Sexes of Ponies??

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When you breed horses/ponies do you want fillies (females) or colts (males)?

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Ellie May

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Howdy,
OK I know that I've heard the answer to this question before probably, but I'm gonna ask anyways because I can't remember. Ok who's job is it to determine the sex of a pony, the mare or stud? And is there anyway to make it where you would have the one you want without having to do anything big (like scientific)? Because we have a stud pony that throws boys everytime, which is real, really good becuase geldings are at there all time high, but I wanted one of our mares to have a girl so I can name it a special name. Sounds weird I know but if anyone could answer I would be sooooo happy.
Thank you,
Ellie May
[email protected]
http://www.freewebs.com/harmonybackstreetanimalfarm/
 
the stud. mares (females) have two X chromosomes. Studs (males) have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome. X means female, Y means male. foals get one chromosome from each parent. They get an X chromosome from the mare b/c thats all she has. there is a 50% chance of getting an X and a 50% chance of getting a Y from the stud, it just depends on which spermatozoa fertilizes the egg first. so you wind up with one of two scenarios: XX = female or XY = male.

There is some research being done in cattle to sort spermatazoa into male and females. this would be tremendous to the cattle industry b/c you could AI to get all males or all females. I dont know about in horses, but to answer your question theres not really any easy nonscientific way to effect the sex you will get. wives tales? probably. but nothing that really really works as far as i know of.
 
Beefy-Do you think some females seem to lean toward having one sex or the other? I have an idea it has to do with the females system attacking the sperm cells that would give you the sex opposite of whatever the female delivers. A friend thinks that some females are acidic,some are alkaline,and that makes the difference. I don't know what it is,but I've seen cows deliver nearly all males or all females for their whole lives. Your opinion would be appreciated. Thanks,Chuck
 
My basic answer is "i dont know!"

Are you suggesting that some females have selective neutrophils that attack most of the spermatazoa of one sex? they are supposed to be nondiscriminating.

As far as pH goes , in general, it should be neutral in young females and then be more acidic after maturity. if it were either extreme i would think it would kill off all the spermatazoa, so anything in the range of 4-10, at least in my theory, would still give you a 50:50 chance.

To get more statistical on you, if you have a 50:50 chance to begin with, and then indiscriminate neutrophils attack invading cells at random, its basically a crapshoot as to which lucky spermatozoa makes it to the egg first. i have definitely noticed some cows and mares tend to have more of one sex than others but i think its just happenstance.

It would be interesting to hear Dun's and Vicki the Vet's thoughts on this subject.
 
Chuck":3gfi8ckn said:
Beefy-Do you think some females seem to lean toward having one sex or the other? I have an idea it has to do with the females system attacking the sperm cells that would give you the sex opposite of whatever the female delivers. A friend thinks that some females are acidic,some are alkaline,and that makes the difference. I don't know what it is,but I've seen cows deliver nearly all males or all females for their whole lives. Your opinion would be appreciated. Thanks,Chuck

Here are my weird experiences! Have one Longhorn cow that calves 75% heifers. Another one calves 75% bulls. Have a Peruvian Paso Mare that to date has foaled 100% colts! Her latest foal is due any day now. Our of 5 foals, this mare has been bred by 4 different stallions. All of the Longhorn cows have had different bulls for each pregnancy.

Really makes one wonder, doesn't it!
 
My Grandpa always said that a cow that always threw bulls would ever throw you a heifer she would definately be a keeper.
 
Well, I didn't take the time to read all of the answers to the original question, so this may have been answered.

The male determines the sex of the fetus due to the presence of both an X and a Y chromosome. Male spermatozoa swim faster than the female, and die sooner, so if the mare is bred close to the time of ovulation, the highest liklihood would be a male offspring. If bred before ovulation, the highest liklihood would be a female offspring. Some mares will not allow breeding until ovulation, thus more colts, others will allow earlier, thus fillies.

Sexing of spermatozoa is still a bit hit or miss, since you can't guarantee 100% the sex, you can only increase the odds.

I'm really zonked tonight, so PM me if you need further clarification!
V
 
Vicki the Vet":7nd1vty2 said:
Male spermatozoa swim faster than the female, and die sooner, so if the mare is bred close to the time of ovulation, the highest liklihood would be a male offspring. If bred before ovulation, the highest liklihood would be a female offspring. Some mares will not allow breeding until ovulation, thus more colts, others will allow earlier, thus fillies.
I had never heard there was a difference between male and female lifespan and speed,only that some were faster than others and some lived longer than others. This is very interesting and I think it would explain a lot of my questions. Thanks guys.
 
Beefy":3q6qdpc1 said:
As far as pH goes , in general, it should be neutral in young females and then be more acidic after maturity. if it were either extreme i would think it would kill off all the spermatazoa, so anything in the range of 4-10, at least in my theory, would still give you a 50:50 chance.
It would be interesting to hear Dun's and Vicki the Vet's thoughts on this subject.
Somewherre just shy of 100 years ago, or so it seems, there was a big deal about feeding vinegar to dairy goats to increase the number of doe kids. Supposedly changed the ph of the repro tract. After 4-5 years, we had the same percentages as we had without the vinegar right at 50:50.
I'm sure there are bulls/studs/bucks/ whatevers` that have a higher percentage of female sperm then male, but it too probably runs around 50:50. I think it has much more to do with the time of the introduction of the sperm cells and the ovulation time. Early ovulation with sperm present would generate more males, later ovulation would produce females because the male sperm cells would have died.
My wife told me the reason the maile sperm cells get there first is because they won't stop to ask directions. If that's the case I'm surprised enough make it there to do the job.

dun
 
if there are enough of the male sperm, theres bound to be one that accidently gets where its supposed to.
 

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