My Arabian stallion is only used for live cover and I have one mare that every time we breed her, after ejaculation, it seems like it all comes out with him! It looks like almost a cup spilling out, but I don't know what the average is. I'm not even sure enough is going in to settle her. I think I'm going to have her checked by a vet to see if there is something wrong.
The pre-ejaculatory portion. This consists of clear fluid and is what can be seen dripping from the stallions penis prior to breeding.
The sperm-rich fraction. Self-explanatory in nature, this contains - on average - enough sperm to succesfully breed anywhere between 5 and 15 mares.
The tail fraction. This comprises of seminal plasma and with many stallions also something called gel fraction. The gel fraction is a glutinous liquid somewhat like egg-white in consistency and contains no sperm. As with an egg-white when being separated from the yolk, if some of the gel fraction gets pulled out of the vagina with the stallion dismounting, most of the rest of it will follow, and it is almost certainly this that you are seeing being lost after the stallion dismounts, not the sperm-rich fraction.
If you add to that the fact that in a normal breeding, the stallion's penis actually penetrates the mare's cervix and may even go through into the uterus, and the ejaculations occurs at a tremendous pressure, thereby forcing the semen into the uterus, where it seeks the lowest point, you will quickly start to realise that your concenrs are - in all probability - unfounded.
The specific answer to your question "how many sperm in an ejaculate" is a bit like asking "how long is a piece of string". There is no answer - it is tremendously variable! As I said above, the average will be somewhere between enough to breed 5-15 mares, but that is an average. To get that specific answer you will need to ahve a semen evaluation performed on your stallion.
Thank you for the info. and YES, I found it to be useful. So then there is probably a good chance of her getting what she needs then you think? I try not to have my own broodmares checked for pregnancy as the cost would push me over the top. If she comes into heat again, I may just have her checked.
It's impossible to say with certainty, but there is a good chance that there is an adequate number of sperm being placed in the uterus by the stallion to achieve pregnancy.
Not pregnancy checking using ultrasound at least twice (around 14 and 28 days post-breeding-ovulation) is probably one of the most significant false economies you can make in breeding. It only takes one undetected twin pregnancy that results in a mid-to-late term abortion with a dystocia (malpresentation) and the loss of the mare and both foals and any savings you might have had by not performing the ultrasounds will be lost for many years! Even if you don't lose a mare, losing both foals (or even ending up with live twins - which is unusual - that never reach their maximum potential) and feeding the mare for a year for no return will pretty much eat up your savings on not ultrasounding really quickly too. It's not a move I'd make with a view to saving money...
I can not stress enough how important ultrasound is. Not only will it save you money as Jos pointed out, but it may save you a sad, emotional situation. Nothing fun for the mare or owner when a twin disaster happens.
A little off topic here...so it's not necessary to walk your mare for a few mins right after she's been covered then? Is that just an old wives tail then?
Not a wives tail.... esp if live cover.. it simply helps the mare to keep from peeing after covering and perhaps emptying what was placed there to begin with. I walk mine briskly for 5-6 minutes after" live cover in hand " , knowing the first thing they want to do is pee. Kind of hard to do this if mare is pasture bred however.
When the stallion breeds a mare, he deposits the semen in her vagina/uterus. When she pees after breeding, that comes out of the bladder. Yes they both come out the vulva, but you are not losing any sperm when she pees.}
Sorry J.R. Hamilton - I completely disagree with you on this one!
Yes - it's an old wives tale!
The stallion when breeding a mare actually penetrates into and possibly through the cervix with his penis. At the time of ejaculation, his penis is engaged in the cervix, and may even have penetrated into the uterus (if the cervix is relaxed enough). This is different from most mammals where of course semen is deposited in the vagina during copulation. In addition to that difference, when the stallion ejaculates there is a pretty good pressure behind the ejaculation, so the semen is forced under pressure through the cervix (if the penis is still in the cervix) and into the uterus.
