1. Background
The Mid North Coast Equine Reproduction Centre has been developed to cater for the expansion in the demand for equine reproductive services in recent years.
The aim of the centre is to offer the full reproductive service along with agistment of mare. Owners have been limited in the past by the inability to examine mares at regular intervals. Management of artificial insemination with both chilled & frozen semen has been extremely difficult for owners to organise due to the daily transport to the clinic for scans and other preparations. The equine centre allows owners to drop their mares off for insemination & pick them up several days later after insemination.
The management of “problem breeders” is similar to artificial insemination, needing regular veterinary assessment during the oestrus cycle to diagnose & treat infertility. Having these mares at the centre will allow the vets to perform a range of diagnostic procedures & correct many previously undiagnosed causes of infertility.
The new facility allows owners to deliver a mare for insemination or natural service & pick her up pregnant with all the veterinary management completed. The benefit from a veterinary point of view is that it will allow complete management of service, limiting communication or transport problems. Preparation of a mare for insemination is not cheap & if the semen is not delivered on time then the chances of conception are reduced. It really all depends on communication & organisation between all parties. The large distances involved & the numbers of people make this difficult.
2. Location & Design
The “Fertility Farm” is situated on Andrew’s home property on the outskirts of Kempsey. It is on approximately 10 acres & is made up of 3 large paddocks & a yard facility where agisted mares & foals are yarded daily & fed individually. This allows daily monitoring of behaviour, development & reproductive behaviour.
The yards were specifically designed for this purpose & are situated around a crush & work area that features a foal yard for safer handling of wet mares & their foals. The treatment area is under cover & well lit for procedures during the night.
The facility minimises the risks of handling mares & foals with easy access & safe design. It also allows the vets to handle the stock for ultrasound examinations several times a day if necessary.
The facility is the first of its kind on the Mid North Coast & has already been met with considerable interest among local equine enthusiasts.
3. Caseload
With seasonal conditions limiting the number of mares that studs can accommodate this year, there will be a considerable advantage in being able to “walk up” mares for natural service. The idea is that a mare is prepared at the Centre with regular follicle scans until the optimum time for service when she can be transported to the stallion & served. She can then either be taken straight home or returned to the centre for confirmation of pregnancy by ultrasound. The mare may need only to be on a stud for an hour or so allowing stallion owners to preserve feed for their own stock.
The preparation of mares for artificial insemination is the main aim of the centre. Artificial Insemination is popular for many reasons. The ability to join a mare to a stallion without travelling long distances to be naturally served is a huge advantage. It minimises the stress to a mare in long distance transport. Artificial insemination also reduces the risk of injury to mare & stallion. The major advantage of artificial insemination is the large choice of bloodlines that is now available to equine breeders.
Previously, one of the big disadvantages of artificial insemination was the need for the mare to have daily veterinary inspections. This led to either expensive vet invoices or the owner having to transport the mare back & forth to the vet’s daily. Now the mare & the vet are together from day of arrival to confirmed conception.
To prepare a mare for insemination with chilled or frozen semen it is essential to accurately predict the time that a mare will ovulate (release her fertile egg). In the case of insemination with frozen semen this may mean predicting the hour in which she will ovulate so as to increase chances of conception. This is done by repeatedly ultrasounding the mares reproductive tract & measuring the changes.
Reproductive services are not limited to the females. The centre also offers chilled semen collection. This is a service that only a few stallion owners will receive bookings for, but it will allow local studs to expand their operations. If the demand arises there will be frozen semen collection & handling in future seasons.
4. Normal week at the Equine Centre
Monday is normally admission day. By the time mares arrive at the equine centre they have already had their cycle planned & programmed. In addition the stallions owners, vets & freight companies have been organised so that everything goes smoothly during the insemination week.Mares normally are booked in to arrive between 7 & 730am when they are checked in & scanned. Depending on their cycles they are then palpated daily or twice daily while at the equine centre & all parties involved are kept informed of their progress.
Tuesday to Friday the mares are fed at daybreak & then scanned or treated as required.After insemination mares are sent home & readmitted 18 days later to be scanned for pregnancy.
In addition to the early morning work some mares are palpated evenings & even through the night depending on their requirements.
Resident "jump mare" - Tatiana is injected daily with oestrogen so that she is available for stallion collection if required. Orders for stallion collection arrive before 9am each day which allows the stallion owners to transport them to the centre for collection. The semen is then analysed, centrifuged if necessary, extended & shipped by courier before 1pm to allow overnight delivery.