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Expert
Posts: 1446
  
Location: California | I've never done it. Please tell me what I need to do on the mare side of things?
Do I call a vet and say be prepared to store it for me?
How often do I need to take the mare to the vet?
Literally know nothing about it other than you breed them at the vet--please share insight!
And on average the costs outside of the stud fee to do so.
TIA!!
Edited by *almost there* 2016-04-16 9:30 PM
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| Best is to call your vet |
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| First thing is if you know how to tell when your mare starts her heat cycle ... some are rather quiet to silent and other extreme is they are like barroom hussies and let the world know they are looking for a stud ... lol
I can tell you what has been successful for me on CS insemination ...
and what my vet charges for each event.
Some vets want to sell you a package deal for $150 to $400 and some also want to culture your mare by textbook ... avoid this culture unless your mare has some kind of fluids coming out of her vulva when not in heat ... you lose a heat cycle by doing this and it is getting late in the year. Heat cycles are from 22 -28 days apart. Do not let vet give shots to shorten cycle .. it can screw up the cycling or shut the mare down. Even if it works you are only talking about 5-6 days ...
Once you establish the above take your mare to the vet to see where in her cycle she is or if you can't tell take her anyway to see if there is any activity.
Measurement of 25ish means mare has started a cycle and the ovary will grow larger as she gets further along. The left or right side will be dominate. Keep in mind ovulation only has a 6 hour window so be ready to get on the shipping list.
I have learned not to allow any pinching of ovaries if they say mare is pregnant with twins ... Mother Nature will absorb one of them and keep in mind there are only about 10 sets of foals born each year out of more than 150,000 mares being bred. A lot of stud farms do this to get mares to stay for 60-90 days for mare care which is their money making item during breeding season.
Make sure you have your stud fee paid and also your first shipment paid with contract and front/back of mares registration papers at stallion station and know their collection days ... most are M-W-F and some will be on odd or even numbered days right thru the weekend.
Your contract will tell you their shipping // collection charges from $150-$400 per shipment. If close enough to drive and pickup it can be as low as $75 ..
My vet charges $35 for each scoping of mare and the same plus $35 for inseminating the mare.
Here is typical for me ..
I read the mare ... she is in cycle.
I worm the mare .. I do not want to stress her in anyway after getting her inseminated ... I also trim the mare's feet ... I want the first 60 days after insemination to have no stress items going on ...
To the vet we go to get a reading say it is 27...
I wait 2 days and get her read again .. say it is a 33-34 or even 36 since it is spring and warming up ...
I ask vet when he thinks she is going to ovulate or hit a reading of 40ish ...
which is my target on ordering CS.
My success rate changed to 100% on first shipment when I started inseminating mares 24 hours BEFORE ovulation or at the 40-43 stage. Avg semen lives better inside the mare and avg lifetime is 60-90 hours depending on stallion.
At this time .. I have mare flushed with saline and a mild antibiotic as a douche to freshen her up and decrease some of the bacteria there might be. ... not doctoring for any type of infection ... just a douche .. typical cost $28/$40 ... this can also be done the same day prior to inseminating your mare . ..
I call stallion station and order semen on next shipping date ... if vet sez your mare is going to ovulate on Sat, Sun or Monday ... have semen shipped in on Friday and inseminate on Friday!! or you will miss her ovulating .. pay attention to upcoming 24 hour shot ...
After inseminating the mare I have vet give her a 24 hour shot to bring her into full bloom $20 ... then I take her home and ignore her for 18-20 days ... be sure and figure this on a calendar and note the date down ..
The embryo doubles in size each day and some people are too anxious to know if mare is in foal and do it at 14 days which is difficult to see and easy to disturb the egg ... by waiting to 20ish days ... sonogram is easy to read ... plus if you missed getting her in foal .. vet can tell if she is starting her next heat cycle .. and start all over ... which you don't want to happen ..
Once mare is vetted in foal ... I do not do anything else like looking for a heart beat ... or any other digging around in there ......... by this time of year she is either in foal or not in foal and all you will do is disturb the embryo and cause an abort that would not have happened if you had not been curious and started disturbing everything ...
I do not give any rhino shots ... again... there is no reason to stress the mare out with a toxic shot which could cause her to abort ... I do maintain a good worming and feeding program year round. Fat mares are happy mothers!!
