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We have show pony breeding
stallions, and as of last year are doing almost all shipped semen. This
year we are seriously thinking about expanding our business to offer
semen collection and shipping services for outside stallions, which will
involve improving our facilities. We're thinking about whether or not we
need and can afford a dummy mount. We have so far used an old, quiet
mare to mount our own stallions. We recently saw that semen collection
can be done without a dummy mount or mare, with the stallion standing on
all four feet. This sounds like it would work well for us, since these
show ponies come in all sizes. If we use a dummy mount or a live mare
mount, we'll need more than one size. Does this standing collection work
with just certain stallions, most normal stallions, or all stallions? Do
you still need a mare? What other equipment do you need? Do you need a
breeding shed? We would appreciate any information and advice you can
offer. Tammy
Ground semen collection works very well
with most stallions with normal interest and arousal. Just as with a
dummy mount, there is some variation in training time--from immediate
success to a few tries. In most cases, it hardly matters much whether
the stallion is a novice or an experienced breeder, and by what other
methods the stallion has bred. The first reported use of ground semen
collection for stallions in North America was for disabled horses which
for some reason were unable or unsafe to mount a mare. Until recently,
it was probably used mostly for such purposes rather than for
convenience, economics, or efficiency. But ground collection is a
particularly handy technique for a breeding station such as yours that
serves a variety of sizes of stallions. I suppose you might be asked to
work with anything from minis to Welsh cobs or Arabians, where it is not
only a matter of different heights, but significantly different girths
as well. It's a challenge to have the right size mount for every
stallion.
Ground semen collection can be done
either with your regular artificial vagina (AV) or with manual
stimulation techniques in which the semen is collected in a
non-spermicidal plastic bag. Manual stimulation is usually considered
the simplest, but it might take a bit more effort for the technician
and/or stallion to learn technique at first. As with AV use, there are
considerations for safe and efficient semen handling in that system. Jim
and Julia Crump of Roanoke AI published their successful use of the
manual stimulation technique for routine semen collection on the ground
in the 1980s. Since that publication, ground semen collection, both with
an AV and with manual stimulation, has steadily increased in use in
North America, both for routine convenience as well as for disabled
stallions.
On your question about needing a mare,
for an open stallion station such as you are considering, you probably
should have at least one stimulus mare available. Considering all
stallions, all of those which do ground collection, approximately
one-half to two-thirds will respond adequately without a stimulus mare,
especially once they get going. They learn the routine and become
conditioned to respond to that without a mare. Super enthusiastic or
rowdy stallions, in fact, often are more manageable and do better
without any stimulus mare and with ground collection. You can temper
their enthusiasm to just enough to get the job done.
Just as with a dummy mount, the
remainder will still require a stimulus mare most or all of the time to
achieve adequate arousal to respond efficiently. But unlike a mount
mare, the stimulus mare can be just about any size, and might not need
to be in good standing estrus as you would need for a stallion to safely
mount. So it is less of a chore to have a stimulus mare than to have a
mount mare for a variety of stallions.
Just as with a dummy mount, you will
probably run into some stallions which will not be successful or
efficient with ground collection. If you plan to accommodate all
stallions, you'll probably need a good mount mare.
With ground semen collection, you don't
necessarily need a designated area or breeding shed. With some stallions
it is possible to work in the stallion's stall, in a stall similar to a
wash rack, or in an outdoor paddock or along a fenceline. You need
either a handler or some method of restraint appropriate to the behavior
of the stallion. I have heard of people using a modified chute
arrangement to safely restrain the stallion. We recommend good footing
just as you would want for a breeding shed (non-slip, dust-free, some
cushion, not too much drag). All the same general key features of any
breeding shed would apply--quiet area out of busy traffic and
distractions, obstacle-free, horse-friendly space and furnishings to
avoid injuries, etc.
So why wouldn't everyone immediately
switch to ground semen collection for stallions?
I find that if a breeding farm is all
set up with a dummy mount or a good, dependable ovariectomized mount
mare, and the team is comfortable and experienced with those methods,
they might find mounted semen collection more natural, more organized,
and safer than ground collection. With ground collection, most teams and
stallions do readily become organized, and often report feeling safer
and more efficient with ground collection than with a live mare or dummy
mount. But all of these issues are certainly a matter of opinion and
judgment.
In my experience, I have probably done
more ground semen collection than mounted collections, and tend to see
more advantages in most cases. But every once in a while we have a
particular stallion (or a particular handling team or facility) with
which it seems simpler and safer to mount the stallion on a good dummy
with good footing rather than to collect on the ground.
At this point, it might be helpful for
you to visit farms to observe ground and dummy semen collection to see
first-hand what is involved. If you get on any of the Internet's equine
reproduction or breed discussion lists, you'll likely be able to
identify farms that will let you visit.
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