Yes, did it there and back in the day, set off at 9.30am, got back 9.30 pm.
The conference was really interesting. It was presented by two vets, both heavy horse breeding specialists and I’ll try to summarise the main points.
· Traditional breeding programmes achieve on average only 40% - 50% conception rates overall. THIS DOES NOT EQUAL INFERTILITY!
· Intensively managed modern breeders (ie TB studs) achieve 60-65% per mare/oestrus cycle with 90% overall pregnancy rates over an average 3 cycles. Do we owe it to our breeds to do everything we can to achieve these sorts of rates?
· Use of a vet can save both time and money (well, he would say that, wouldn’t he LOL), but made the point that having the vet in for ½ hour one morning enables the stallion’s work for the next 2 days to be planned and improves fertility rates.
· Scan the mare at the start of oestrus and regularly throughout to pick up ovulation and any abnormalities
· Aim to cover the mare once at the optimum time. The best time to cover the mare is within 48 hours of ovulation i.e. day 21 of the cycle of 21-22 days long and scanning can detect this.
· Scan again 24-48 hours later then at 14-16 days to confirm pregnancy and pick up twins and again at 30 days as resorbtion usually by 25 – 30 days.
Breeding Problems – dealing with difficult mares. Problems can be caused by:
· Erratic seasons
the mare could be in the transitional period before oestrus cycle is established, she may have a uterine infection or erratic seasons may be normal for that mare
· Not coming into season
The mare may be cycling but not showing (allow more time to settle, tease adequately, watch for subtle signs, try a different stallion – if all else fails, call the vet).
· Persistent Corpus Luteum
this is visible on a scan and treated with 1 injection of prostaglandin
· Repeated return to season
this could be due to physical condition, infection or free fluid in the uterus – vet again!
The vets did have a couple of tips on managing the mare’s cycle, they recommended drugs such as Chorulon to make the mare ovulate and that, if you need Regumate, use the pig one, it’s much cheaper! They also made the point very strongly that a retained placenta in a mare is a very big deal and that if it’s retained for 3 hours, it’s an emergency.
One of the RBST officers talked about some data analysis they are doing by doing bloodline analysis for optimising the genetic health of whole breeds. They go back to Founders (no named sire or dam) for individuals, then measure the % representation of that animal in the current population. All should be equal for the most diversity.
