STALLION MANAGEMENT

Lesson Six

PASTURE BREEDING

The term “PASTURE BREEDING” in today’s world refers to the natural method of turning the stallion out into a pasture or paddock with a group of mares, allowing nature to take its course.

For those familiar with the natural breeding of horses, it is very obvious the stallion is subject to possible injury, either temporary or sometimes permanent. Because breeding stallions generally have a high monetary value, the chance of injury is not a risk most breeders are willing to take.

Another negative to pasture breeding is that it is actually one of the least efficient methods of horse breeding. The inefficiency is the result of the fact the average stallion will only successfully breed between 20 and 25 mares in a breeding season. Compare this to a well-managed hand-breeding operation, where up to 60, and oftentimes more, mares can be successfully bred to a single stallion during a breeding season. And when artificial insemination is the breeding method of choice, 200 to 300 mares can be successfully bred during a single breeding season.

Pasture breeding may make economic sense for the small breeder or the owner of a stallion of minimal economic value with marginal fertility.

Pasture breeding can also be successful with mares which have been extremely difficult to get in foal. Often mares that are difficult under unnatural circumstances will conceive when left to the natural course of things.

Other advantages of pasture breeding include reduced labor costs, reduced facilities costs and reduced need for skilled technicians such as stallion handlers, Artificial Insemination technicians and veterinarians. Another advantage is the minimizing of chances of a human injury.

Most of the inherent risks associated with pasture breeding are related to the horses involved in the procedure. Being knowledgeable about horse behavior can help breeders to develop a program whereby this risk is minimized.

Let’s discuss the management decisions which may help turn pasture breeding into a viable breeding alternative.

RISK TO THE STALLION

One of the first factors that must be considered is the increased risk of injury to the stallion. Pasture breeding does increase the odds that a stallion may be injured by a mare’s kick. Fortunately, these injuries are usually minor, since it does not take most stallions long to learn to avoid putting themselves in harm's way. Although the chance is slim that a mare would land a debilitating blow, the possibility does exist and must be appropriately measured.

At highest risk for this kind of injury is the stallion that has not been with a group of horses since he was a yearling.

Removed from a herd as a young horse, chances are that this stallion was prepped for a racing or show career. Then after the bright lights of the winner's circle, he was retired to a stud farm where he was indoctrinated into a hand-mating routine. His isolation from other horses has been complete.

It is going to take longer for this horse to readjust to herd life, alter his behavior and give mares the respect they want. But it will happen. Survival instincts and herd instincts, in most cases, have not been erased by 5,000 years of domestication.

In today’s modern horse industry, the stallion that has been “away from the herd life” is going to be in the majority; so having to deal with them is highly likely. If “Pasture Breeding” becomes the selected method of breeding this particular stallion, then the stallion manager has a challenge ahead to make sure the stud can successfully become a pasture-wise breeder.

There are ways to help the stallion survive the transition.

The preferred way to introduce a stallion with this kind of background into a herd situation is to do so in stages.

The first step would be to take the kindest, most docile broodmare, who is in standing heat, and turn her and the stallion into a paddock or small pasture for a few days. When the stallion shows signs of being acclimated to his new-found freedom, his territory is enlarged and more mares are introduced.

ADDING NEW MARES TO THE HERD

For the stallion experiencing his first season out in the pasture, the addition of new mares to his herd is usually not a problem. However, sometimes a seasoned pasture breeding stallion will reject late arrivals once his herd has been established. To minimize this occurrence, it is a good idea to introduce new mares when they are in heat and receptive to the stallion. This does not always ensure acceptance into the herd, but it does improve the odds.

Should a stallion absolutely refuse to tolerate a particular mare, it is imperative to remove the mare quickly from the pasture because she is at risk of injury. Stallions who reject a mare will try to run the mare out of their territory. In a confined pasture environment, there may be nowhere for these mares to go for safety. This leaves them vulnerable to attack by the stallion. Attacks can be violent and deadly. Be sure that the stallion accepts every mare that is put in his herd.

Another option for late-arriving mares is to catch the stallion and bring him back into the breeding shed to cover the outside mare. This procedure works well, but sometimes the stallion will reject the hand-held mare. When using this technique, it is important to try and cover the outside mare as close to ovulation as possible. Many pasture breeding horses refuse to waste a breeding when they know that the mare is not ready to ovulate.

IMPROVED CONCEPTION RATES

Another professed advantage of pasture breeding is an improved conception rate for certain individual mares that have been difficult to get in foal by AI or hand breeding. There are many anecdotes heard in the horse breeding industry that attest to this phenomenon. An example might go like this. Over several breeding seasons a breeder is having difficulty getting the same four or five mares in foal. Unable to find any physiological reason why these mares would not conceive, they are ultimately turned out with the pasture stallion. In most cases, they were pregnant within a very short period of time.

