Breeding mare

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jenna

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First of all, I have to admit I don't know too much about horses, (mostly cattle). This leads to my qeustion. My older sister who is horse crazy was wondering if I would ai one of her mares. She breeds and sells percherons, and wants to experiment with artificial insemination. I'm getting pretty good with cattle ai, but this would be a first for me. She pretty much explained the procedure, but I was wondering if any of you have any experiance with this. It sounds simple enough, but since breeding season is a little ways away, I have some time to learn.
thanks,
Jenna
 
aiing horses is supposed to a lot easier than cattle. you just stick it straight in.
 
I don't know much about A.I.ing cattle (yet) but know some about horses. I have been told the uterian wall is more delicate and easier to tear than in cattle, just what I was told, don't know for sure. The semen is more expensive for sure, the mare I have that's due in April was $X for the stud fee and $275. a shipment after that. The semen is cooled not frozen (in most cases), so it is collected and shipped and your mare bred all in matter of hopefully 24 hrs. The mare should be cultured prior to breeding, during her heat cycle it is ideal for the folical to be 40 to 45 centimeters. Ideally, because your dealing with cooled semen, the semen should be checked for moltility (sp) so you know it survived the shipping. When your breeding live cover you can cover the mare several times in the heat cycle, with A.I. you get one little straw with about 10 ml of semen a heat cycle. I had my mare A.I. by a vet who used ultra sound to check the folical size and a microscope to check semen motility, but I know people who settle mares on their own without that help...but they own the stallion so the semen is free.

Some breeds you can't A.I. they have to be live cover such as TB's, I don't have a clue on Perch's.

You may want to check out a stallion breeding contract to see what the expense is, many QH stallions on the web have their breeding contract posted on their sites.

Hope this helps
Alan
 
A.I.'ing horses is not a job for amateurs. Requires considerable expertise with coordinating semen delivery, detecting estrus in mare, proper techniques, etc., etc. Considerably more "timing-technique" critical than with cattle. Can be marginal to low conception success. Nothing like live cover...in long run think it's perhaps cheaper and definitely more certain than horse A.I.
 
Yeah, I have alot to learn about equine ai. But I have signed up for a class on ai and palpation of horses next week. Our local vet is sponsering it, so it should be a good start. It seems like a good thing to get into in this area since no one really does it. My sister knows others who would like their horses bred with ai too if someone would do it for them. It does sound expensive to me, but i geuss she figures she can take a jump upward in genetics by using ai.
any advice is appreciated
 
Take the class, learn what you can before hand, ask all the question you can, and then decide.

Alan
 

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