how much does it cost to breed a foal?

[dottylottie]

now for clarity, this is purely out of curiosity! i have no plans to be adding a baby to the family lol.

i see a lot of comments about how the prices of foals barely covers the cost to get it on the ground if at all, but what actually goes into it? i know of course the cost of keeping the mare, but in the case of homebreds or hobby breeders surely the cost wouldn’t be much more since they’d have the mare to look after anyway?

enlighten me all you knowledgeable folks!

 

[ihatework]

I posted this the other day. Obviously stud fee is variable and a hobby breeder may choose to risk foaling down themselves, but gives you an idea


Stud fee - 2k
Shipping and papers - £200
Pre breeding costs (exam/swabs/strangles test) - £150
Vets fees and livery (1 chilled cycle) £500
October scan £100
Vaccination (EHVx3, RV x 3) £400
Foaling livery - 8 weeks plus foaling fee (approx £1500)
Post foaling vet fees (check, Igg, passport markings, microchipping, dna) £300
Passport £100
Routine foal worming/trimming £200

 

[dottylottie]

I posted this the other day. Obviously stud fee is variable and a hobby breeder may choose to risk foaling down themselves, but gives you an idea


Stud fee - 2k
Shipping and papers - £200
Pre breeding costs (exam/swabs/strangles test) - £150
Vets fees and livery (1 chilled cycle) £500
October scan £100
Vaccination (EHVx3, RV x 3) £400
Foaling livery - 8 weeks plus foaling fee (approx £1500)
Post foaling vet fees (check, Igg, passport markings, microchipping, dna) £300
Passport £100
Routine foal worming/trimming £200

good grief!! as if keeping just one horse for pleasure wasn’t an expensive enough hobby as it is! a foal has just been born on our yard which got me thinking, the mare foaled at “home” but i know many are sent to stud. the yard was previously a stud though and the owners are absolutely lovely and kept an eye on her throughout and were on hand with the birth, so i suppose in a way she was “sent” to stud haha. i suppose if i do ever decide i’d like a baby lily, im in the right place lol

 

[Cortez]

A fortune! Much cheaper to buy one. When I was running a stud farm (more than 20 years ago) we reckoned it cost 3k to get them on the ground and a thousand a year after that.

 

[OrangeAndLemon]

And that's if it all goes to plan. My friend has just lost her mare and then the foal a few days later. Insurance doesn't come close to covering the costs which I think were over £25k and she lost her best friend.

 

[maya2008]

Mine was a bogof, born at home with no assistance - she still cost me £100 for the vet check after foaling, then there were passport fees (about £200) and vaccinations.

So minimum £300 plus the extra cost of making the paddock foal-safe with new fencing! Total about £450.

The following February when she was 8 months old, I bought her a friend to grow up with. Friend cost me £500 which I paid happily - friend was fully handled, very local and had the sweetest temperament. By that point, allowing £50 a month for her space in the field post weaning, plus some vitamins/minerals and winter hay, my bogof had already cost me another £200. So home grown freebie = £650. New friend, £500. In the same year I bought an adult version of those two little ones - cost me £750 and he was already 5 years old.

My conclusion: breeding ponies = fastest way to lose money ever!

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

It depends on breed too and what you are going for. Shetland pony stud fees are usually around £50 and £20 a month livery if they are running out with the rest of the mares and the stallion.

We have our own stallion so there is no stud fee. We have our own mares so they cost nothing either beyond the usual upkeep of the ponies. We don't scan, we foal down ourselves and bring a vet in if something goes wrong - which is very rarely. So realistically it costs us very little bar extra specialist feeds.

 

[JBM]

I think it very drastically depends on if you have your own land and if you’re confident with having a foal at home

 

[blitznbobs]

Just paid the stud fee of 2k … ai 320 per cycle (no in foal fee) ehv vaccines not a clue but I also have youngsters so a necessity… so if all goes totally smoothly 3k to get it on the ground.

 

[gallopingby]

If you have your own land then obviously you don’t have to pay livery costs but you’ll spend an awful lot of time glued to the CCTV waiting for the foal to arrive, nights on end which can be exhausting unless you’ve lots of people offering to take a turn for free. If you have your own stallion then you’ll not have to pay a stud fee as long as you can use him. He‘ll still need to be swabbed at the beginning of each season, and may get injured if running out with mares, or they might be, alternatively you can go down the AI route which is vets fees or technician Costs, lots of scanning before / after as you’ll not want twins. Twins are very rare, usually aborted or other problems along the way. I don’t think you’ll get much change out of 3k these days and probably considerably more. If you buy a foal you’ll at least be able to choose the sex and colour.

