|
|
 Veteran
Posts: 193
 
Location: USA | How many of you get your mares AI'ed instead of Live Cover? and why? Is it easier and does it usually take? We spent out 5K about 5-7 years ago and the mare still didn't take and she is the easiest mare to breed. We never did get the mare bred and just gave up since it already costed us around 5K. |
|
| |
|
 Coyote Country Queen
Posts: 5666
 
| I only AI. A good vet and breeding facility is a must. I have had some problem mares, and I have never spent that much money to get one in foal. Heck, I didn't even spend that much on an embryo transfer! I would definitely be questioning my vet in a situation like that.
With that being said, some mares will not breed with cooled semen. And some mares simply will not carry. But a good vet should be able to help you determine if your mare falls into one of these categories.
So far this year I've bred 2 mares, and they both got in foal first time. We track them with ultrasound, give drugs to force ovulation so they ovulate in the correct time frame, use oxytocin if necessary because of retained fluid, draw blood to determine proper hormone levels, etc. |
|
| |
|
  More bootie than waist!
Posts: 18425
 
Location: Riding Crackhead. | I do. You can pick and chose studs from a long ways away. Most local studs won't let you live cover just for the safety of it. I have a good friend that will live cover or AI her stud. I'm running one of his daughters now. I'll give my mare a year off after she foals this spring then breed her to that stud next year. |
|
| |
|
Who Wants to Trade?
Posts: 4692
| RodeoRider97 - 2014-03-25 5:37 PM How many of you get your mares AI'ed instead of Live Cover? and why? Is it easier and does it usually take? We spent out 5K about 5-7 years ago and the mare still didn't take and she is the easiest mare to breed. We never did get the mare bred and just gave up since it already costed us around 5K.
We ai ours.
Obviously if we're breeding tb to tb we'll live cover, but mostly we breed qhs and all but one of those we've aied |
|
| |
|
 Damn Yankee
Posts: 12390
Location: Somewhere between raising hell and Amazing Grace | How much in general does it cost to AI a mare without having to ship the semen? My mare goes next month to be bred. They only AI that stallion but they will be doing everything right there on the farm so no need to ship it. |
|
| |
|
 Living on the edge of common sense
Posts: 24138
Location: Carpenter, WY | Only AI here.
Like the above said a good repro vet is a must. We bought a mare early last year that the prior owner had spent a lot of money on trying to get in foal and like yourself never got it done. She was found to be dirty and the vet cultered, identified the culture and was flushed with a antibiotic and cleaned up. She took AI the first time bred after that.
I would definitely ask the stallion owner how their stallion ships. Sometimes it's a question that a lot of mare owners forget to ask and plays a important part in the process.
When you find a good repro vet follow their advice!
There are some mares that just won't conceive with anything other than live cover though and some seem to sniff a sperm and get in foal lol
|
|
| |
|
 Best of the Badlands
Location: You never know where I will show up...... | RodeoRider97 - 2014-03-25 5:37 PM How many of you get your mares AI'ed instead of Live Cover? and why? Is it easier and does it usually take? We spent out 5K about 5-7 years ago and the mare still didn't take and she is the easiest mare to breed. We never did get the mare bred and just gave up since it already costed us around 5K.
We AI all of ours here at our place. We do our own stallion collections, ultrasounds, and we even do embryo transfers.
We AI because it is safer for mare, foal and stallion, and it is much more sanitary.
We ship semen on both of our stallions to the public, so we can't afford to have them injured. Collecting them 3 days a week is physically much less stressful on the stallions and the risk of injury to them is much less.
If you have a good vet or repro tech it is very easy. If you have a bad vet or repro tech, it is very expensive and things can get messed up very easily.
I always tell my clients when they are inquiring about breeding to our stallions, not to skimp on the vet part. They will make your breeding season or break your breeding season. I've seen it go both ways and I always feel bad for the people that can't seem to get it to work because they've got a bad facility that's doing the work. |
|
| |
|
Best of the Badlands
Location: You never know where I will show up...... | missroselee - 2014-03-25 7:51 PM How much in general does it cost to AI a mare without having to ship the semen? My mare goes next month to be bred. They only AI that stallion but they will be doing everything right there on the farm so no need to ship it.
Depends on the facility and what their charges are.
Where I live you can figure $250 for the ultrasounds, board, and insemination.
