Do You Have Your Mares Confirmed In Foal?

[Little Wolf Ranch]

With a herd of just five mares, using pregnancy testing on my mares wouldn't be unreasonable but still, everything adds up when it comes to money! I only ordered one PREGNAMARE test today for a single mare to see if she is in foal to a stallion that I would have to pay to have hardshipped into AMHR before the foal was born so when it comes to $460. . . . .a $40 test is worth it LOL.

I got to thinking about it and I was wondering what methods, if any, do you guys use to confirm mares in foal? I know alot of people just wait and see. . .so what do you do?

 

[Katiean]

We didn't breed any mares so no need to test.

 

[ThreeCFarm]

We ultrasound every mare, once at about 17 or 18 days, then again later on to check for a heart beat. Our vet only charges $25 for the first ultrasound per mare per year, and then any additional ultrasounds per mare are ony $10 until the end of the year.

 

[JMS Miniatures]

I ultrasound mine but I also don't breed for that many.

 

[Kim~Crayonboxminiatures]

I have used ulstrasound, palpation and the Pregnamare once, but more recently I have easy mares who if they don't come back in heat they are bred! It's very nice, so I feel for foal movement to confirm, but am usually 99% sure they are pregnant before that time.

 

[Songcatcher]

When I started, we did not have a vet, who would ultrasound minis, anywhere within driving distance. I used the pregnamare tests and then later the weefoal tests. When you are doing several mares, these tests certainly not cheap. I came to the conclusion that in most cases it was not going to make a difference if they were pregnant or not. If they decide to take a year off, they deserve to do so. Of course there is still the occasional mare that you just can't wait to know for sure if she's pregnant or not. Last year I found a vet about 35 miles from me that will ultrasound the minis. I took three in that I was suspicious about. One proved pregnant and the other two open. One of those I may take in again this year.

We ultrasound every mare, once at about 17 or 18 days, then again later on to check for a heart beat. Our vet only charges $25 for the first ultrasound per mare per year, and then any additional ultrasounds per mare are ony $10 until the end of the year.

WOW! Wish I could get a deal like that here. Mine cost 40 some odd dollars each. If I could get your deal, I would probably have more done.

 

[midnight star stables]

I ultrasound mine but I also don't breed for that many.

Same here. One is being tested today.....

 

[ThreeCFarm]

Freeland, I admit, if I didn't get such a good deal, I probably wouldn't do it so much! In all of the years I've used her, she's also never been wrong!

Good luck, Desiree!

 

[Joanne]

We have learned to do our own ultrasounds and have our own machine. We do MANY ultrasounds a year to check for pregnancies as well as heat cycles, etc.

I LOVE MY ULTRASOUND MACHINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It has proven to be SO useful.

The male veterinarians in our area have hands too large to do my minis. I have a small hand and it works great. I love knowing when they are due to foal. There is enough guessing on these horses!!!

 

[Matt73]

I didn't with my first two foals. But this year, I used the WeeFoal38. I won't not test ever again (the suspense nearly killed me last year lol).

 

[eagles ring farm]

We have always used blood tests but we only had 6 mares at our largest numbers and are down to 3 now

We did have our 2009 foaling year where 3 out of 4 blood tests were wrong?

although we have not bred any mares for 2011

so we will have to enjoy all of yours

 

[ohmt]

eagles ring-blood tests are tricky because you have to do them at the right time or else they don't work. We had 10 mares done one year and EVERY test either came back inconclusive or gave a false negative.

I only hand breed (well usually) so I have a big calendar that I keep up on my fridge and I keep track of every breeding and put down when mares should be cycling. All mares are teased daily 5 days before they are supposed to cycle until 5 days after. If they come back in then they're bred again and I start over, but if they don't, then I mark when they're supposed to come back into season again and do some more teasing. If they pass two cycles then I know they are in foal.

This is the best method for me, and usually works pretty well.

 

[wendyluvsminis]

Ultra-sounding is too expensive at this point, and every mare I have ever had ultra-sounded (if that a verb???), hasn't been pregnant. I guess I will just wait and watch, like a Christmas present sitting under the tree for a long time! I am going to look into Weefoal. If in doubt, I treat them like they are in foal.

 

[HGFarm]

My mares are pretty regular about cycling, etc.. and easy to tell when they dont come back in season again. Actually, I let the boys tell me if they are bred or not and they have never lied to me yet.

 

[Maple Hollow Farm]

We have at least some of our mares palpated. It is only $18 per horse and our vet is excellent and has never been wrong! This year we only did a little over half of our mares, the ones we didnt check looked pregnant so we didnt worry about them. Then of course we bought eight more mares afterwards and havent had the vet back out to check them so will probably just wait and see with them. I cant wait for our first foals!

 

[txminipinto]

We ultrasound. After being fooled by a mare with a false pregnancy it isn't worth the disappointment to wait and see. We wait to see if the mare comes back in before we U/S and usually U/S everyone late summer or early fall. 5 out of 4 mares this year U/S pregnant but that 5th mare is looking a little heavy, so I wonder......

 

[Barnmother]

We did blood tests the year we purchased a couple of mares that were supposed to be in foal. They weren't! It was expensive and I can't imagine doing it on a small herd.

This year I used WeeFoal tests on my mare that I hadn't seen cycle for a month of so. She were confirmed pregnant by the test. Couldn't see testing the other one that was obviously still standing for the stallion on a routine basis.

I am sold on the WeeFoal, it was so easy to use and I am not anxiously awaiting our little bundle of joy!

 

[rimmerpaints]

I have never breed a mini but do breed my AQHA and Apha. I have my own APHA stallion so i dont have to pay for stud fees and we have only had two foals and i had my mares checked. We have just now stud him out and they also had there mares checked.

 

[ThreeCFarm]

Well, I stand corrected on my vet's prices. They have gone up to $50 a mare for the initial ultrasound, but each additional ultrasound per mare is still $10. What a jump!! We had several ultrasounded earlier this year and they were still at the prices I listed earlier. We go to our vet though, she doesn't generally make farm calls.

 

[Joanne]

Stephanie your veterinarians prices are still the lowest I have ever heard of!