Consider now the internal conformation of the mares reproductive tract. Cranially (headwards) of the cervix, the body of the uterus almost immediately drops down and the lowest point of the uterus is around the corpus-cornual junction ("CCJ") - the bifurcation of "crossroads" of the uterus where the horns split off. Because of gravity, that means that immediately following ejaculation the semen will drop to the lowest point - somewhere in the region of the CCJ. Consequently, unless the mare stands up on her hindlegs immediately after being bred and jumps up and down a few times (in which case you might want to reconsider whether you should be breeding her for other reasons!!! ), there's no way that the semen is going to be able to defy gravity and go back uphill to get back out through the cervix and vagina and onto the ground!!
In the event that one sees fluid loss from the mare after breeding (and it's not urine, which is of course is not an issue), it is almost certainly gel-fraction of the ejaculate, which will contain no - or minimal - sperm numbers and such loss is not a cause for concern.
Now - one caveat...
If one is breeding a tall mare with a short stallion and intromission is not secure (i.e. the penis cannot engage with the cervix), then there is in increased risk of semen loss - but intra-vaginal insemination (which is essentially what happens in this case even though it is live cover) has been proven to carry a very low pregnancy rate, so you have a distinctly reduced chance of establishing pregnancy if you do not level out the animals anyway, regardless of walking or not after breeding!
So no - if it was a regular breeding with no size differences with the animals, you don't need to walk the mare after breeding! If you want the exercise, it won't do any harm, but it's not necessary to assist with pregnancy establishment!!!
Anonymous
Posted on Tuesday, August 09, 2005 - 09:35 pm:
This is my stallions first year at stud. I have had him vet checked and also the mares and all is clean and healthy and ready to go. I bred him to one of my mares for the first time yesterday, and unlike every other time she has been bred (by a different stallion) she did not urinate afterwards. Does this mean that the stallion did not ejaculate? I have never seen this mare not urinate after breeding. Could this be what is going on? How do i tell if he does ejaculate? Any input would be great! Thanks
No, there is no correlation between a mare urinating post-breeding and a stallion ejaculating.
The only way to tell that he ejaculated for sure is to identify sperm in the ejaculate. As stallions ejaculate in the cervix or directly into the uterus, this means that identifying sperm content reliably requires semen collection (and AI) rather than live cover. A dismount sample will not be a reliable indicator of ejaculation all the time - if there are sperm present, he did ejaculate, but if there are none seen, he may still have ejaculated and only a gel fraction sample which contains no sperm be evaluated.
Anonymous
Posted on Wednesday, August 10, 2005 - 01:33 am:
Jos, Thanks, as usual you have answered all my questions in one go! Thanks
Hello all, I've been reading for hours! Wonderful sight...I do have a question...last fall I purchased an 8 yr old open mare (foaled in 2005) We live in Minnesota. She was put under lights last November. Turns out she has an 18 day cycle from ovulation to ovulation. When I ordered semen for her first breeding, there were urine crystals in the semen and the motility was only about 10%. She was bred, then followed with Oxytocin injections. SHe did not settle.....next heat Stallion owner (first year to ship semen and is working on getting the urine in the semen problem cleared up) sent a collection with 30% motility and still some urine crystals. When I had the mare US at 14 days post breeding, she had a functioning CL, but vet could not find an embryo. So vet returned at 18 days post breeding, US again...same story. CL had not changed, but could not find embryo. Here's my delima....in 2004, different mare (14-3 hands) vet declared her open upon US, and because it was getting late in the season, I decided not to breed her again that year...well she was pregnant and foaled normally. I have an awesome vet. She is great. The mare I'm writing about is 16-3, 8 years old and my vet is a petite lady and because of the other mare...I'm concerned that there may be a pregnancy there and she may be missing it. She will be back Friday 3/10/06 to US her again.....this would be day 22. How possible is it for the vet to miss at pregnancy with the US ? Especially on such a big mare? Or could we have an early abortion, but the CL is still there? Hope all this makes sense. Thanks. Any suggestions? P.S. - vet says there are no retained fluids and uterus looked very normal prior to this last breeding.
Please note that opinions, product information, advice or suggestions posted on this bulletin board are not necessarily those of the management at Equine-Reproduction.com nor does the maintenance of the post position indicate an implicit or any endorsement of that information, opinion or product.
Further, although we have the greatest respect for the posters offering assistance here, you are advised to seek a consultation with your veterinarian prior to using information obtained from this board if it is of a veterinary nature.Proud to be sponsored and supported by:
