I’d like to add a second, QUALITY broodmare to my home. For what I’d like to spend, in seeing a lot of mares around 17 years old. As long as the mare is breeding sound, how many years could I anticipate for breeding?

My current broodmare is 16, so I’m not opposed to 17. Just wasn’t sure how long they produce for...

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I retired one at age 18 because her stifle was bad and I watched her trying to get up after rolling when she was near term. It broke my heart watching her struggle and then not be able to walk for half a minute after she finally got up.

I have one this year who at age 24 gave birth to a very healthy colt. She did great giving birth and is doing great nursing. Some breeders might have tried getting her in foal again for one more, but I made the decision to let this be her last. She would most likely do fine with ET for the next two or three seasons also, but I won't risk losing one or both trying to carry to term. 

It honestly just depends.  Mares are just like people, some age gracefully, some don't.  My personal opinion is, if you're buying a broodmare thats like 17+ YO, I highly recommend you buy one thats in foal versus one thats open unless you are completely okay with the potential challenges of getting her in foal if she ends up being difficult.  I'm not saying they all are, I'm just saying, the older they are, the more I would be prepared for it to be more expensive/less successful.  And if it's not, then thats awesome. Some mares get in foal well into their mid 20s, some just don't produce that long.  And other factors like old injuries, lameness, metabolic diseases like PPID, complicate things further.  

It depends on the mare. I purchased a broodmare with a SI102 by Casady Casanova AND Murrtheblur on the dam side out of the Kaufman Kill Pen last fall. She is now 19.  I had tried to buy this mare the December prior and they wanted a TON for her. If I had know she was at the Shawne sale I would have saved myself quite a bit of money but she was worth the gamble in my opion . She was exposed to a stallion but of course ended up being open. I'll count that as a blessing b/c I didn't really like the stud anyway.

She settled with first shipment to Heavenly Firewater. She's been a dream to be around and has gained so much weight. I know it didn't have to go that way but I'm sure thankful it did. In 2020 she'll go to Lions Share of Fame for another cross very similiar to my Annie mare (who has an ET to Slick and is carrying a MCM Ima Hoss baby). 

Here's her pedigree: https://www.allbreedpedigree.com/mylady+casanova

My dad just sold a broodmare that is a proven producer (track and barrel pen) and has had babies the last four years. She has to be flushed after breeding and we've always had a caslicks done. She's 20, we sold her cheap. We did that for a couple of reasons- mainly we know it's more of a gamble to get her in foal AND the gal she is going to owns one of her foals and will take care of her, and wants to raise a foal out of her.  She's a little harder to keep weight when she's nursing but she looks like a dream once we pull her foal off. I don't have any reason to think she won't be good for a few more years, she's sound, total broodmare - wants NO attention unless she's like 6+months along then she loves getting scratched on, and she's worthy of producing foals. 

It comes down to risk tolerance if you are buying an older one. It can be a total drain. I had one of my younger mares not get in foal two years in a row now with no real reason to back up why. She had an awesome foal by Shawne Bug Leo and the last two breedings were both with frozen semen. I wont' do that again. We may just use her next year. She's a race winner and has ran barrels. I may see how she does since it's been awhile. 

I agree that it 100% depends on the mare. I had an older mare that I tried to breed but ulitmately couldn't due to low progesterone levels which is common in older mares. We had her on progesterate and even though she was able to get in foal she lost it after a few weeks after countless tries and a lot of money because of low progesterone. If you are seriously thinking about adding an older broodmare to the herd it couldn't hurt to test her progesterone to see if she is still viable as a broodmare. If it is low you could still give progestrate to help but there is no guarentee that she will be able to hang on to it(as goes for any mare) since she would be at a higher risk.  

I have bred and foaled out several mares in to their early 20's with no issues. I also had them since there were early or mid teens so I knew their productive history. If I really liked a mare and she was a producer, I would not shy away from buying a mare in her late teens, especially if she is in foal. If she is not in foal, I would have a reproductive exam done on her before purchasing.

I bought a really nice 19 yo mare last year. She had not had a foal in 2 years and the owner was selling her because she had lost her foal late in pregnancy and she was frustrated. She was honest with me and made a good deal on her so I went for it and luckily we got her in foal on the first cycle. We got her in foal again this year at 20 on the first cycle.

I have a 25 year old mare that has a 21/2 month old baby on her right now. AQHA made us send pictures of the mare to register her last year’s baby I guess they didn’t believe she had a baby. She is my World Champion producing mare and this is her last baby. One thing that you do need to consider is the fact that you could lose your mate and have to raise an orphan