I have recently had my stallion collected for frozen semen - this went well. As he is not 'proven' for frozen what is the best way to do this? Should I offer free straws to a few mare owners with payment only if the mare is in foal? How many insemination doses would I offer? What other suggestions does anyone have? Prue. Email: pmcritchley@hotmail.com
We generally recommend breeding mares for your fertility trials that are your own, or that you have some significant degree of control over.
There is an inherent risk in passing the semen out to others in that it may be used in mares that are not suitable candidates (e.g. old or barren mares), or that is is used in an innapropriate manner (i.e. bad technician/veterinary work) - the end result being that one does not really know if the mare is not pregnant because of a problem with the semen or a problem with the mare side of things!
The other issue related to passing the semen out publicly prior to it being proven fertile is that if it does end up being infertile, you now have some mare owners that have possibly spent a fair amount of money attempting to get the mare pregnant, and they are - not unreasonably - going to be irritated at the discovery that the semen is not viable. And don't think that piece of information will not be made public - bad news travels even faster with the Internet - and it's a lot easier to make a bad reputation for the stallion than a good one. It would be particularly unfortunate if it subsequently turned out that it was merely a few "tweaks" of the freezing protocol that were required to make the difference between infertile and fertile, but the word had already gone around that the stallion had infertile frozen semen...
I'd stick with some of your own mares if I were you, or mares that you have a direct involvement with...
Hi, I have tried several times test breeding mares w/frozen from one of my stallions. Used P&E last year/ thought I had one PG by the way she acted but vet told me she was ready to breed/ she I feel was actually in foal BUT bred her per vet...her cycle was off for one session and then came back in normal....lead me to believe she was actually in foal and he missed the conceptus./ NOW tried again this spring on an 8 year old mare/ US did HCG at 3.5 and then the 24 hour wait/ breed then 16 hours then 12 hours then 16 hours all w/ 6 hour oxytocin after each breed...mares cervix was shutting down on last breed yet mare is open again....One vet told me some mares just "dont settle" w/ frozen ...is this true? I do realize that the best is w/ US but is expensive and I just am very frustrated....this guy is the one I really wanted frozen to work. Any suggestions comments...
As long as a mare is reproductively sound, there is no reason why - with adequate management - she should not get pregnant with frozen semen in just the same manner as with fresh or cooled. The concept that "some mares just don't settle with frozen" falls in the same category as "you can't get the best foal with AI, you have to use live cover to get the best sperm there", or "the earth is flat". And as Magellan, Drake and a host of others found out, although the world is not flat, you can't convince some people no matter what you do or say...
Did you do a pre-breeding work up on the mare to evaluate uterine cleanliness?
If I were relying on timed inseminations rather than ultrasound, I might feel inclined to inseminate every 14-16 hours rather than the 12/16 that you appear to have used. That would allow for 2 doses of oxytocin in between breedings - the first 4 hours after breeding, then the next 6 hours after that. In fact, if I were feeling severely stressed I might repeat the oxytocin at 14 hours after breeding, then breed again 2 hours after that (i.e. 16 hour intervals between breedings, with 3 doses of oxytocin at 4, 10 and 14 hours after breeding). As you note, ultrasounding would be best though...
Vet I took collection and cool semend course from, will not allow stallion owner to ship semen out to mare owners, unless the stallion's semen has been tested for that year collected on. He does test at 12 hours old, 24, 36, 48. Then he'll tell you what your stallion test best at.
We had lady move from UK to Canada. She thought once here she'd get his semen collected and frozen and stored at vet's, well his semen did not last past the 24 hour mark with cool semen and with frozen not past 12 hours. Was she heart broken as most of her client's are in UK.
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- and it's a lot easier to make a bad reputation for the stallion than a good one. It would be particularly unfortunate if it subsequently turned out that it was merely a few "tweaks" of the freezing protocol that were required to make the difference between infertile and fertile, but the word had already gone around that the stallion had infertile frozen semen... 