You can keep an eye out and watch to see if she has a heat cycle during the next 11 months as your only foal check ... and watch her tummy grow ...
An easy way to determine foaling date is simple .... just add 11 months to last breeding date ... and then expect a baby in the next 10 days ... at this time I worm the mare to clear her of worms because Mother Nature will instruct the foal to eat some of her poop within 24 hours of birthing and you do not want it to get a tummy full of worm eggs ...
If you happen to be present at birth ..... do not disturb mare and baby if lying still and allow cord to stay attached .. just make sure nose/head is clear of sack and baby is breathing..... this 20-30 minutes is important ... it allows all the blood in the afterbirth//cord to drain into foal so he gets a full tank of fuel.
Baby needs to suck within 8 hours of birth preferably several times for colostrum .. after 8 hours mucus has lined his stomach and the colostrum is no longer able to absorb into his body.
I do NOT give enema's ... the caecum is there to allow mother's milk to pressurize his intestinal tract and get the wrinkles // empty spots filled and then the pressure will pop out the cork.. His manure will be black as tar and then bright yellow when you see the milk poop coming out. He will get poop on his tail and switch poop on his buttocks .... so wash tail and buttocks and grease buttocks down with Vaseline or Furazone to prevent poop from scalding his heinie ...
Now is the time to spray iodine on his navel ... I do this 2-4 times during his first 2 days of life. Gloves is recommended if you do not want brown hands .. lol ..
Wash mare leakage down from vulva, between rear legs and udder to keep foal from ingesting any of the leakage ... do this daily thru her foal heat cycle ...
If mare shows any minor tears at vulva or actual red blood ... I do 20cc of Pen G for 5 days .. off 5 days ... and 20cc for another 5 days just to help the healing process ...
My mares and foals run on larger pastures that are clean of worm larvae so I do nothing medically to the foal until weaning at a full 6 months old. I then worm it for round worms and give it a shot of Triple EFT and a booster at 30 days. Colostrum protects your baby up to the 6 month age ...
At foaling ... have you a feed sack and use rubber gloves to discard the afterbirth in ...
I let my mares foal out in the pasture where the sun has sanitized everything ... regardless how clean your barn is ... the barn is where all the germs hide... lol
GOOD LUCK .. just keep in mind that your mare is designed to have babies and 99% of the time they have no problems ...
Sorry for the book ... but once you do the breeding it is senseless not to follow thru to birthing and caring for the new foal ..
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 Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | This made me laugh... At the time it was NOT funny.... But in hindsight... well.... I watched this done once on a poorman's budget.... She collected the stallion by placing a vet's sleeve on the stallion After he mounted.... So she drew the semen out of two fingers of the glove.... and the mare was pretty deep, so the business end of the gun was very close to the vulva... I'm not sure what happened... But all of a sudden I heard this... "Thupppp".. and it was gone from her hand.... She had to go fishing around to get it back... I don't know if the mare took or not...
Edited by komet. 2016-04-17 8:18 AM
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  Rebel Without a Cause
Posts: 2758
Location: Adopt a homeless pet - www.petfinder.com! | *almost there* - 2016-04-16 9:29 PM I've never done it. Please tell me what I need to do on the mare side of things? Do I call a vet and say be prepared to store it for me? How often do I need to take the mare to the vet? Literally know nothing about it other than you breed them at the vet--please share insight! And on average the costs outside of the stud fee to do so. TIA!!
So we are expecting our first foal this year and are total newbies to breeding. We opted to find a good repro vet and have them handle all of it for us. This is is how it went for us: - Researched and found repro vet nearby that did total mare management. Took mare to this vet for breeding soundness exam. Cost $235 for exam and culture. Got the green light that all was good on her side. Since were were going to bring her back to this vet for breeding they credited us $75 of what we paid towards their AI fee b/c they would have done the soundness exam when she got there for breeding.
- Selected stallion, signed contract and paid deposit. You can view most stallion contracts online that indicate what is involved in shipping semen for that stallion.
- Monitored our mare's cycles and took her to our repro vet when we thought she was getting close. Gave them copy of stallion contract and they handled all contact and ordering of semen from stallion owner's vet.
- They monitored our mare for ovulation and ordered semen at the appropriate time. They inseminated her and she took on the first cycle. We paid $350 for the breeding and all post-breeding exams. Board and Regumate was extra. She stayed there until she was about 65 days in foal (can't remember exact date) and we took her home.
