2 questions on AI

[Jeska]

Hi

A friend of mine is contemplating breeding her mare.

2 questions im hoping you knowledgable people can help with.

Firstly if you breed a coloured mare with a cremello stallion what colour can you expect?

Secondly how does AI work. The stallion is standing in Ireland so does that mean id need frozen semen or chilled?

Thanks in advance.

 

[TrueColours]

What colour is the "coloured" mare? If she is chestnut base coat she will 100% have a palomino foal bred to a cremello. If she is bay / brown / black then palomino, buckskin, smoky black or smoky brown are all options

You will have better odds of conception with fresh cooled and more vets are better versed in fresh than they are with frozen. Frozen costs are also higher in shipping, vet work, monitoring, etc as you are breeding POST ovulation and not PRE ovulation so in many cases that means vet visits or leaving the mares at the clinic as the insemination USUALLY occurs in the wee hours of the morning

Some mares also react to the extender used in frozen so the after care is different than that for fresh cooled

Good luck!

 

[Jeska]

Thankyou TrueColours you have been very helpful. Mare is liver chestnut and white

Ill pass this on to her asap

Thanks again

 

[AndyPandy]

Some mares also react to the extender used in frozen so the after care is different than that for fresh cooled
Good luck!

Glad you could answer the colour question TrueColours, thank you!

With regard to the extender comment, I just wanted to say that I do not believe this is the case. In 1994 Kotilainen et al performed a study looking at inflammation and semen type. They concluded that:

1) The components of the extender (milk, egg yolk, glycerol etc) were not responsible for the inflammatory response
2) Highly concentrated sperm (whether fresh, chilled or frozen) caused the greatest reaction in terms of inflammation and fluid production

This data has been confirmed by field data from companies such as Select Breeders. Their data suggested that rates of prolonged inflammation and pregnancy were very similar in chilled and frozen semen groups... We also see the same results in day-to-day practice.

So, please try not to be put off by the thought of using frozen. If you had to do two cycles to get a pregnancy: bearing in mind you can get multiple doses of frozen in one shipment, but would require two shipments of chilled... the costs would be about the same too!