breeding stocks

luckilotti

Well-Known Member
Joined
8 January 2006
Messages
2,176
Location
Lancashire
hillhousestables.co.uk
hi
does anyone have stocks? and if so, where did you buy them from?
after my mare having her scan today i have been thinking lol. despite beinh sedated etc, she would not put her rear end in the stable doorway for the vet to scan over the door etc. so i was thinking, how hard would it be to make my own stocks?? next season, assuming we get my mare in foal this season, i plan to cover her via AI, and would prefer her to stay at home hence stocks could come in handy! ooo, forgot to say, only reason i am thinking about making them is that my hubby is an engineer and can do all things like that
smile.gif
hes just worked on a giraffes enclouser at our local zoo.
i've been looking for photos online to show him so he can figure out how much it would cost etc but i seem to be unable to find many photos, and those i have found vary a bit
web page
web page
web page
web page - i'm thinking this looks the best design?
web page
would love some opinions please or photos of yours maybe??
thanks in advance.
 
IAE do stocks for approx £800, if you are doing over a stable door with a difficult mare I would recommend them...or a bloody good shot of sedative! Its very easy for a poor vet to dislocate shoulders when a mare takes off when they have an arm in!
 
We made our own last year! Very simple, but they work and you can remove them out of the box quickly.

Imagine a 12 x 12 stable with the door on the left side of the box.
Level with the door frame, a strong rail (which dropped in to sockets level with the height of the bottom door) that rang from front to back.
A short rail with a strong peg at each end (we drilled holes about two inches from either end for the pegs so it wouldn't split easily)
Drill 3 or 4 holes in the long bar and the same on the left side of the box which the short bar can go across and the pegs drop in to those holes (ours was level with the half lining) so the short rail lodged on that as well) and that can be altered to how long each mare is. She stands up to the cross bar but is close enough to the doorway that vet can reach her easily and you can duck easily under the bar to hold her so you don't get squashed too! (I'll try to remember to measure the length and distances of the holes tomorrow and let you know)
Because the bars are 'drop-in', they can be lifted if you need to shove a foal under and it can stand with the mare and not be stressed, at the same time, the mares stay calm as they are still 'with' the foal. Behind the mare, we had a double piece of strong ply which slid across, held by two upside down brackets; it was high enough that vet could safely stand behind and not be kicked, so about 3'6"" high. You could, if you have the spare box, make a permanent hinged door for there but we had to be able to use the box as a box as well, hence the portability of it all. With the actual stable door pushed back against the wall, it made a shield for the scanner which we stood on a trolley but you could use bales of straw too.
Probably sounds so much more complicated than it actually is but our vet was delighted with our Heath Robinson effort and persuaded some other clients to do the same as it was simple, cheap but effective. You must use strong rails though, ours were 4 x 4" so strong enough that a horse couldn't barge through them.
 
MFH_09, they sound ideal. We are struggling to find the right location to put stocks in, as obviously the vet doesnt want to be trying to look at the scanner screen in bright sunlight, so using a stable would be ideally, but we cant put permenant stocks in as we need to use the stable.

I dont suppose you have any photos of your stocks that i could print off and show to our farm manager
 
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We have the Monarch stocks. We find them very good - sturdy door at the back in case they kick.

[/ QUOTE ] Agree with you re Monarch - we've had them for a number of years and absolutely brilliant. The vets all reckon the best ones they've seen as well and not that expensive either.
 
Not sure what make the one my vets use is, and we only have cattle stocks on the yard, but I will say, what a fantastic thought and I will only have my mare treated/scanned for breeding in the stocks so it is a consideration for if I ever send her away to be AI-ed
 
and here some Monarch stocks for info. Our repro vet rates these, hence installed in our new AI Centre - our larger AI Centre has purpose built stocks modelled on Monarch's - home built replica just as good and certainly sturdier!

Note the upside down logo though - have a good welder on hand for installation - drainage slope proved a prob for door opening. The whole thing had to be changed around!

TowerFarmStocks.jpg


Of course if you go with Monarch you can have some foaling boxes to match.......!

TowerEquineFertilityUnitandClinic.jpg
 
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MFH_09, they sound ideal. We are struggling to find the right location to put stocks in, as obviously the vet doesnt want to be trying to look at the scanner screen in bright sunlight, so using a stable would be ideally, but we cant put permenant stocks in as we need to use the stable.

I dont suppose you have any photos of your stocks that i could print off and show to our farm manager

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Sorry, I've only just seen this!

If I can find the bars tomorrow, I'll certainly take pic's for you. If I can't find the actual bars I'll 'adapt some others which will give you the general idea; I'll sort out the measurements too; I do know the back slide bit is under the new bales of haylage but I'll remember to show the upside down brackets so you get the general idea.
Our boxes have an overhang so ideal for shade to see the scanner otherwise you could always pinch a parasol out of the garden!
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Do you have any photos MFH_09 ?

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Sorry, only just got back to this!

Have answered Volatis too; I'll take pic's tomorrow - promise - and the measurements we used for a 12 x 12 box.
 
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