How many Stallions should you have?

[kimbell]

Hi, I am new in the Miniature horses. I got my first one in July 2005, and now I have 11. I have been told by my vet that I don't need to have more than 1 Stallion. I would like some opinions of the people that have them. What is a good number and how do you house them away from the girls? Thanks for any advice, Kim

 

[Ashley]

I dont own any stallions, I use my aunts stallions. FOr that number of mares you dont need more then one if any at all.

My aunt currently has 2 breeding stallions and one jr stallion. We are selling one though and going to only have 2. We run 2 just because we have some mares and foals we are raising up that are off spring of our other stallion. and with all the mares in the family there are about 25 or so of them.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Too flipping many- want to buy one?? Seriously, when you are a breeder/shower you do tend to accumulate the blooming things- at the moment I have two working stallions. And they do work. As I in breed and line breed I do actually need two, unrelated, Stallions, but I am on a serious breeding programme. I have two colts, one of which is about to be gelded as he is for sale, and one of which I shall run on longer and see. Even if all you mares are of breeding age a stallion would be able to manage 11 mares easily.

 

[*minis*]

I would say that that depends on where you live and if there are stallions at stud in your area. If not, you should definitely get you one stallion. If you intend to keep the foals that one stallion produces and don't want to inbreed - or linebreed, whatever you want to call it - you might want to get a junior stallion in two or three years. But generally, one good stallion will do for 11 mares I think.

 

[Becky]

Welcome to the Forum!

As far as numbers, it just depends on what your plans are for them. One mature stallion can certainly breed a fair number of mares. If you are keeping daughters of one for breeding, then another outcross stallion would be needed. I currently have 3 mature stallions. They are separated by a couple of dry lots between them.

 

[minimomNC]

One stallion for breeding is plenty. If you choose to keep daughters from this stallion then in three years either purchase another stallion for them, or sell him and buy another stallion for all. In this course of time you will also weed out mares that aren't suitable or don't produce so you still won't have to many mares for one stallion.

But my advice is buy the best stallion you can afford to get. Look at his pedigree and conformation closely. Make sure he would cross well with at least 75% of your mares. If he is low quality chances of getting good quality, sale-able foals drops significantly.

 

[REO]

minimomNC

I don't house my stallions away from the mares, they live right next to the mares. (share a fence line) I have a stallion in a pen, then a few pens full of mares and then another stallion. We try to keep the boys out of sight from each other but next to mares to keep them happy. So we have several pens full of mares.

How many boys you want is up to you. One is plenty, although I have a few

 

[MeadowRidge Farm]

I agree, I have WAYYYY to many too, and agree with Fizz, they seem to just accumulate. I have 3 pasture areas 2 are for mares, and 1 is for the stallion, I rotate which stallion is going into the big pasture, they run the fenceline next to the mares. I also have 3 smaller stallion exercise runs (only about 32x 32) those also run the fenceline with mares. All my stallions and colts have there own stalls in the barn, so my boys are not housed away from the mares. With 11 mares I would say 1-2 stallions would be enough to cover them all. Corinne

 

[lyn_j]

[SIZE=14pt]It depends on the goals for your program. I have 2 . One is an A stallion and 1 a B. They dont always live at home sometimes at the trainers because I also show them. They are there for this winter because Im working on my barn. Up there right now they both go out together with another stallion and a gelding. That wouldnt fly at breeding season but in the winter they play nicely together.[/SIZE]

Lyn

 

[Frankie]

Wellllllllllllllllllllllllll,,,,,,,,,,,,,,I have 5 boys in tack.

And 5 girls. Not really the right thing, I just love my boys!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For you, I'd say one is fine, depending on the program. If mine came down to ONLY breeding, I would only have 1.

 

[Jill]

It so totally depends on your goals, if there are stallions you could use in your area, your set up, etc.

Right now, I'm not sure how deeply into breeding I want to get, but I love to show the boys (more than the girls).

I have two stallions "to-be". One's a weanling and one is a yearling who isn't even coming home for a long time as he is staying w/ Erica to breed some mares next year and go to shows with her.

Stallions can be a logistical problem as you usually cannot keep them together and sometimes cannot keep them with geldings. They can and do breed mares through the fence, so they just require additional considerations.

If your primary goal is to breed, you might do better if you have some NICE stallions in your area to use them on your mares. Stud fees are not that high, even on TOP show stallions, when you consider the inconvenience of housing and upkeep... crossing your mares to outside stallions would give you a lot more possibilities than locking yourself into using just one that you purchase.

 

[Laura]

As far as fencing, pretend you are fencing small elephants

We have a small place and 6 mature stallions. They have broken more fenceposts than I ever thought possible.

 

[Jill]

As far as fencing, pretend you are fencing small elephants 

  We have a small place and 6 mature stallions.  They have broken more fenceposts than I ever thought possible.