These mares generally could be characterized as being very nervous and temperamental. It is thought that returning them to nature for breeding allowed them to relax and let down, thus enhancing their ability to become pregnant.

This solution to solving conception would not have worked had these mares not been otherwise reproductively sound. Turning a mare out with a stallion will not solve problems associated with infections in the reproductive tract, pooling urine, or a host of other abnormalities that would be better treated in a more restricted breeding situation. It is important to check mares to ensure that they are sound reproductively before turning them out with the stallion.

The same is true for the stallion. Stallions with fertility problems are just as likely to have a reduced percentage of conceptions in the pasture as in the breeding shed, although marginally fertile stallions seem to have a better chance of causing conceptions when allowed to breed at their own volition.

PASTURE BREEDING FOR WET MARES

Dealing with wet mares (mares with a foal) can require the most skill in a pasture breeding operation. It is best to band the pregnant mares into a breeding herd, along with the stallion. When management and economics permit, these mares are then allowed to foal in the pasture. I believe that there is no more risk from foaling in the pasture with the stallion than there is from foaling in the pasture with a herd of mares minus the stallion.

Actually, the stallion is not normally associated with the risk factor to the offspring of a mare foaling in a herd. The main cause of injury to a foal in this situation is the inability of the dam to protect her new progeny. A foal without a protecting dam will usually be ostracized by the herd. It will be attacked by the other members. It seems logical to assume that nature dictated this behavior so that the liability, a foal without a mother that would attract predators to the group, can be eliminated.

To minimize a loss created by such a situation, a good manager should keep close contact with the mares about to give birth in order to ensure that all goes well. Usually, a mare will isolate herself from the band a few hours before she foals. After the foal is up, nursing, and running around, she will return to the herd.

In an attempt to bypass these kinds of problems, some farms wait to turn the mares in with the stallion after they have foaled and are exhibiting postpartum estrus. This seems to work well for them, but introducing a new mare into the herd usually causes bickering. It is this socialization period that puts the foal at risk for getting a swat and possible injury from being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

One way to achieve the advantages of both these practices and reduce the disadvantages is to leave the pregnant mare with the herd during the day and put her in the foaling stall at night. Then, one morning when this mare returns to the herd, accompanied by a youngster at her side, introductions are not necessary. She resumes her position in the herd and harmony is still intact. This system closely mimics nature's foaling routine.

SPACE FOR PASTURE BREEDING

The space needed for a pasture breeding operation depends on how many mares you wish to run with a stallion. The minimum of one mare and one stallion requires no more space than a large paddock. The maximum of 25 to 30 mares requires a large area, especially if you want to run wet mares in the group.

In fact, small traps of less than 10 acres are not advisable for herds with foaling mares and/or wet mares. In these small areas, it is difficult for a mare to isolate herself from the group in order to foal. As has been previously discussed, this may jeopardize her newborn foal.

Although the actual size to run a maximum breeding herd is dependent on the type of country where you live, a reasonable minimum for this type of operation would be about 40 acres, with optimal conditions being between 80 to 100 acres.

NUMBER OF MARES BRED

The biggest disadvantage of pasture breeding is that there are limits on the number of mares that can be bred to a stallion over the course of the breeding season.

In a hand-breeding operation, we know that 60 to 80 mares can be bred to a single stallion.

Using artificial insemination (AI) we are limited more by the facilities and management than by stallion power, but 100 to 200 mares per stallion is not uncommon.

With pasture breeding a good ratio would be 20 mares per stallion.

We can have the stallion breed more mares, but larger herds lose their integrity and break apart into smaller groups, making the stallion's job more difficult and increasing the odds that a mare will be skipped in any given cycle.

Having a stallion that readily accepts new additions to the herd could allow management to take out mares already pregnant and introduce new non-pregnant mares, thus maintaining equilibrium in herd size. In this way it is possible to breed 40 or more mares in a 120-day breeding season. But if maximizing a stallion's reproductive potential is the primary concern, pasture breeding is not the technique of choice. However, a small breeder who has limited time and expertise and a pasture with good fencing may do well to consider this time-tested breeding system.

ASSIGNMENT (No Quiz)

Please answer each question as completely as possible. Resources other than the written text are encouraged as well as personal experiences. Please site your resources – include the link if you used the internet; book title and author if you used hard copy.

Send your report to Dr. Sales at jsales@horsecoursesonline.com

Include your full name and email address on the document.

1. Describe, in detail, what situations might lead you to decide on using the pasture breeding method of a group of mares and a single stallion. Include advantages and disadvantages in the use of pasture breeding.

2. What is the best way to add a new mare (with no foal by their side) to a group of pasture bred mares, during the middle of the breeding season?

3. What is the best way to add a new lactating mare (mare with foal by side) to the band of mares that are being pasture bred if it is the middle of the breeding season?