Most expensive part of the whole thing was boarding at $17 a day. It was a busy time for my husband and I at work so we opted to keep here there until safe in foal and then brought her home, although many people haul in/out for servces. Just depends what you want to budget for and how much time you have. Nice thing about a repro vet is there are a 24/7 operation and we were able to drop off and pick up on Saturdays. Very helpful when you work full time! Overall we spent $1,700 at the vet, and that included normal maintenance like foot trims and worming, but over half of that total was for boarding.
Some people with more experience might say we spent too much, but I feel like this was money well spent to work with and learn from experts. BTW, our mare is now back there for foal out, she's due on Tuesday. Can't wait to see the baby!! |
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 Total Germophobe
Posts: 6443
Location: Montana | Calangelo - 2016-04-17 10:44 AM *almost there* - 2016-04-16 9:29 PM I've never done it. Please tell me what I need to do on the mare side of things? Do I call a vet and say be prepared to store it for me? How often do I need to take the mare to the vet? Literally know nothing about it other than you breed them at the vet--please share insight! And on average the costs outside of the stud fee to do so. TIA!! So we are expecting our first foal this year and are total newbies to breeding. We opted to find a good repro vet and have them handle all of it for us. This is is how it went for us:
- Researched and found repro vet nearby that did total mare management. Took mare to this vet for breeding soundness exam. Cost $235 for exam and culture. Got the green light that all was good on her side. Since were were going to bring her back to this vet for breeding they credited us $75 of what we paid towards their AI fee b/c they would have done the soundness exam when she got there for breeding.
- Selected stallion, signed contract and paid deposit. You can view most stallion contracts online that indicate what is involved in shipping semen for that stallion.
- Monitored our mare's cycles and took her to our repro vet when we thought she was getting close. Gave them copy of stallion contract and they handled all contact and ordering of semen from stallion owner's vet.
- They monitored our mare for ovulation and ordered semen at the appropriate time. They inseminated her and she took on the first cycle. We paid $350 for the breeding and all post-breeding exams. Board and Regumate was extra. She stayed there until she was about 65 days in foal (can't remember exact date) and we took her home.
Most expensive part of the whole thing was boarding at $17 a day. It was a busy time for my husband and I at work so we opted to keep here there until safe in foal and then brought her home, although many people haul in/out for servces. Just depends what you want to budget for and how much time you have. Nice thing about a repro vet is there are a 24/7 operation and we were able to drop off and pick up on Saturdays. Very helpful when you work full time! Overall we spent $1,700 at the vet, and that included normal maintenance like foot trims and worming, but over half of that total was for boarding.
Some people with more experience might say we spent too much, but I feel like this was money well spent to work with and learn from experts. BTW, our mare is now back there for foal out, she's due on Tuesday. Can't wait to see the baby!!
^^^^This definitely, only the breeding soundness exam for me so far has only been $57, which included ultra sound but no culture (she's never been bred and the vet didn't recommend it). It is on average, at this vet, between $400 and $600 per cycle plus $18 a day board. So, since we are only about 8 miles away, I'm going to be hauling back any forth for procedures, with the exception of AI, which she will stay at the vet's for about a week if she takes the first time. Then I'll be hauling back and forth for ultrasounds after that. I'm sure every vet's pricing structure is a little bit different, and different procedures cost more or differently. Research for the best repro vet in your area (in my case, I had a friend recommend the repro vet I'm using) and call them up and talk to them, they are more than happy to explain things to you and answer any questions that you have. My vet is/was most helpful and very informative.  |
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 Expert
Posts: 2013
Location: Piedmont, OK | Find a good repro vet. They are worth their weight in gold! |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1131
| I agree with everyone else, but please remember, you get what you pay for. If I was to go cheap on any part of owning a horse, the repro vet would not be it. |
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Expert
Posts: 1446
Location: California | Thank you all SO much!! |
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 Peecans
| 1)Drop mare off at vet
2)Pick up mare in foal
LoL
It really depends on how involved you want to be, If my mare does not have a foal at the side I take them back and forth for cheching and getting bred, Ive gone and picked up semen in the past as well.
