OK, we've all had sex ed and know that the stallion determines the actual sex of the foal by contributing the x or y chromosome. BUT, I've also heard that the mucous thickness & hormone levels in the mare are also a contributing factor in gender determination. Is that true? Reason that I'm asking is that I've heard of a piece of equipment that you can buy that will monitor hormone/mucous levels in the mare and tell you when to breed a mare for the desired sex foal that you want. I'm also curious because a breeder friend of mine in Kentucky has already had 5 colts and no fillies yet this year. That's not a normal occurance for them. All their mares have gone about 2 weeks past due too. The owner tried to explain this stuff to me but as I'm a novice, I didn't want to sound dumb and I'm interested in what this forum can tell me.
Sandy Posted From: 4.254.239.243
Posted on Thursday, March 24, 2005 - 12:19 pm:
Ya know, that's an interesting question. I haven't heard anything about the mucous thickness and hormone levels, but I have been told that if you feed your mare tomatoes during her pregnancy it will give you a filly. It has something to do with the acidity in the tomatoes. And I have heard that it works, but I've never personally tried it.
Some years we noticed more boys than girls and vice versa - same stallion, same mares. What caused it? who knows. Do know that in years when the breeding season was very cold and wet, we ended up with more boys the next year. When hot and dry = girls. Did that cause it?? Probably not, but does make for a good discussion.
Others will say breed at certain stages of the moon, feed them vinegar (makes their system more acidic supposedly, and therefore prone to more girls.)
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