Add in extra if they have to flush or infuse the mare, do a culture/sensitivity, caslicks, or give Sucromate to make the mare ovulate, ect. |
|
| |
|
Damn Yankee
Posts: 12390
Location: Somewhere between raising hell and Amazing Grace | rockinas - 2014-03-25 9:19 PM
missroselee - 2014-03-25 7:51 PM How much in general does it cost to AI a mare without having to ship the semen? My mare goes next month to be bred. They only AI that stallion but they will be doing everything right there on the farm so no need to ship it.
Depends on the facility and what their charges are.
Where I live you can figure $250 for the ultrasounds, board, and insemination.
Add in extra if they have to flush or infuse the mare, do a culture/sensitivity, caslicks, or give Sucromate to make the mare ovulate, ect.
Thanks! I'm budgeting for $1000 by the time it's all said and done in case she has to stay longer and doesn't take the first time. She's been coming into season on a regular schedule all winter (she's about the only mare I know that does) so I'm hoping that works in our favor. |
|
| |
|
Best of the Badlands
Location: You never know where I will show up...... | missroselee - 2014-03-25 8:21 PM rockinas - 2014-03-25 9:19 PM missroselee - 2014-03-25 7:51 PM How much in general does it cost to AI a mare without having to ship the semen? My mare goes next month to be bred. They only AI that stallion but they will be doing everything right there on the farm so no need to ship it. Depends on the facility and what their charges are.
Where I live you can figure $250 for the ultrasounds, board, and insemination.
Add in extra if they have to flush or infuse the mare, do a culture/sensitivity, caslicks, or give Sucromate to make the mare ovulate, ect. Thanks! I'm budgeting for $1000 by the time it's all said and done in case she has to stay longer and doesn't take the first time. She's been coming into season on a regular schedule all winter (she's about the only mare I know that does ) so I'm hoping that works in our favor.
I know the charges depend on where you live too.
Some vets and farms are much higher than what the vets/farms up here charge.
Funny story........I shipped semen to a client in CA a couple of years ago that spent $1800 on getting her mare inseminated ONE cycle. Then the vet called the mare open 3 weeks later.
The client said she was out of money, didn't want to try again that year, she wanted me to hold her contract over for the following year, which I agreed to do.
The next spring she called and I was expecting she was calling to ship semen again. Nope---she was so excited, as her "open" mare had foaled! So indeed she was pregnant! The expensive vet apparently sucked at reading the ultrasound! LOL  |
|
| |
|
Damn Yankee
Posts: 12390
Location: Somewhere between raising hell and Amazing Grace | She's going to OK. They will be AI-ing her on the farm where the stallion stands. |
|
| |
|
Blessed 
Location: Here | teehaha - 2014-03-25 7:57 PM Only AI here.
Like the above said a good repro vet is a must. We bought a mare early last year that the prior owner had spent a lot of money on trying to get in foal and like yourself never got it done. She was found to be dirty and the vet cultered, identified the culture and was flushed with a antibiotic and cleaned up. She took AI the first time bred after that.
I would definitely ask the stallion owner how their stallion ships. Sometimes it's a question that a lot of mare owners forget to ask and plays a important part in the process.
When you find a good repro vet follow their advice!
There are some mares that just won't conceive with anything other than live cover though and some seem to sniff a sperm and get in foal lol
Exactly!!! |
|
| |
|
More bootie than waist!
Posts: 18425
Location: Riding Crackhead. | rockinas - 2014-03-25 8:27 PM missroselee - 2014-03-25 8:21 PM rockinas - 2014-03-25 9:19 PM missroselee - 2014-03-25 7:51 PM How much in general does it cost to AI a mare without having to ship the semen? My mare goes next month to be bred. They only AI that stallion but they will be doing everything right there on the farm so no need to ship it. Depends on the facility and what their charges are.
Where I live you can figure $250 for the ultrasounds, board, and insemination.
Add in extra if they have to flush or infuse the mare, do a culture/sensitivity, caslicks, or give Sucromate to make the mare ovulate, ect. Thanks! I'm budgeting for $1000 by the time it's all said and done in case she has to stay longer and doesn't take the first time. She's been coming into season on a regular schedule all winter (she's about the only mare I know that does ) so I'm hoping that works in our favor.
Some vets and farms are much higher than what the vets/farms up here charge.
Funny story........I shipped semen to a client in CA a couple of years ago that spent $1800 on getting her mare inseminated ONE cycle. Then the vet called the mare open 3 weeks later.
The client said she was out of money, didn't want to try again that year, she wanted me to hold her contract over for the following year, which I agreed to do.
