nightflight
Well-Known Member
If $500 or less is what it costs you to raise a foal in your area, then I can't argue with that. What I can say is that the more foals you raise, the less it costs per foal - until you run into trouble.
With the first foal you have to think about things like a safe foaling stall, camera system, buying all the emergency supplies you could possibly need, purchasing the books/videos/ etc you need to have to educate yourself... that first foal is an expensive one.
Where the $500 or less per foal is going to catch you is on those foals that do not go by the book. You have to decide that you are going to spend no more than X on a foal - even if it is a life and death situation, or spend the money and end up with a $7,000 weanling. Fun Fun Fun.
Edit: Our lovely vet gives us a farm rate because she is out so often, so more can mean less, but even so $500 per foal would be... amazing. Wish we could manage that here. One of the things we consider is that we wouldn't have invested so much in our horses unless we were breeding. Geldings could have done it for us. We also do the junior diets, have fescue free hay shipped in, etc. etc. It costs just to raise a foal, and it costs more to do it well.
Edit2: If you love horses breeding is a hard business to be in. If you take the time to call some of the real "elite" breeders of the Miniature Horse World (not just the "elite" forum people), they might tell you that two times a year or so something leaves them so heartbroken that they want to quit.
Edit 3: On getting started with the first foal... DNA testing and registration alone would blow a big part of that budget out of the water. Even little things that people don't usually think about. The little bitty halter. The blanket for the cold weather foal. Bedding that the foal can't inhale. Basic immunity testing. Pain meds for the maiden mare if needed. A bucket the baby can reach. Does board double if you are boarding?Cha-ching$$$$
With the first foal you have to think about things like a safe foaling stall, camera system, buying all the emergency supplies you could possibly need, purchasing the books/videos/ etc you need to have to educate yourself... that first foal is an expensive one.
Where the $500 or less per foal is going to catch you is on those foals that do not go by the book. You have to decide that you are going to spend no more than X on a foal - even if it is a life and death situation, or spend the money and end up with a $7,000 weanling. Fun Fun Fun.
Edit: Our lovely vet gives us a farm rate because she is out so often, so more can mean less, but even so $500 per foal would be... amazing. Wish we could manage that here. One of the things we consider is that we wouldn't have invested so much in our horses unless we were breeding. Geldings could have done it for us. We also do the junior diets, have fescue free hay shipped in, etc. etc. It costs just to raise a foal, and it costs more to do it well.
Edit2: If you love horses breeding is a hard business to be in. If you take the time to call some of the real "elite" breeders of the Miniature Horse World (not just the "elite" forum people), they might tell you that two times a year or so something leaves them so heartbroken that they want to quit.
Edit 3: On getting started with the first foal... DNA testing and registration alone would blow a big part of that budget out of the water. Even little things that people don't usually think about. The little bitty halter. The blanket for the cold weather foal. Bedding that the foal can't inhale. Basic immunity testing. Pain meds for the maiden mare if needed. A bucket the baby can reach. Does board double if you are boarding?Cha-ching$$$$
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