How much or do I even charge to breed outside mares?

[walkoffaith]

: I went to a woman's house today to buy a holland lop doe, turns out she has two unregistered miniatue mares and is interested in breeding the older mare to my registered stallion. She asked me what i would charge? Now I have never breed to outside mares and have no idea what such a charge would be. Any advice? Interestingly enough however I am interested in puchasing her mini 2 year old filly as I think she is beautiful and might be worth hardshipping into the registry. Not sure if she is willing to sell it however.

So what do you guys think? This is my new Stallion "Salty Creeks Orion Leopard King".

 

[Jill]

That is such an individual situation. I own two National Top 10 (one is actually top 3) halter stallions, both AMHA Honor Roll in halter, championships, etc. Initially, I had thought I would stand them to a couple-few outside mares but as they have matured and I've thought about it more, I no longer plan to offer them to outside mares.

I could change my mind as time goes on, but the reason for this choice is that I have "plenty" of mares on my own and will offer foals for sale. I don't really want to risk my stallions being injured by outside mares, though my stallions are both insured for mortality and major medical. I also really do not like the liability (emotional / financial) of caring for someone else's mare while she'd be here for breeding. Really, I couldn't price the fee high enough right now to make it worth it to me for these reasons.

NOW, if you lived closer to me, I have a loud leopard mare I wouldn't mind breeding to your guy :

I have no doubt, Destiny and DunIT would be horrified to read all parts of this post of mine!!! :bgrin

:

:

Erica's Echos of My Destiny

[SIZE=8pt]AMHR National Top 10, 5 and 3 / Many Time Grand Champion AMHR & AMHA / AMHA Halter Honor Roll / AMHR National Honor Roll[/SIZE]

Grandson of both Alvadars Double Destiny and Little Kings Buck Echo

Erica's Gone and DunIT

[SIZE=8pt]AMHR National Top 10 (7th) / AMHA Halter Honor Roll (showed only one season so far!)[/SIZE]

Grandson of both Ima Boones Little Buckeroo Too / "BTU" and Yellow Diamond Little Feather -- Great Grandson of Egyptian King

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Yes, of course you charge!!!

At the very least you charge board and lodging for the mares.

If it is free people very quickly come to take advantage of it and, of course, they never appreciate anything that is free.

You have to ask, why on earth would she be considering breeding her unregistered mares anyway??

If it is a matter of a quick profit why should you make it easier for her??

 

[Marty]

I like your new horses a whole lot.

I wouldn't unzipper his fly for any less than $350. or more, plus mare care charges.

:

 

[Lisa-Ruff N Tuff Minis]

There is so much to consider when breeding outside mares- the first is your liability- then there is your cost to feed and house the mares.

To be honest show record doesnt mean much to me in the price of the stud fee.. First off to be honest I have horses who have done well and top tenned or got top 3 or Res National Champion or National Champion however bottom line.. the next year there is a whole new set of horses doing the exact same thing. So for me that doesnt mean I can charge top dollar. What comes into a increased price is the PROOF the horse can out produce himself in the breeding shed and that takes a couple of foal crops minimum. There are stallions that have done that and done that well.. however in reality not tons.. .

That said there is always marketing to consider if you don't have enough mares to really get an idea of what your stallion can do then standing out one year may be ideal.(or you can wait a couple of years and breed a couple mares of your own and let him prove himself slower nothing wrong with that) However if you intend to sell your foals for say 1500.00-3000.00 you have to remember most will not pay that for your foals if they feel they can easily make there own with your stallion for 300.00 bucks

Like I said many things to consider and no one right answer

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[disneyhorse]

I have heard a stud fee should be approx. 25% of the average value of his foals. Most Andalusian stallions have a stud fee of $2500... which would mean the average foal would be $10,000 (which is standard in the industry).

Most miniature horse stallions I have seen with a basic show record (maybe a National Top Ten) have been around $500, as a basic nicely-bred foal should get around $2,000.

I hope that helps. There are a lot of other factors that go into pricing a stud fee, such as demand, color, show record, bloodlines, quality and performance of foals, etc.