The next spring she called and I was expecting she was calling to ship semen again. Nope---she was so excited, as her "open" mare had foaled! So indeed she was pregnant! The expensive vet apparently sucked at reading the ultrasound! LOL
I had that happen a few years ago. That was when I switched vets and now make 115 mile drive south. |
|
| |
|
Hungarian Midget Woman
Location: Midwest | That's kind of funny
One of our local vets around here came for a preg check on a mare a friend of mine bought.... she was not supposed to be in foal but looked HUGE (they didn't breed and didn't know what to look for), so they were concerned. Vet palp'd her and said she would foal any day now
She was not pregnant.... pretty sure they are still waiting on that foal ten years later. lol
|
|
| |
|
More bootie than waist!
Posts: 18425
Location: Riding Crackhead. | barrelracr131 - 2014-03-26 6:54 AM That's kind of funny One of our local vets around here came for a preg check on a mare a friend of mine bought.... she was not supposed to be in foal but looked HUGE (they didn't breed and didn't know what to look for), so they were concerned. Vet palp'd her and said she would foal any day now She was not pregnant.... pretty sure they are still waiting on that foal ten years later. lol
 |
|
| |
|
 Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9992
Location: Kansas | Here in kansas, at a clinic near k-state....it's just under $500 for everything including the ultrasounds, hormones, etc. So all that would really need to be done would be to culture the mare (if clean move on).
My blue roan mare has never been AI'ed, so she will be pasture bred to the stallion I chose this year. Next year, I'm watching a few stallions and going to get her bred back with AI. |
|
| |
|
 Reaching for the stars....
Posts: 12708
| I live in a horse-expensive area. One simple cycle for AI runs better than $750. Anything extra, is extra, say hormones or culture. I can't get a vet down the driveway for under $75 these days!
I haven't AI'd for a few years for two reasons. First, the expense. Second, I decided to cover my broods with my own stallion and see what he threw. He done good. All his foals have gone on to barrel racing homes and are so far beyond what I expected. I still have stallions on my 'must breed to' list, but until my finances are a little better (hopefully next spring!), I will be very satisfied with breeding my own. The difference in expenses has been incredible with live covering my own. Even with my wild foaling experience last spring with Hottie (emergency episiotomy and the resulting care), I spent barely over $1000 for the breeding season. Usually I've got that into one mares breeding alone, let alone the foaling part later. My yearly totals were $7500 averaged over the seven years I was AI'ing three mares regularly.
|
|
| |
|
Rad Dork
Posts: 5218
Location: Oklahoma | kuhlmann - 2014-03-25 7:13 PM RodeoRider97 - 2014-03-25 5:37 PM How many of you get your mares AI'ed instead of Live Cover? and why? Is it easier and does it usually take? We spent out 5K about 5-7 years ago and the mare still didn't take and she is the easiest mare to breed. We never did get the mare bred and just gave up since it already costed us around 5K. We ai ours.
Obviously if we're breeding tb to tb we'll live cover, but mostly we breed qhs and all but one of those we've aied
May I ask the difference between TBs and QHs? ( just curious! ) |
|
| |
|
Best of the Badlands
Location: You never know where I will show up...... | Longneck - 2014-03-26 8:39 AM kuhlmann - 2014-03-25 7:13 PM RodeoRider97 - 2014-03-25 5:37 PM How many of you get your mares AI'ed instead of Live Cover? and why? Is it easier and does it usually take? We spent out 5K about 5-7 years ago and the mare still didn't take and she is the easiest mare to breed. We never did get the mare bred and just gave up since it already costed us around 5K. We ai ours.
Obviously if we're breeding tb to tb we'll live cover, but mostly we breed qhs and all but one of those we've aied
TB mares have to be live covered per jockey club rules. |
|
| |
|
Rad Dork
Posts: 5218
Location: Oklahoma | rockinas - 2014-03-26 8:54 AM Longneck - 2014-03-26 8:39 AM kuhlmann - 2014-03-25 7:13 PM RodeoRider97 - 2014-03-25 5:37 PM How many of you get your mares AI'ed instead of Live Cover? and why? Is it easier and does it usually take? We spent out 5K about 5-7 years ago and the mare still didn't take and she is the easiest mare to breed. We never did get the mare bred and just gave up since it already costed us around 5K. We ai ours.
Obviously if we're breeding tb to tb we'll live cover, but mostly we breed qhs and all but one of those we've aied
Thank you! |
|
| |
Folks on-line