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BREAKING NEWS:

"Click" image to open larger image in new window Scamper wins with no bridle! (photo credit: Kenneth Springer)

Charmayne James' multiple world-champion gelding "Scamper" cannot of course sire foals himself, but his clone - "Clayton", foaled in 2006 - has proven fertile, with two mares being bred, embryos flushed, and maintained pregnancies identified in the recipient mares. This exciting new development for North American breeders offers future potential for perpetuation of genetics from stallions that have been gelded - something that Professor W.R. "Twink" Allen has been promoting for over 10 years, with his recommendation being that all prospective quality geldings have semen frozen before they are gelded! The "after the fact" technique of cloning means that Scamper's genes have now been passed on, and it will be interesting to watch the resulting foals in barrel racing performance in the future. In a similar piece of news, a clone of "Doc's Serendipity" was recently twice bred to "High Brow Cat", with embryos successfully flushed and transferred on both occasions. There will be a number of clones and foals from clones arriving in 2009, 2008 having been a temporary hiatus year for cloning company ViaGen, owing to the need to relocate operations to Canada following closure of the horse slaughterhouses in Texas, causing a lack of availability of the oocytes required for the process. "Next year will be big" was Dr. Gregg Veneklasen's comment of the upcoming foaling season. Dr. Veneklasen owns and operates Timber Creek Veterinary Hospital in Canyon, Texas USA, which is heavily involved in the production of equine clones. In an associated piece of news, it is reported that AQHA are to discuss and review its current no-registration rule regarding clones at their 2009 convention. It has long been our view (Equine-Reproduction.com's) that registries as a whole - not just AQHA - should be prepared to register clones with the same registration number as the donor animal, plus a suffix (e.g. 123456-a, 123456-b etc.), while at the same time microchipping all the animals involved (donor and clone[s]). Any work involving a recordable performance (competition, breeding etc.) would then require reading of the microchip to confirm identity. This will allow tracking of the clones and their genetic input, which is good from all perspectives of the argument - whether you agree with cloning or not - as currently, in the case of stallions, there is no way to identify if a foal sired by a clone could have been sired by the donor animal, or vice-versa, as the DNA of the offspring will match both donor and clone in the parentage verification process.

OTHER NEWS:

What was the duration in days of your mare's live-foal producing pregnancy?Survey commenced in 2008 foaling season Results © Equine-Reproduction.com   319 Days or fewer: 3.96% 320-326 Days: 7.63% 327-332 Days: 10.78% 333-338 Days: 12.06% 339-344 Days: 16.26% 345-350 Days: 13.00% 351-356 Days: 9.50% 357-362 Days: 6.35% 363-370 Days: 7.34% 371 Days or greater: 13.11% Total Foalings Reported To Date: 1716

Each year Equine-Reproduction.com receives contact from concerned mare owners worried that their pregnant mare is past her "due date". Each year we explain to those persons that the normal range of gestational duration is anywhere between 320 and 370 days, and as long as endophyte toxicity (e.g. fescue exposure) is not an issue and the mare looks fine, then in all probability all is fine (although of course if there are concerns a veterinarian should evaluate the mare). We also have an article that discusses these observations - ("Is my mare overdue?"). Despite this, concerns still abound, so this year we added a poll at the foot of the article for readers to complete indicating gestational duration of their mare that produced a live foal. The results (presented at left in continually updated format) clearly demonstrate that the range of 339-344 days - which includes most commonly held "due dates" - while the highest percentile range, is most decidedly not indicative of a "due date", with under 20% of foalings taking place during that time frame! We will keep the poll open on a continuous basis, and as more readers add their statistics to it (please visit the whole article and enter your mare's data!) we hope that those readers that are concerned will glean a little solace in the clearly demonstrated lack of a "due date" in the equine!

"Click" images to open larger image in new window

Pierazade Du Vialaret is the daughter of the clone "Pieraz Cryozootech Stallion" and Dziupla, one of the foundation mares the endurance specialists "Elevage du Vialaret" possess. She was born 5th May 2008. The first picture (at left top) was been taken the day of her birth and the second (bottom), a few days later. Let's wish both Pierazade Du Vialaret and her breeder, Mr Genieys, success! Mr Genieys is the first breeder to own a foal which carries the genes of the Champion Pieraz. This birth follows the birth of Pégaso. Pégaso is Prométéa’s foal, Prométéa being the first mare Professor Galli cloned. Cryozootech hopes to breed Prométéa this year to Pieraz Cryozootech. Pieraz Cryozootech Stallion is approved as a stallion in the A.E.S. Studbook. His fresh semen is available from Equitechnic Laboratory for the 2008 breeding season. By Carnet Rose for Cryozootech. Presented here courtesy of Cryozootech. For more details on semen availability, please visit Cryozootech's web site (page in French).

• The USA does not restrict the importation of EAV-positive semen ("EAV" refers to the virus itself), and the disease is therefore present in the country as a whole. As the disease can be asymptomatic (present without visible symptoms) during its acute (infectious) stage, any horse - stallion, mare or gelding - could be infectious without signs, and yet with a permit such as Montana's there is no restriction outside the breeding male or his semen. The effectiveness of such a permit restriction is therefore severely limited and will primarily be an inconvenience to breeders.
• Semen from "shedder" stallions can be safely used to breed mares as long as the mare has been previously and suitably vaccinated, or has been tested and shown as having sufficiently elevated antibody levels against the virus (possibly through previous exposure), and is kept quarantined for 21 days following the initial breeding. To prevent the importation and use of positive semen completely to the individual State when the disease is already present in the country is "overkill", and will be a significant issue for breeders who have an unfulfilled prior breeding to a positive (shedding) stallion, and may represent a restriction of trade to them and others. Requirement of a mare vaccination and quarantine protocol would be more suitable than completely restricting positive semen import.
• As the enforcement is to be applied against veterinarians only (it being impractical and likely outside jurisdiction to apply it against lay persons), mare owners inseminating their own animals may still be able to import and use infective semen, which means that the restrictions applied against veterinarians are unreasonable, and again may represent a restriction of trade.
• As each State has the potential to enact its own regulations regarding importation permits for semen, the stallion owner/manager is left in the untenable position of having to contact all 50 State Vet Boards and/or Departments of Agriculture to ensure current regulations. It would be more workable if individual States worked with USDA-Aphis to create a permit that could then be obtained from USDA-Aphis and be valid for all States. The alternative is to rely on better breeder education by the State Vet Boards, rather than requiring permits with significant failings.
  • We recommend that stallion owners have a clause in their breeding contracts requiring mare owners to notify them of any State permit requirements by the mare owner resident State in a suitable period prior to the anticipated shipment date, allowing the stallion owner sufficient time to obtain those permits.
  • We also recommend that all stallions be blood tested for EAV antibody presence prior to the beginning of the breeding season, and vaccinated if such vaccination is deemed suitable.
    • Note that annual revaccination is required to ensure protection and that proof of that revaccination should be required as part of the permit requirement, and requested by mare owners prior to breeding.