I've been on pins and needles for the last few days...waiting to get ultrasounds on Scamper and Frenchie to find out if they were in foal.
Scamper was due to be checked on Friday and Frenchie on Saturday. There was no sense paying for 2 separate farm calls, so I told the breeding station I would bring them both at the same time. The vet wasn't going to be there on Saturday, so Monday it was.
The vet has been coming early in the mornings to beat the heat, but I didn't get a text from the breeding station confirming that, so I went about my morning business, only to discover a text asking if I was coming or not. Whoops!! I knew I should have just loaded up and went over anyway.
Ultrasounds were rescheduled for Wednesday and I had to suffer for 2 extra days before finding out if there were babies baking or not.
I wasn't worried that any of the mares might come up open, until Beretta did. Every since then, I have been as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. The idea that Beretta may not settle never even crossed my mind. I have no clue why she didn't catch. Her follicle was huge (a 49) and she ovulated immediately after being inseminated. Text book! The vet did say there was a little fluid in her uterus though and even though Big B has been on a pretty strict diet for over a month...and has lost some weight, she is still quite 'fluffy'. She was obese...now she is just bordering on obese. Studies show that obese mares are less likely to settle than mares that are of a healthy weight. Even mares a little on the thin side settle better than the fatties. Which was the reason I had B on a diet in the first place.
Suddenly, everything came down to Scamper and Frenchie!
I started this breeding season with 5 mares to breed...
That went to 4...
Sassy took...but that foal is already sold, so even though there will be a baby...I don't feel like it is *my* baby.
Beretta didn't settle and no re-breed there...
Down to the last 2 ladies...
And...
Both mares are open.
GGRRRRRRRR!!!!!!
Both mares have follicles and are ready to rebreed so semen was re-ordered so they will both get rebred tomorrow.
Sonava!!!
This is getting a little spendy!!
I sure as hell hope this was a fluke and this vet isn't just totally incompetent. So far the only mare that he's touched that has managed to settle is Sassy and the stallion was right there on the premises.
3 comments:
You have GOT to be freaking kidding?!? I'd say if these two don't catch this time that maybe it IS the vet.
I'm with cdn- might be time to use a different vet if the girls don't catch this time.
For sure!! The only consolation I have at the moment is, the lady in charge of the breeding end of it said she is having to rebreed several of her mares that had semen shipped in too and she has used this same vet for quite a few years, so he must usually be pretty good at this or she would have dumped him before now.
Wasn't too long ago there was a discussion on a breeding forum about someone else having the same problem and she was wondering if they have thinned down the shipped semen so much that there just isn't enough swimmers. Quite a few people talked about the extensive use of diluters and extenders. I mean, in real life, one shot from the stallion is one breeding. In the AI business, one shot from the stallion can be expected to breed several mares and it's possible that the AI business is getting a little carried away with just how far they can thin down the semen.
I guess, worst case scenario, If they don't settle this time, I can take Scamper to the stallion in Utah. It's only a 4 hour drive. It was my intention to take her there anyway, but then we went the lutilase route and just had it shipped. Won't be able to do anything with Frenchie though, unless I try a different vet. I'm not hauling her all the way to Oklahoma this late in the year.
I'm just choked though. I cannot believe that not even one of three mares settled on the first try. That just doesn't seem right to me. Not when these mares are in awesome condition, have all settled easily before and all had nice big follicles. Geez, Beretta was a 49 on a scale of 50. Frenchie was a 43. Scamper was only a 36, but she ovulates so fast that we didn't expect her to get to 40. Anything over a 33 is sufficient.
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