Try your hand at foal-heat breeding.

Question:

What’s a good strategy to use to get your mare bred on a foal heat?

Answer:

Try this commonly used foal-heat breeding strategy:

• Have the mare ultrasounded on days 7 and 9 post foaling.
• Mares ovulating on or before Day 9 are not bred. Instead, they are short-cycled – monitored through ovulation and given prostaglandins (typically five days after ovulation) to bring them back into heat.
• Mares that still have a large follicle nine days post foaling are bred as normal. Use of ovulation-inducing agents (hCG, deslorelin, etc.) is discouraged until days 9 or 10.

– Dr. Patrick McCue
Equine Reproduction Laboratory at Colorado State University, Reproduction Specialist

Learn more about this topic in “Foal Heat Breeding” in the December 2011 issue of The American Quarter Horse Journal.