Andrea

 

[FairytailGlennMinis]

IF you decide to go ahead with the breeding, I would also highly reccomend that you demand a vet check and clean culture on the mares in question. You sure don't want to bring home an infection or worse by breeding your boy to someone else's mares. There is also your stallions reputation to consider. If the mares aren't nice quality and throw ugly babies, do you want your stud's name on those babies? You have a pretty boy there that from this pic I like a lot--I would think long and hard about it.

-Amy

edited for spelling...duh

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

Huh... I always wondered how stud fees were set. I always set mine based on the competition. 25% is a really neat figure, thanks

My comment to add is, if you are not commercial right now, you are taking on a lot of liability by accepting stud fees on your horses. You should have commercial insurance to be safe; if your stallion hurt the mare you'd be in trouble

especially in this sue-happy world.

 

[bevann]

I really discourage people from breeding unregistered mares.I think if a Mini is worth breeding it should have papers.When I get inquiries I always tell them I will have to approve the mare and then for never less than $500.There are too many foals being produced now in all breeds.I see lots of nice horses of all breeds at the Killer auctions.I am breeding 1 or 2(maybe none) for 2008 and wait to see what happens to the market.It is often hard to find good caring homes for the foals.Most of us are in the middle range when it comes to selling.I can't raise a foal for $300 or so .I think the high dollar market is still there(for some of the bigger farms), but I am tired of being offered next to nothing for nice, well cared for.horses.Ask her if she is prepared to keep the foals or what she plans to do with them.Many people just don't have a clue what is involved in breeding.They just look at adorable Mini foals and immediately want one or 2.

 

[mininik]

Some great points have been brought up here. Personally, I wouldn't breed your boy to unregistered mares and most certainly not for free. The liability would be a real concern and there are already too many horses out there as is to be making more "just because." Should you decide to go forward with this, be sure to get insurance first and write up a contract covering the agreed upon fees (stud fee, mare care, etc.), proof of negative cultures on the mares, and what and how any guarantees you're going to give will be handled (live foal, for example), etc. You probably won't be able to legally have the owner of the mare sign away her right to come after you should your stallion hurt her mare, for example, but at least you can have most of your bases covered with a well-written and signed by both parties contract!

 

[SHANA]

I charge $200 canadian to breed registered mini mares and $100 for small grade ponies. I chose this amount because I don't like charging high stud fees, I want them reasonable. This includes mare care. I bred one outside grade pony mare last year to my young stallion. I had not planned to breed him to outside mares last year but it was a friend of mine and the mare was 37.5 inches. She is due any day now. Can't wait, will be my stallions second foal. He has 3 other mares due besides this mare. Two are due in April, other in June.

 

[Miniv]

Some great points have been brought up here. Personally, I wouldn't breed your boy to unregistered mares and most certainly not for free. The liability would be a real concern and there are already too many horses out there as is to be making more "just because." Should you decide to go forward with this, be sure to get insurance first and write up a contract covering the agreed upon fees (stud fee, mare care, etc.), proof of negative cultures on the mares, and what and how any guarantees you're going to give will be handled (live foal, for example), etc. You probably won't be able to legally have the owner of the mare sign away her right to come after you should your stallion hurt her mare, for example, but at least you can have most of your bases covered with a well-written and signed by both parties contract!

VERY good post! I agree with mininik.

We've bred to outside mares in the past and are soured to the experience. Will only occasionally breed a mare we've sold back to one of our stallions.

Your stallion is such a nice boy that I would be VERY careful with what I'd breed him to, IMO.

MA

 

[Field-of-Dreams]

Just to play devil's advocate here.....

:

She will probably breed this mare no matter what. If she chooses this really nice stallion, at least the foal has a decent start. She could go with an unregistered lunkhead (or even registered, for that matter!) .... and the foal is handicapped even before it's born.

We do offer outside breedings. But there are so many Minis down here in Texas it doesn't really make a difference. We are breeding an outside mare this month, we DID go see her and she is double registered. The owner actually asked for our opinion on which stallion to breed her to, and made an informed decision! And we DO charge stud fee and mare care.

This lady had been to other farms in the area and was appalled that they would just put her mare out in with all the other horses- now THAT is asking for major trouble! We hand breed and the mare would be stall kept. She was estatic.

Lucy