Breeders - AI or Natural?

B

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When I discussed my plans to breed from Tills with my vet he was adamant that AI would have a much higher success rate than having her covered naturally.
Viewed a few stallions at the weekend and generally the breeders were surprised at the advice given to me by my vet.
Now I'm confused? Covering naturally isn't an issue as the stallion is local, but I just want the best for Tills and don't know which to do?!
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Opinions?
 
I think being covered naturally and AI'd with fresh semen would achieve similar results - as long as both performed correctly at the optimum time.

You might find your vet was after the job of inseminating her!!
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My first choice is always pasture breeding naturally.

If this was not available then I would opt for AI each and every time.

I do not like in-hand natural covering I'm afraid....way too risky in my opinion.
 
If it is local then go with the natural. I have noted before in previous posts, I went that route, but the stallion manager forgot to mention the stallion had never covered a mare before!! Ended up months down the line going the AI route, & as luck would have it she took 1st time.
 
Pasture breeding definitely not an option, he has a limited enough season as it is due to competition commitments!

It would be AI using fresh semen as she will be on site with him.
 
Esme was covered the yard before last "naturally" (in-hand) and her owner was there at the time- the whole experience was fairly horrendous by all accounts and she did'nt take. Last year she was AI'ed- took first time and has just had a beautiful chesnut colt! I personally would now go for AI unless I had the oppurtunity to just turn them out together.
 
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It would be AI using fresh semen as she will be on site with him.

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Perfect. That's the route I would take then.
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My vets reasoning was that she might not react well to being covered naturally because she's an older maiden?
I was hoping that I could just take either the breeders or the vets word as gospel and leave it to them!
 
I've always used AI with fresh semen.

Pop mare in the box to go see the Stallion when in season, takes around 3 trips (fingers crossed, as she hasn't been scanned yet!).

Reasons:
1. No risk to mare from injury
2. Can put bigger stallion to smaller mare
3. No swab required
4. Local stud so they AI and hopefully only one Vet scan required

I don't fancy the scanning / injections involved with frozen AI. One of my friends is doing this and thinks she will end up paying £600 vets bills plus stud fee. I'm hoping my vets bill will be £60 plus stud fee!
 
If it’s any help, my mare who is 16 this year, is going off to stud in two weeks time. She’s had two foals but last one was done AI (5 yrs ago) and one before that was 8 years ago (covered in hand), so as it’s been sooo long since she was covered I have a young stallion that is really my first choice but if she objects to him covering her this time then she can run out with an older stallion, as apparently they are much more relaxed if left to their own devices! That way we should overcome it for future years as well as achieving the aim this year. Well, that’s the plan!
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Some said that if their mares didn't take after a couple of goes AI then often they end up covering them naturally with success first time.
I've had her swabbed just in case it comes to that, as didn't want any potential hold ups later on. I want to be prepared for every eventuality!
 
My stallion has been doing a mix of natural covering and AI with fresh, chilled and frozen semen - it just depends on what's best for the mare. Sometimes AI is better with maiden mares.
 
I don't have a huge knowledge of this (and will probably be shot down ! as I know ther are breeders on here with lots of knowledge)but my understanding after talking to a friend that used to run a stud is that AI is a "cleaner" method with less risk of infection which thus increases the conception rate.
I think that older mares are sometimes more prone to suffering from a low grade infection so that might be the reason for his suggestion.
 
We couldn't get Amy to get pregnant with AI. Natural covering did it first time - however each mare is different.
 
QR:
Sounds like a bit of a minefield
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Will discuss further with the actual owner/breeder of the stally in question, but when we discussed it initially his rsponse was something along the lines of "I've been doing this god-knows how many years, and I'd do it natural, but if AI's what you want...."
Argh!!! So complicated!
 
I'm for natural everytime but backed up with a scan for the optimum day if you can afford it.
We cover naturally and luckily the stallion has an exceptionally high fertility rate which helps, but any mares who don't show strongly in season we get them scanned and cover on the optimum time as advised by our vet.
Last year several were only covered just once and are all in foal...
I can't take to Ai I'm afraid, but that's a personal choice!
ps just been to look at your choice and yes, he's very nice!
 
I'm fully prepared to have to cough up for numerous scans as she NEVER gives us any indication of being in season at all
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Glad you approve of him, he looks even better now than when the pics for his stud card were taken. Will make sure we have a full photo shoot and film him in action on the 27th
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have just used AI on my mare this is our first time and she took on the first go. it was very stress free. the only thing i will say is that try to get a package price from your vet asthis is what the stud advised me. it cost me £320.00 +vat vet fee
 
My vets do an AI package price for £220, but typically that's only if the mare stays with them (excluding keep), and I'm not paying for her to go there and then pay for the semen to be chilled and transported when she could just go literally 10mins down the road to the stallion himself and be done with fresh....
Vets! *exasperated sigh*
 
Send her to the stud. It'll be so much easier on your pocket.

Wish I'd done that in the first place to be honest.
 
Oh no....
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Once the little one is here things should be a bit better shouldn't they? Less weight for her to bear? I know that's not much comfort as a month can feel like a lifetime when there's nothing you can do to make things better.
Hugs.
 
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