Pros & Cons in Leasing out your stallion!

[ANDROMEDA FARM]

I would appreciate anyone's input on the pros & cons in leasing out your stallion. I am trying to decide if I want to lease him out or not & am not quite sure how it would benefit us. I have not done this before & am trying to determine if it be of benefit to our farm.

 

[ANDROMEDA FARM]

bump

 

[Reble]

cons:

Stallion getting colic different place so stress and fed different.

Getting hurt

Need a contract

 

[kaykay]

We leased a stallion out a couple years ago. It worked out great for us and the other person. We did a one year lease contract with a buy option at the end. She did end up buying him at the end of the year. Just be sure you have it all spelled out in the contract.

 

[Jill]

Requiring both mortality and major medical insurance would probably be a good idea if you decide to do it

 

[disneyhorse]

Well... while there are plenty of risks... there could be some "good" to be earned from it...

You could charge either a flat use fee for the season or you could charge a per-mare stud fee.

You won't have to worry about paying for his board, vet, and whatever other expenses that are covered in your contract.

You would free up space in your barn for a while and you wouldn't have the hassle of managing a stallion for a while.

If the mares are excellent quality, you can produce more quality foals out of your stallion without having to buy more mares.

Perhaps the lessee will be more motivated to show your stallion's get (for promotion) with their own farm name on the resulting foals.

If the stallion is new and you haven't had a lot of chance to breed him, you can get an opportunity to see what mares he crosses best with when seeing the resulting foals.

Those are some PROS that I can think of...

Be sure you have them get insurance and that you have an iron clad contract...

good luck,

Andrea

 

[ANDROMEDA FARM]

I guess I am really trying to find out if this would be of benefit to our farm. We are expecting his first foals this year. We breed for 3 or 4 foals a year. Would it be better to let another farm lease him for breeding to get his name & foals out there? Or should lwe just limit it to the few foals we will have. I do also have my main stud, so that doesn't leave many. It would be about 2 for each stud. We would get him for one month out of the year for breeding purposes if leased. I am just not sure if this would benefit our farm or not? I am not that familiar with this area of expertise & don't know if it would be a good business decision or not. Any input from experienced breeders will be helpful. We are a small farm & are trying to get our name out there & for everyone to be able to see the quality of the foals that we are producing.

Please let me know if you think this would be good or bad for a relatively new farm?

 

[JWC sr.]

The problem we have always had with even breeding outside is control of the mares the stallion is bred to and the overall health of the stallion.

Consider this

1. Who is going to pick the mares that the stallion is to be bred too. You do not want to just indiscriminately breed to anything as you could really impact the reputation of a young stallion.

2. Have the mares that he is going to be bred to been checked for reproductive health. If not you could end with problems for your stallion.

3. Is your stallions name going to be used in the foals names and if so in what context.

4. During the time the stallion is gone what are they required to do. Insurance, dentist, farrier, training etc. etc. Do you have access to the stallion for your own use etc. etc. Make sure it is written up in a contract form.

Bottom line there are a lot of things to think about when breeding to outside mares and/or leasing a stallion out. Personally I would rather have a few really nice foals than a bunch of lesser quality foals. Your goals for the stallion may take a little longer, but you are in control. You though can remain in control thru a good contract and things such as selection etc. are your sole responsibility.

Good Luck,

 

[Millstone Farm]

A few more things to consider:

Would you limit the number of mares the lessee can breed him to?

Are they allowed to stand him to other mares? If so, do you get a cut of that stud fee?

What if they end up breeding him to 25+ mares?

Is your stallion young and inexperienced? What if he is taught very bad breeding manners?

My advice is to think of every possible scenario and get everything spelled out in a contract.

I've only leased out 1 stallion and it worked well for us.

 

[MountainMeadows]

Also, if you stallion is leased out and the person leasing him breeds - what are the Live Foal Guarantee details -- will you be responsible to handle mares the following year if the mare aborts, or does not produce a live foal - from both the person who leased as well as the other outside mares that they might have bred him to? This could become a very sticky situation where you end up with mares are your place to finish out a contract and would be doing a lot of work for little or no income.

Stacy

 

[maestoso]

Are you planning on breeding again in the future? If not, or if you are now using a different stallion, why not just sell or geld him?