in her and finally was able to bring her home. She is out of a Top Moon mare that was out of a Jet Smooth mare and by Confirmed Bachelor (TB)who was out of a Northern Dancer mare and by Blushing Groom (TB) by Red God (TB). This means that she has 6 graded stakes winners on her papers, but was never started herself. I am so excited about this mare that I can hardly stand it. I want everything to go perfectly! We bred her to Clydes Blue Pine from Victoria (Ganado), TX who is out of Blue Valentine, Hancock, Zippo Pat Bars and Watch Joe Jack blood lines. I have high hopes for what this baby could be.
I just wanted to know what the different styles of mare management were out there and the rationale for them. I have not done this before and I want to gather as much information as I can.
Thanks in advance! |
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 Midget Lover
    
Location: Kentucky | I check at 15 and 30 days. After that, I let nature do its work. I want to know the first month or so, in case she didn't catch or dropped because I may have time to try again. I don't like to ultrasound more than that because I want to try to avoid interference as much as possible. |
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 Guys Just Wanna Have Fun
Posts: 5530
Location: OH | Murphy - 2015-06-16 11:48 AM I check at 15 and 30 days. After that, I let nature do its work. I want to know the first month or so, in case she didn't catch or dropped because I may have time to try again. I don't like to ultrasound more than that because I want to try to avoid interference as much as possible.
Big Ole Ditto !!!
We confirm in foal between 16-20 days and let it roll from there. I am a firm believer in going in as little as possible with the ultra-sounds. Sure, vets are saying you need to do it at X days and again at X days cuz they want the money !!!!!
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Member
Posts: 14
| So what is the benefit of checking her again now? I get the cost benefit of not checking her. I get the reduced risk of not going in there again.
Why would you check again at this point? If she has slipped I'm not likely to breed again this year. If I have a baby I want to show it as yearling, etc so I don't want a May or June foal.
I know that the vet obviously wants to make money where it's there to be made, but surely there is more of a reason to check at this point than just vet finances? Are there still higher risks of losing the foal at this point? Is there anyone who is strongly for the next ultrasound or is it purely based on vet recommendations? |
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Guys Just Wanna Have Fun
Posts: 5530
Location: OH | Personally, I see no benefit for you if you would not rebreed her. I guess, maybe just peace of mind with seeing a heartbeat but it is really just in mother natures hands now. |
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Guys Just Wanna Have Fun
Posts: 5530
Location: OH | Also, for me, even though a pregnancy can be detected at 14 days--I like to wait till at least 16. Reason being is that twins may not always be detected at 14 days. |
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Member
Posts: 14
| The vet told me a story about a mare from this farm that had twins. He thought it was her, but they were not registered because it was not an on purpose breeding. That's why we did the second check.
She did not have twins in there when he checked the second time. What would you do if you did find out your mare was having twins? Hope and pray, I guess? |
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  Northern Chocolate Queen
Posts: 16576
Location: ND | I do next to no vet work with my mares. I pasture breed and leave them out with the stud for several months, at that point they're either bred or they aren't. I've only ultrasounded a mare once & that was because she's an older mare & needed a caslix as soon as she was confimed in foal. |
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Guys Just Wanna Have Fun
Posts: 5530
Location: OH | No. It is easy to remedy if caught within 20 days, they just go in and pinch one off and you put the mare on Regumate so she will hold the other one. Not complicated at all---if for some reason twins were detected too late to pinch one off I would give the mare a shot and abort---no way I would risk the well being of one of my broodies. |
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 The Color Specialist
Posts: 7530
Location: Washington. (The DRY side.) | IMO, there is no point in doing it yet again. Just because she has a live "foal" in her at 90 days, doesn't mean she will still be that way at 91 days! You have to draw the line somewhere. It isn't like oyu are going to U/S her daily! At this point, "it is what it is". Either she is in foal or not. Ultrasounding her at this point isn't going to change that. |
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Guys Just Wanna Have Fun
Posts: 5530
Location: OH | RacingQH - 2015-06-16 12:59 PM IMO, there is no point in doing it yet again. Just because she has a live "foal" in her at 90 days, doesn't mean she will still be that way at 91 days! You have to draw the line somewhere. It isn't like oyu are going to U/S her daily! At this point, "it is what it is". Either she is in foal or not. Ultrasounding her at this point isn't going to change that.
YEP. |
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Midget Lover
Location: Kentucky | Mighty Broke - 2015-06-16 1:03 PM RacingQH - 2015-06-16 12:59 PM IMO, there is no point in doing it yet again. Just because she has a live "foal" in her at 90 days, doesn't mean she will still be that way at 91 days! You have to draw the line somewhere. It isn't like oyu are going to U/S her daily! At this point, "it is what it is". Either she is in foal or not. Ultrasounding her at this point isn't going to change that. YEP.