As for storing frozen yup I have some sitting with my vet, the other mare is getting fresh. When I take her wendsay, I will give them a copy of my contract with the contact info and the colection dates and they take care of making sure its all set up when it needs to be.
My one mare thats getting frozen will have a foal ... Any day eek. Ill just drop her off and they will let me know when shes good to come home. More money but easier with a foal.
Edit to add: I budget 1000 per mare to give me a few tries incase they do not catch on the first breeding.
Edited by della 2016-04-18 4:00 AM
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 Expert
Posts: 1857
| Take ours to OSU, the charge $8/day boarding, $250 fee.
I just took one in at the end of her first cycle, they short cycled her, they set everything up with the stallion owner, AI'd her and after she ovulated they called me. I will take her back in 14 days for an ultrasound to see if she took. Most places will give you a sheet outlining what needs to be done and when. Oklahoma State does a good job and are actually cheaper than most places around. Partly because there is young students and your mares turn into class room lessons but it doesn't bother me.
I have a Matts King daughter that I need to decide on quickly and I will take her there too. |
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 Damn Yankee
Posts: 12390
Location: Somewhere between raising hell and Amazing Grace | To make life easier on you as the mare owner, do one of two things....find you a good reproduction vet that you trust and let them take the lead on it, or if you find a stallion you like where they do everything on site, go that route.
I bred my mare to Lions Share of Fame in 2014. Like you (OP) I knew nothing about AI. I did know LOSF is only AI and not live cover. However, Bryel has the knowledge, staff, facilities, and vets to take care of literally everything on site. We drove the 7 hours to drop her off and they did the rest, we just paid the bill. Was it a smidgen pricier that way? Sure. But for the piece of mind, it was worth every penny spent! |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 788
| I have been doing it the last few of years and it is a head ache!! Its not as bad if you have a very good vet that keeps you in the loop and wants to help. But for me, everything that could go wrong, has. I spent $1000 2 years ago on getting my mare bred and everything went well, until she had the foal early and it was still born, because I didnt give her the rhino shots. So, last year I spent about another at least $800 to rebreed and the foal was born healthy last week.
Now my other mare is an older mare and she has never been bred. Last year I spent about $1500 getting her bred and after 2 unsucessful tries, her getting sick, and nothing working I had them finally culture her, and she had an infection. So this year, here we are again and she has been at the vet for 2 and a half weeks (cultured first, then given a shot to get her to short cycle, then shipped semen and it got sent to the wrong place, then she double ovulated-both follicles) and Im going to pick her up tomorrow. :) I dont want to see my bill!! and hope somehow she got bred.
edited to add:
The head ache is worth it if you can get the baby of your dreams on the ground healthy! and you saved enough money. . . or you have a sugar daddy. LOL I didnt
Edited by horsiace1025 2016-04-18 10:47 AM
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 575
| You've gotten fabulous advice so far.
The one thing I would add is check with your stud owner/manager to see which days they will collect and ship. I've booked with studs who only collected M/W/F, one who was every other day, and one who would collect whatever day I needed it. So make sure you know the studs schedule beforehand so you can plan accordingly! |
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 Strong Willed Woman
Posts: 6577
Location: Prosser, WA | I've used two different vets and each cycle the cost through the vet averages about $300. Honestly your best bet is to call your vet way ahead of time. Ask him the cost, how he prefers to go about it and so on. Both of mine don't want mares there for very long if they can help it. They prefer for me to watch for my mare to come in heat and then bring her. I would make sure you get a good reproduction vet and then follow his protocol. |
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 Expert
Posts: 3782
Location: Gainesville, TX | We have good repro vets close. After ours foal, we just count about 18 days from foal heat (foal heat is about 7-10 days after foaling), take her in, and leave her a few days. We call the stallion to tell them to be ready and otherwise let our vets handle the shipping and such. Obviously you want to have all stallion expenses paid ahead of time so shipping is easy and quick.
If they haven't foaled yet, are new mares, we will take them in sometime during early April and check their condition. When they are close to heat, we watch them through their first heat cycle, count 18 days, and take them in and leave them with the vet to catch them on their 2nd heat cycle. Heat cycles average 3-5 days. I have had vet bills as low as $121 for catching everything perfect up to $1300 because she waited 10 days to ovulate and we were using frozen. My average is around $450 a mare per year vet expenses. |
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How to Breed AI?