The breeding of horses today is an incredible business. Many stallions are seen as investments that have the potential to generate a substantial income over the short term. In fact, a lot of people invest in a stallion with the view to generate over three years, the sum that was initially paid for the horse.
Protecting the Investment
Consider one of Australia’s most expensive stallions. Redoute’s Choice stands at a fee of $137,500 Australian dollars for the 2011 breeding season. In a time where 100 – 200 mares are easily bred in the 5 month breeding season, consider the figure that would be earned on 100 mares getting in foal.
This would result in a return of $13.75 million from one horse. Of course, not all stallions have such incredible service fees. However, for a stallion that stands at a fee of around $5,000 with a book of 60 mares, $30,000 is still a substantial sum to be earned by the owners of that stallion. For this reason, the health of a stallion and his resulting fertility is highly important.
General Health and Nutrition
For a stallion to be able to successfully breed and get a mare in foal, he needs to be in good physical condition, have a good libido and sufficient numbers of motile sperm. A stallion breeding soundness exam may be carried out on horses that are to be purchased solely with the view to breed.
The stallion that is kept fit and in good physical condition is in a better position to consistently breed mares. A body condition score of around 2.5 – 3 in Australian standards (4.5 on the American scale) should indicate a horse that isn’t obese or malnourished.
Fat stallions can suffer from a lack of energy and libido. Without a sex drive, it can be very difficult to encourage a stallion to breed large numbers of mares. A lack of nutrition will lead to depleted energy stores, something that will also negatively affect how many mares can be bred.
A Fever is Fatal to Sperm
Sperm is produced and stored in the testes. This process of spermatogenesis is particularly vulnerable to temperature changes. Because of this, the testes are housed outside of the horse’s body and can be lowered by the cremaster muscle to allow cooling, or raised up toward the abdomen for heating and protection.
If a stallion is slightly off colour and has a raised temperature, this can result in the death of sperm and render a stallion infertile for up to two months. Unlike the mare’s cycle of 21 days, where events happen in a particular order, the production of sperm occurs over 57 days and happens in waves, meaning that a fever can impact mature sperm as well as those that are starting the growth process.
It is for these reasons that the care of a breeding stallion is vitally important. Issues with nutrition or health have the potential to devastate a breeding season and that year’s significant income.
Source:
- Manual of Equine Reproduction, Blanchard, T. L., et al. Second edition, published by Mosby, 2003. ISBN 0 323 01713 4.
Chris Thomas - C. Thomas has studied and worked with horses since 2001. She teaches horse studies part time and is undertaking an Equine Science ...
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