Has all this "mucking around" improved the odds at

[TrueColours]

When I first got into breeding - YEARS ago - I remember my vet telling me that through the years, the standard conception / successful foaling rate was 60%. And if you took the last 50-60-70 years, there might be some blips above or below that but on average based on mares bred and live foals born, east coast, west coast, north and south, WB's, TB's, Quarter Horses, big breeders, backyard breeders, etc it has stayed constant at 60%

So ... that is also going back to the days when you "stuck that mare in with that there stallion and let 'im have a go at 'er a few times", before ultrasounds, before P&E protocols, forget about oxytocin or Regumate or checking progesterone levels. No such thing as fresh cooled semen, let alone frozen. If you couldnt ship your mare to the stallion or he didnt come and visit your mare, she didnt get bred - it was that simple ...

If you were lucky, that cow vet up the road could stick his arm up there and feel around and tell you if he thought she was pregnant as well

With all of our advancements and new fangled protocols and drugs and equipment at our disposal, I would venture to say that we are STILL at that median 60% success rate and have not deviated from it one iota

Are any statistics kept on something like this? Does anyone feel that it has actually increased at all as we approach breeding in a more scientific and structured manner or by doing so, have we actually DECREASED the conception rates as we are trying to micromanage something that should really be very very simple instead ...

[LB]

I remember hearing the same thing years ago--though I thought the percentage was 65%--and I believe it is also commonly stated now that that live foal percentage hasn't risen.

However...the success of all those new protocols and medicines is heavily dependent upon the knowledge and skill of the people who are using them. While 65% might be the average live foal rate across the breed I know of many farms that do significantly better than that year after year. Those are the breeders that have understood and adapted the advancements and made them work the way they're supposed to.

So the possibility of a higher success rate exists, you just have to really know what you're doing.

[Vindicated]

I have had friends that were breeding AI (warmbloods) and due too collection fees & shipping, were always "mucking about" with all of the new fangled crap (drugs to short cycle ect..)
Not a single one of them would get their mares settled until they relaxed about it and let nature work it's magic.

I have not bred using AI in a few years-but it always seemed that good timing and record keeping always worked better than anything.

I am of the opinion-that alot of this new stuff is hindering us in the long run, not the ultrasound-that is a godsend as far as I am concerned-but the drugs-who really wants to pump all of those flipping drugs into a mare that you want to produce a healthy foal?