 

[millikins]

I can't remember what the stud fee and keep for the mare were now, but it was a few hundred at most but she is a native. What cost the money was the foal being a dummy and hypothermic, he cost £3500 for his stay at Liphook and the vet attending to send him and mum which was actually very reasonable. Gelding was about £500. If we sold him tomorrow we'd probably get about £1800.
I'd do it again though, we were unlucky but it's wonderful breeding one yourself.

 

[JBM]

Anyone used smart foal? Seems to be good reviews on it

 

[Lucky Snowball]

I was told "Fools breed horses for rich people to buy"

 

[ponynutz]

The only possible way I can say it being worth it for an at home breeder is if it’s a project that you’ll make 5k+ on once it has some miles underneath it. To be fair in this market, that is quite likely.

But then a lot of people I see on social media breed from a family favourite or pony they want a bigger version of. For them I guess there’s an emotional profit.

 

[Poppy+MrDarcy]

Never done it before, but I imagine from people expensive it is, that it's a lot

 

[Smitty]

The old saying: 'Fools breed horses for wise men to buy'.

I bred one, a TB xConnie. I am sure she was the most expensive horse on the yard, and that inludes an intermediate eventer someone else purchased. However, she was lovely but I sadly lost her at 9.

 

[Ample Prosecco]

Felix is my most expensive horse!! And that was with foaling at home . Worth it though.

 

[TheMule]

It costs a lot. Maybe not on the face of it if you try to cut corners. But you will pay longer term if you do that!

I did my last one relatively cheaply for a sports horse (gifted the mare, cheap stud fee, was supposed to be natural cover but she did not consent ) and still ended up with large vet bills as the mare had a complication in foaling. The cost now of proper care (trimming, worming, proper nutrition etc) until 4 will all add up. I have my own land, but that doesn’t make it cheap to do!

 

[lme]

I posted this the other day. Obviously stud fee is variable and a hobby breeder may choose to risk foaling down themselves, but gives you an idea


Stud fee - 2k
Shipping and papers - £200
Pre breeding costs (exam/swabs/strangles test) - £150
Vets fees and livery (1 chilled cycle) £500
October scan £100
Vaccination (EHVx3, RV x 3) £400
Foaling livery - 8 weeks plus foaling fee (approx £1500)
Post foaling vet fees (check, Igg, passport markings, microchipping, dna) £300
Passport £100
Routine foal worming/trimming £200

Sounds about right. The only area where there is a bit of flexibility is the stud fee but, given all the other costs, there is no point skimping on the stud fee if you have a quality mare.

 

[Equi]

For me the stallion I wanted was at the other end of the country, so a 6 hour drive each way to collect the stallion (I leased him for a year) so say £100 for that? Than a years cost of keeping him. I had two mares to cover.

vet fees for checking in foal approx 5 times, vet fee for foal check ups at birth x2, vet fee for one mare to get full flush as not taking (included a 3 day stay at vets) vet fee for a foal dead in utero (this was her second foal thankfully first one was perfect), vet fees for Mare aftercare, vet fees for vaccinations, microchipping and passporting, vet fee for 1x gelding. £ for the feed, extra bedding and extra equipment needed for foals. I’ve kept my foals but if I was selling it wouldn’t have made money.

Honestly I can’t put money to it - but it was a nice experience bar the dead foal. That wasn’t so nice.

 

[Kaylum]

Your stud staff can save you a hell of a lot of money if local. We used to get visiting mares that literally paid the cost of the covering. Put her up against the teaser to see if she was ready and off we went. Its all different now. Obviously we insisted on them being clear infection before hand but they were never strangles tested in those days which they should have been but strangles were rare and testing wasn't a thing. Looking back we took an awful lot of risks with no quarantine period. Horses on and off the yard all the time. We were luckily for our own as we had a vet on site for checking for twins and other problems. No scanning in those days either.
It's much more controlled these days and better. We got some cracking foals though and it didn't cost us too much.

 

[Ahrena]

I had a homebred last year….
Rough Costs were as followed;

Pre breeding health check - £200 approx
Stud fee - £650
Stud livery - £200 (natural cover, mare stayed for a month on grass livery for scans)
Scans x 3 - approx £120 each
Vaccinations (can’t remember what for but specifically for pregnant Mars’s) x 3 - approx £120 each

I kept her out at grass for the first 2/3 of her pregnancy and then moved to a semi-private yard closer to her due date. Normal livery fees so I won’t count these although they got quite expensive towards the end as she kept jumping out of her field (what horse does that at 10 months pregnant?!) and didn’t want to be out for long so extra workload.

