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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1034
 
| I bred my mare via AI last year and she's at Day 375. She's 19 and this is her maiden.
I had planned to re breed her this year for one more foal, I paid my booking fee and got all excited and everything. Now I'm worried. I keep hearing it's not uncommon for an older maiden to carry this long, but I'm also worried about breeding this late in the year. It's 100 degrees here right now and thankfully I have her at a breeding facility that's 65 but ishe won't be there next year most likely.
Any sage advice? |
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 Heeler Hoarder
Posts: 2067
| Heat is HARD on new foals I wouldn't chance it but then again I don't have good luck either |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1034
| I could always send her back to the same place she's at now (on the coast with super comfy temps) for her last month and until the foal is strong enough to make the trailer ride and stand the heat.
Would the transition be stressful? From foggy cool mornings and a high of 70 at the most to clear skies 24/7 and 55 @ night and 100 @ daytime? I think I worry too much. Lol! |
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 Expert
Posts: 3782
 
Location: Gainesville, TX | If you can afford it, many northern babies are born in June and July because of how cold it is there early spring. I would want to avoid such a late baby in the South though. Maybe try to keep mom and foal there a couple months and then try bringing him down. Or if you had a friend further north see if you could arrange board until baby is ready to wean. I worry a bit moving a baby that young cross country without having been vaccinated and I don't like to vaccinate for hauling until they are weaned (at least 4-6 months). |
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 Midget Lover
Location: Kentucky | 375... yikes. Poor mama!
I wouldn't breed her this year. It's getting to be too late, unless you hit her right on her foal heat. Even then, you are looking at an early June baby. It was 80 degrees at 6:00 AM here in KY this morning. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1034
| The facility I have her at is only about 3 hours away. That's just CA for you - on the coast it's 65, and over here in the mountains just 3 hours away it's 100.
I kind of hesitate to wait her out a year. It took 3 AI's and cost me over $2k just to get her in foal with this one, not counting stud fee. Her cervix was hard and she kept building fluid since she wasn't expelling fluid through her steel trap cervix. Plus her cycles are getting longer. I'm thinking if I catch her on the foal heat her cervix will be soft and I'll KNOW she's in heat. She doesn't act like she's in heat so it's hard to tell. Plus she will be 21. |
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Midget Lover
Location: Kentucky | HorseMommyFiveO - 2015-06-15 9:21 AM The facility I have her at is only about 3 hours away. That's just CA for you - on the coast it's 65, and over here in the mountains just 3 hours away it's 100. I kind of hesitate to wait her out a year. It took 3 AI's and cost me over $2k just to get her in foal with this one, not counting stud fee. Her cervix was hard and she kept building fluid since she wasn't expelling fluid through her steel trap cervix. Plus her cycles are getting longer. I'm thinking if I catch her on the foal heat her cervix will be soft and I'll KNOW she's in heat. She doesn't act like she's in heat so it's hard to tell. Plus she will be 21.
Can you pull an embryo from her? |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1034
| Murphy - 2015-06-15 8:23 AM
HorseMommyFiveO - 2015-06-15 9:21 AM The facility I have her at is only about 3 hours away. That's just CA for you - on the coast it's 65, and over here in the mountains just 3 hours away it's 100. I kind of hesitate to wait her out a year. It took 3 AI's and cost me over $2k just to get her in foal with this one, not counting stud fee. Her cervix was hard and she kept building fluid since she wasn't expelling fluid through her steel trap cervix. Plus her cycles are getting longer. I'm thinking if I catch her on the foal heat her cervix will be soft and I'll KNOW she's in heat. She doesn't act like she's in heat so it's hard to tell. Plus she will be 21.
Can you pull an embryo from her?
No. The cost of that would exceed the value of the foal I'm sure. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| HorseMommyFiveO - 2015-06-15 8:21 AM
The facility I have her at is only about 3 hours away. That's just CA for you - on the coast it's 65, and over here in the mountains just 3 hours away it's 100.
I kind of hesitate to wait her out a year. It took 3 AI's and cost me over $2k just to get her in foal with this one, not counting stud fee. Her cervix was hard and she kept building fluid since she wasn't expelling fluid through her steel trap cervix. Plus her cycles are getting longer. I'm thinking if I catch her on the foal heat her cervix will be soft and I'll KNOW she's in heat. She doesn't act like she's in heat so it's hard to tell. Plus she will be 21.
Foal heat is even more difficult to get back in foal, in my experience.
I was told since the uterus is still contracting and there is still fluid being expelled constantly, it is hard for the little swimmers to swim. Also the cervix is generally too open to keep the semen in so it just comes back out.
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | With her age and the heat I would wait next year to breed, since this is June that baby would be coming in the heat of the summer, here in Texas it can get up to 105 easy. I know you have a breeding facility, but bringing them home to this heat would be really hard on them I would worry about the mare since she will be nursing. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 600
Location: Oklahoma & Texas | Most vets would probably tell you to keep her bred at her age..they are easier to rebreed after foaling than waiting a year ...however that being said it is really late in the year and if you didn't catch her on her foal heat it'd be considerably later even... i took a gamble on an older mare this year as last year we left her open in order to get her bred earlier in the year and it worked thank goodness but it was a gamble for sure even with her only being 18 ...i prefer march/April babies soo we start early here |
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