Yep x2. |
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 Expert
Posts: 2013
Location: Piedmont, OK | I check them at 10 days to make sure they are bred and then again around 30 days and that is it. |
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Member
Posts: 14
| Thanks everyone for your input. I felt like I've done all I needed to do, but just wanted to make certain there wasn't a true biologic reason for the additional ultrasound.
I just want this to be a successful delivery and then fast forward about 5 years so I can get to having some real fun! |
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 Champ
Posts: 19623
Location: Peg-Leg Julia Grimm | I have several mares that are due in Feb, March of next year. I probably will not recheck them. I have been checking them with the stallion every few days anyway so I know they haven't been in heat.
I also have mares that foaled in April and May that I'm just now breeding back. Them I will probably track further into the fall (after 45 days in foal because 45 days is a critical time in the pregnancy). The reason being this. I want to know if they are in foal or open because in February of next year I want prepare them i.e. any tests or treatments they need should be done before you want to try breeding. Especially if I'm breeding to an outside stallion with shipped semen. If they are just now getting in foal, they won't be more than 6-8 months in foal in February. I may still be assuming they are in foal when they aren't. Checking them in the fall, doesn't mean they will still be in foal in February. But, my vet doesn't need to U/S mares after they are 30 days in foal. It's $20 to palpate. Not a big deal for some knowledge I feel I need. OR I can wing it and check for a kicking baby after 6 months in foal. Just presenting the other side. I didn't always have a stallion to tease with. That makes it 10x harder to know what's going on with mares. In that case, you need the vet for mares that don't tease to another mare or gelding. I used to check a minimum of 3 times post breeding for a pregnancy. Now sometimes I only check once. |
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Member
Posts: 14
| And that is my issue. I have two geldings and one mare at the house, besides the broodmare. I don't know the broodmare well because I picked her up and went straight to the breeder. She's sassy with my geldings, but they can be giant pain in the rears. Is she in heat, is she not? I don't have a stud to tease with. I think she's still in foal, but we've had so much rain that the grass is taller than my 8 year old! They all have grass bellies!
I think I'm going to skip this third check and then have her brought in for mare care, vaccines, etc again in December as that is how she has been traditionally handled in the past.
Thanks again for the input. I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't being irresponsible for not seeing the need for the third ultrasound. My vet is not outrageous for these ($40) so it's not really a financial thing (especially since i just have the one mare), just feel like going in there over and over again can't be healthy.
I just wish I could fast forward through this pregnancy thing and get a healthy baby on the ground! It's tough when you have a lot of hopes pinned on one mare!
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 Expert
Posts: 3782
Location: Gainesville, TX | When we were doing regular cooled semen we checked at 14-18 days and let be. Make sure there are not twins and catch them in time to rebreed if they didn't take. I'm checking at 16, 25, 35, and 90 with my frozen semen baby. We checked at 16 for twins but a lot of frozen semen babies don't always stick so we checked at 25 for heartbeat. We're checking at 35 to see her progesterone levels and see if she can go off regumaid (standard practice to use regumaid the first 30-45 days if using frozen). We're checking at 90 because I want to know if its a stud colt or a filly. I usually just check once but I have a ton of plans, time, and money involved with this baby and I WANT TO KNOW. Its $20 bucks each time for piece of mind on a type of breeding that can be tricky. |
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Member
Posts: 14
| I can understand. Frozen is tricky. Good luck to you! |
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 Money Eating Baggage Owner
Posts: 9586
Location: Phoenix | SaraJean - 2015-06-16 9:45 AM I do next to no vet work with my mares. I pasture breed and leave them out with the stud for several months, at that point they're either bred or they aren't. I've only ultrasounded a mare once & that was because she's an older mare & needed a caslix as soon as she was confimed in foal.
Ditto this. My family used to have a band of broodmares that we pasture bred AND were pasture born for 10+ years. We never lost a foal. |
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 Bulls Eye
Posts: 6443
Location: Oklahoma | I pasture bred this year. My stud has currently been out with my mares for 7 weeks. The outside mares that came to be bred have all been confirmed in foal. I haven't checked my mares yet but neither of them have come back in. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 428
Location: God's country | I check mine pretty frequently but mine was a special case. This particular mare had placentitis 2 years ago and had a premature baby that we had to end up putting down as a yearling. She was bred to Epic Leader and we ultrasounded her monthly during her last 90 days. Obviously they don't all have to be checked this regularly but I definitely didn't want a problem with this baby. I bred a mare this year that was confirmed pregnant at her 2 week check but had slipped on her 30 day check due to low progesterone. We bred her back and if pregnant will monitor her pretty closely until her progesterone level stabilizes. Some mares are pretty low maintenance but that doesn't seem to be what I end up with. Good luck with your mare! |
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Mare Management - Nature Vs. Vet