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Laura --

Okay, this made me laugh!!!

Harvey and I have been moving some of our fence lines and also split one big paddock into two paddocks. I tried to get him to use metal t-posts, but nooooo! He insisted on using wood (oak?) half-rounds and some of them he set in cement. We attached combination panels that I think are 53" to these -- over 48" I know.

It's been a real pain in the behind to do the fences this way and he is so intent on putting all these metal staple nails on each place possible on the pannels when then come to the posts (every 8') and between that and the many bags of cement we went through, I told him so many times "we're not trying to fence in a bunch of _____ elephants!".

I've been told "if it won't hold water, it won't hold a horse" but I would like to see them get out of the fencing we've put up. They will need to learn to open locks, which because I'm a gate nazi are like 3x latched (latched 3 different ways).

Jill

 

[Margaret]

Ideally if you can find just one, with "all the attributes" that you are looking for, that would be the most feesible and easiest to maintain.. The more stallions you add, the more work, and risk of accidents goes up.. I used to have two, and since Ive sold one, things are way less stressful, and things go quicker and smoother.. There are breeding farms that let their stallion run with aprox 15-20 mares durring breeding season, and a good one "will" get the job done.

 

[chandab]

Harvey and I have been moving some of our fence lines and also split one big paddock into two paddocks.  I tried to get him to use metal t-posts, but nooooo!  He insisted on using wood (oak?) half-rounds and some of them he set in cement.  We attached combination panels that I think are 53" to these -- over 48" I know.
Jill[/color]

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Your Harvey and my Shayne must be in cahoots ... I wanted to put in some small pencil posts we had available for Dakota's pen (yearling stallion). Shayne insisted on used railroad ties, they are at least 8"x10" square and over 8' long oak, looks like over-kill around his pen (my husband is used to housing cows and bulls and doesn't like to dig in a post more than once in 10 years). Part of his corral is 52" mesh panels and part is 4' to 5' tall portable panels (working on making it more permanent, but we can only do so much with the time we have).

 

[Laura]

As far as fencing, pretend you are fencing small elephants 

   We have a small place and 6 mature stallions.  They have broken more fenceposts than I ever thought possible.

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Laura --

Okay, this made me laugh!!!

Harvey and I have been moving some of our fence lines and also split one big paddock into two paddocks. I tried to get him to use metal t-posts, but nooooo! He insisted on using wood (oak?) half-rounds and some of them he set in cement. We attached combination panels that I think are 53" to these -- over 48" I know.

It's been a real pain in the behind to do the fences this way and he is so intent on putting all these metal staple nails on each place possible on the pannels when then come to the posts (every 8') and between that and the many bags of cement we went through, I told him so many times "we're not trying to fence in a bunch of _____ elephants!".

I've been told "if it won't hold water, it won't hold a horse" but I would like to see them get out of the fencing we've put up. They will need to learn to open locks, which because I'm a gate nazi are like 3x latched (latched 3 different ways).

Jill

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Get ready sister! We used landscape timbers as our corner & gate posts...and they have broken almost every one of them! Of course we used hog panels, which they can hit HARD , as their head & neck can go over them, in most cases. Our new (corner) posts are full 5" around and the panels are 5' tall!!

 

[Magic]

I agree with those that have said to check into stallions in your area that stand to outside mares. I've done a LOT of breeding to outside stallions over the years (still do) even though I almost always have a stallion (or two) around. I like to breed each mare to a stallion that will best compliment her conformation, and we are extremely lucky in that there are some awesome stallions in this area.

I also agree that when you get your own stallion, you really only need the one, at least to start with. But DO get the very best you possibly can!

Right now I personally have the most stallions I've ever had, three, but-- they are only yearlings, going on two years old. I've had them all since they were babies (two were born here, the other arrived when he was weaned) and right now they live together very happily. Things will change when they start breeding mares. I decided to keep the three as stallions (pending how they produce of course) because each of them will bring something different to my breeding program. Two of them are closely related to several of my mares, although different ones as they are unrelated, so it gives me a lot of choice and I don't have to "inbreed".

But I've had horses all my life, and have owned stallions for over a decade so I do know how to handle them. They can be very much a challenge so do be prepared when do you get one. Good luck!

 

[horsehug]

Lots of interesting answers here.

I am going to be in the minority on this thread

I choose to have my own stallions and have 5 mature ones and three junior ones. I have lots of different breeding goals, so a real purpose for each one of them!

I have a pretty small farm but it is ALL for the horses except for the house! My big yard is my pasture which I divide up. And I have BIG pens. plus most of my studs live together very happily during the winter (which is most of the year here

I think how many stallions you have is an individual thing, and lots of different plans work!

Susan O.