Then we had some complications…Mare got fairly agitated after going overdue and whilst looking very ‘Ready’ wasn’t progressing so…
Additional scan - £120
Referral to foal at vet hospital as foal was twisted so potential chance of birth complications if he didn’t tighten himself. Mare foaled second night at vet, all fine. Usual baby checks - £1200
Mare seemed sore during feeding so vet check for mastitis - £100
Mare has sudden, severe colic about a week post birth although it sorted itself out very quickly (potential problem with organs moving back to usual position) - £180

So all in all it cost me approximately £3500 to get him on the ground. Insurance also didn’t cover the big vet bill as she foaled without any problems in the end
Then of course there is the cost of keeping him for however long until I were to sell him (I won’t ever sell him but that’s beyond the point).

Vaccinations, passport, feed, hay, trimming.
Realistically if I sold him as a yearling I would need to sell him for at least £4500 to cover my costs, not including livery.

Obviously my mare had an expensive ‘complication’ but breeders need to factor it in. If she had needed assisted foaling (potentially looking at a C section due to the position he was in), my bill could have been over £5000 for that alone.

These figures kind of hit home as my stud fee was relatively cheap/average and I did natural cover so much cheaper than AI!

 

[Steerpike]

It cost me around £3k in total to get my foal on the ground last year, I sent my mare away to a local stud to foal down and glad I did as there were some problems initially, said foal has since cost me another £1500 in vets fees when he was seriously ill at 5 months old. That's before registration fees and vaccines, worming, farrier ect.

 

[Polos Mum]

The one I know cost £3.5k in vets, AI x several rounds with 2 different stallions just to get in foal.

The getting it on the ground costs were then on top of that ! - Comfortably £5k to get a yearling averagely bred connie pony.

 

[tda]

AI is a total non starter if you're watching the pennies.
Our most cost effective - mare covered in hand then ran with stallion at home. Stallion on loan. Super easy mare foaled no problem, (shes done that 3 times) approx £100 for passport/chip .
Worst mare again covered in hand at home, she's had three foals with me with retained placenta twice, first time with colic symptoms as well. I've blocked out how much it cost me

 

[blitznbobs]

Sounds about right. The only area where there is a bit of flexibility is the stud fee but, given all the other costs, there is no point skimping on the stud fee if you have a quality mare.

Skimping on stud fee if you plan to keep the horse is an ok idea but big names do sell better (eg I can sell a much crappier horse by glamourdale for a lot more of a mark up and a lot less work (people may even buy before it hits the ground) than the better horse by an unknown stallion that you cant even get people to look at. Yes if its for you it is probably an option but nor if breeding commercially…

 

[poiuytrewq]

I’ve always wondered this! I think a lot of people just do it on the cheap though, I mean I expect it’s still not cheap but the people I k ow who have had babies have generally not had livery fees, one used a friends stallion etc.
I’d want to do it all properly just incase! so wouldn’t ever be able to afford it

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

now for clarity, this is purely out of curiosity! i have no plans to be adding a baby to the family lol.

i see a lot of comments about how the prices of foals barely covers the cost to get it on the ground if at all, but what actually goes into it? i know of course the cost of keeping the mare, but in the case of homebreds or hobby breeders surely the cost wouldn’t be much more since they’d have the mare to look after anyway?

enlighten me all you knowledgeable folks!

depends on the studs cost for one thing
whether you need vet care before or after
livery cost
feeding the mare.

Empty cheque book

 

[Alwaysmoretoknow]

I bred the horse in my avatar. Mare went to well known stud to be covered and scanned in foal. Came home to gestate. Delivery was a drama as it was a red bag. Foal was a complete money pit growing up as determinedly a self- harmer despite me being totally neurotic about safety and potential risk and taking every safety precaution including stud rail fencing etc etc. An arse to start due to undiagnosed injuries prior to starting, eventually resolved with horrific vet bills. Went on to be promising eventing then tripped up on the flat, had neck fracture at 6 now retired. Still here at 17. I could probably have bought a house for what he has cost. I'd never do it again but thankfully some people do as otherwise there would be nothing to ride. I know not everyone has the same outcome as I did but just saying it's not necessarily a 'cheaper' way to aquire a horse. Plus until you can get on it 3/4 years later you don't even know if you and the horse's temperament will 'gel' and if you will actually enjoy riding it.
Sorry - gosh this reads as such a downer and I'm very sure that lots of people have had lovely experiences of breeding their own but at the end of the day it can be a bit of a lottery with a potential large cost and no guaranteed outcome though when it works out it is magical.

 

[nagblagger]

Slightly lighthearted:

BOGOF - free

Disadvantages:
Unable to know when delivery is due
Unable to choose stallion
Unable to ride if bought a mare for riding.
Mentally expensive between frustration and excitement.

Then the usual microchip vacs etc fees

But knowing you have an addition to your family that will not be going anywhere - priceless!