STUD FARM DIARIES

With a focus on stallions in this issue, perhaps it’s time to discuss a topic that I end up revisiting with clients over and over again, and this is the time of the year to sound the call once again.

Every year I end up speaking with mare owners who are using frozen semen and not having much success. When I start asking questions, I find a pattern, time and time again. But before I begin, let me ask a question. If you were going to buy a car that costs, let’s say, $4,000, would you like to see the car and start it up and make sure it runs before paying for it? Of course you would. Yet time and time again, breeders buy frozen semen for quite a lot of money, without knowing anything about the doses they are getting, and spend a pile of money trying to get their mare in foal, to no avail. Why?

I have been breeding mares with frozen semen almost since it was available in equines. I’m talking about the days of 5ml straws with the ball