REPRODUCTION:

Our Specialty is Breeding Mares & Mare Services

Wisconsin Equine Clinic has a great reputation for breeding mares and it is our specialty. Our goal is to have the mare in our facility for as short a time as possible. This encourages comradery with your local referring veterinarian. Your veterinarian can get the mare to the beginning of her heat cycle send her to Wisconsin Equine's Reproductive Department for breeding and we will send her home in approximately 5-7 days. Wisconsin Equine provides you and your veterinarian with a report explaining when to have your mare evaluated for pregnancy and any other suggestions Wisconsin Equine has at the time of her breeding. Your local veterinarian can check your mare at home where she is most comfortable.

 

Field Service for Preparing and Breeding Your Mare

If your mare does not travel well, Wisconsin Equine can visit your location, within our practice area, to assist in breeding the mare at your farm. However, this can have reduced fertility results as the mare cannot be as closely monitored for ovulation and retained fluid as those that can make it in to a clinic environment. Or, if you have your mare at a local farm for natural cover service, we can assist you or the farm in getting her ready for breeding, monitoring her for ovulation and also completing her pregnancy evaluation at the farm.

 

Frozen and Fresh Semen Program for Breeding

Wisconsin Equine's frozen semen program generates percentages equal to a cooled semen program. We use low dose insemination whenever possible. All of our frozen semen mares are bred by deep horn insemination. We have a 80% 1st cycle pregnancy rate for both cooled and frozen semen.

Stallions can be collected on site for mares that are breeding locally. Wisconsin Equine has semen shipped in every day from across the country. We evaluate every semen sample prior to breeding your mare for motility. We take care of everything in regards to the breeding of your mare once she arrives at our facility. We contact the stallion owner prior to semen shipment, when we order and after the mare checks in foal to let them know the status of your mare. We ship back Equitainers for you and can even use your own Fed Ex/UPS accounts.

 

Parturition (Foaling)

Foaling can be an exciting and stressful time for any mare owner. At Wisconsin Equine we provide accurate and up to date information in order to have a successful foaling and a healthy foal. By utilizing our educated reproductive staff Wisconsin Equine Clinic helps take away the anxiety of your foaling experience.

Wisconsin Equine foals out approximately 30-40 mares in our hospital every year.

We limit the number of foaling mares to high risk mares only, which can be anything from:

• A mare that has had dystocia's (difficult foaling) in the past

• Physical limitations that may make it difficult for her to foal normally

• Mares that are of extreme value

• Mares that are embryo transfer recipients

Foalert® transmitters are sewn in and pre-foaling exams are performed on every mare that enters the clinic. Placental thickness is evaluated and medications can be administered if needed. We monitor your mare 24/7 and supervise the foaling. Each foaling is attended by a Wisconsin Equine Clinic veterinarian and we have a full service surgical facility and critical care capabilities if more assistance is needed during foaling or post foaling.

 

Embryo Transfer

Dr. Schmidt has been doing embryo transfer for over 20 years and has great success shipping embryos to a variety of recipient herds around the country. Our preferred herd is located at Royal Vista Equine in Fort Collins, CO, or Royal Vista Soutwest in Purcell, OK. We have had over a 60% recovery rate and 80% pregnancy rate for over 10 years now.

Donor mare breeding cycles are monitored at Wisconsin Equine and then are flushed for an embryo 7-8 days post ovulation. The embryo is then shipped via airline to airport of choice for the recipient herd. The embryo is picked up via courier from Wisconsin Equine and taken to the recipient herd facility and transferred into a recipient mare on the same day it was flushed.

Mares that are excellent candidates to be considered for an embryo transfer program include:

• Those that are currently being shown and cannot take time off to have their own foal

• Not physically able to carry their own foal to term

• Early embryonic death of unknown origin

• In need of more than one valuable foal per year (may be monitored by breed associations)

 

Fetal Sexing

The fetal sexing technique uses transrectal ultrasound to visualize the sexual genitalia of the fetus; penis/prepuce and testicles in the male and the udder and ovaries in the female. This procedure is no more invasive and very similar to routine ultrasound pregnancy diagnosis in the mare.

Diagnosis of the fetus' sex at this stage of gestation requires that the veterinarian be able to image the back end of the fetus. For most light horse breeds the best time is around 4 months gestation. For larger mares (warmbloods and draft horses) the ideal time is around 3 ½ months gestation. After 4 ½ to 5 months the fetal pelvis is far enough forward that it is hard to reach. It is also difficult to determine fetal sex in certain mares that are hard to ultrasound (strain or won't stand still); yet most mares tolerate the procedure without problems. Occasionally some mares require a repeat exam to verify sex.

The results of our 2008 sex determinations were correct for 28 of 30 fetuses for a 93% success rate. Results of above 90% accuracy have also been determined from 2005-2007.

At Wisconsin Equine Clinic and Hospital we follow the customary standard veterinary clinical procedures in performing fetal sexing examinations. Although we have much success, the fetus' sex cannot be determined with absolute certainty. In the event the sex of the foal is not correct, you will receive a credit to your account at Wisconsin Equine Clinic and Hospital, good for one year after the foal is born, for the amount of the fetal sexing procedure. To redeem this credit, the foal must be born alive, and stand/nurse.

Fetal sexing is a management tool for the horse owner. The sex of the foal may change the value or prospective use of the animal. If the owner wants a particular sex from the cross, knowledge ahead of time may be of benefit. Feel free to contact Dr. Schmidt or Becky Hinz, CVT to discuss the technique and any questions you may have.