EVA --opinions wanted

[IcouldbeU]

Would you breed to a stallion who was EVA positive? Would you buy a pregnant mare who was EVA positive? I am looking for all opinions since I have just started researching the subject. Thank you and Merry Christmas

[madelyn]

I would NOT breed to an EVA positive stallion under any circumstances.

Mares cannot harbor EVA - a positive on a mare means she is sick now but will get over it.

[IcouldbeU]

So its okay to have an EVA positive mare but not an EVA positive stallion? Can you explain that just abit for me? I would think any EVA horse would get others infected and therefore sick, and that a mare would be worse than a stallion since the foal could also become infected. Reading all the information online, I have gotten quite confused. I did read somewhere that an EVA positive horse cannot ship out of the US is that correct?
Thanks!

[TrueColours]

The EVA virus requires testosterone to "support" it, so while a gelding or a mare can become infected initially, once it goes through its incubation period of 21 days, the virus is no longer active and they can no longer pass it on

An EVA positive stallion will shed the virus in his semen and will thus infect a mare that he has bred - naturally or via shipped semen. A mare needs to be within "sneeze" range to pass it on to another mare, gelding or stallion

So - hypothetically speaking, a mare could be bred to an EVA positive stallion, not get in foal, be bred live cover to another non EVA positive stallion 20-21 days later while she was still "active" and not infect HIM at all, unless she turned around and sneezed on him while he was covering her

I bred one of my mares to an EVA positive stallion. Once I understood the precautions that needed to be taken and what I was dealing with, it didnt bother me in the slightest

Would I breed one of my mares to an EVA positive stallion while said mare was on my premises, in the same barn with my NON EVA positive stallion? Not on your life and NOT because I was afraid in the slightest that she would infect him or other mares on the property, but simply because of the PERCEPTION that that would happen ...

A friend of mine said a certain stallion owner would not ship semen to a mare at ABC Farm because LAST YEAR a mare on that property was bred to an EVA positive stallion??! I mean - honestly - where do people get these bizarre ideas from???

I got nailed with stupid stories this year as well. I live in Ontario, Canada. My mare that was bred to the EVA positive stallion has been in PA for 2 1/2 years and the semen was shipped to her at the farm in PA. A certain VET (of all people, who should know better!) started posting on various boards about how unethical I was, that *I* had a "contaminated" mare on my property, Mare Owners were sending their mares in to breed to my stallion and I wasnt telling them their mares could risk getting EVA. From my mare that was 500+ miles away and hasnt been on my farm in 2 1/2 years ...

So - stupidity and ignorance like that I do NOT need and if I re-breed said mare to that stallion again, I will simply send the mare to another facility for the 21 day period to protect my reputation from the stupid stories that would start to float around out there if I didnt ...

And BTW - the foal will not and CAN not get infected ... EVA doesnt work that way ...

What MIGHT happen is if that mare was stuck in a herd of already pregnant mares during that virulent 21 day initial time frame. She could then cause THEM to abort, but if you stuck her in with them at the 25-30 day mark, she is then fine - she can sneeze on them all day long and not affect them in the slightest ...

Hope that helps - a little bit anyhow!

[IcouldbeU]

Okay, so since mares cannot carry the EVA and stallions can and the infection only bothers mares for 21 days post exposure, why all the uproar over EVA? Early term abortions can happen for many reasons so adding EVA to the mix while it does not seem like a smart thing to do, does not seem all that awful either.
In any case, tomorrow when I see my daughter I am going to tell her not to worry about the stallion she wants to breed to or the mare she has been looking at. If noone had told her about their respective status', it appears noone would have been the wiser and the mare should carry the foal full term since she is due in Feb.
Thank you

[TrueColours]

Okay, so since mares cannot carry the EVA and stallions can and the infection only bothers mares for 21 days post exposure, why all the uproar over EVA?

Why? Because people dont understand it, including the VET I mentioned who is also a breeder for many many years and should know FAR better ...

The uproar also is because if you dont take the proper precautions you CAN cause other mares to abort during that 21 day time frame, and you CAN infect a negative stallion or colt on the property and cause him to become EVA positive for life, so in both cases, unless you are set up to house a mare that has been bred to an EVA positive stallion and use common sense and proper sanitary controls, you can cause havoc to other animals on the property

And BTW - the EVA positive stallion only sheds the virus through his semen. You can stick him right next to a pregnant mare and he can sneeze on her all day long and he will not affect her through nasal discharge contact - only through his semen

If your daughter is looking at a mare due in February tell her not to worry one little bit ... that mare is WELL past the danger zone and the foal will not be affected one iota from the EVA status of its sire ...

The foal will also come out EVA negative.

Hope this helps!

[madelyn]

Okay, so since mares cannot carry the EVA and stallions can and the infection only bothers mares for 21 days post exposure, why all the uproar over EVA? Early term abortions can happen for many reasons so adding EVA to the mix while it does not seem like a smart thing to do, does not seem all that awful either.
In any case, tomorrow when I see my daughter I am going to tell her not to worry about the stallion she wants to breed to or the mare she has been looking at. If noone had told her about their respective status', it appears noone would have been the wiser and the mare should carry the foal full term since she is due in Feb.
Thank you

A scenario:

Your mare is boarded on a farm with LOTS of other mares. You breed your mare, after carefully vaccinating her, etc., to an EVA stallion. Even though you vaccinated the mare against aborting because of EVA she can still become symptomatic, causing an abortion storm at the farm where she is boarded. Do you want to take the responsibility?

In my opinion, there is sufficient quality out there, available in non-EVA stallions, that I just would not consider it. Not ever.

[ireneinwa]

My mares were bred to postive EVA stallion in the past. Im sure there was some sorta vac they received. Anways 2 perfect foals

[madelyn]

Yes, you can vaccinate the mare against EVA. If you only have one mare it's no big deal. The problem arises if that mare will be on a farm with many other pregnant mares who have NOT been vaccinated, and don't necessarily belong to you. Your mare could transmit EVA and cause an abortion storm among the OTHER mares.

My stallion was vaccinated for EVA on Dec 11, for the upcoming breeding season. It's not a cheap vaccine. The shot was $44 plus farm call.

[TrueColours]

Yes, you can vaccinate the mare against EVA. If you only have one mare it's no big deal. The problem arises if that mare will be on a farm with many other pregnant mares who have NOT been vaccinated, and don't necessarily belong to you. Your mare could transmit EVA and cause an abortion storm among the OTHER mares.

I think Madelyn, thats where its imperative that if you do take in mares for breeding or foaling out, that YOU as the BO are fully aware of what you are dealing with and the MO is also upfront and tells the BO that the mare is being bred to an EVA positive stallion, are they aware of the precautions that need to be taken and are they willing to take those precautions for the 21 day time frame?

It is NOT total isolation that the mare has to be in. Its either a 10' or 15' "safe zone" (whatever the "Sneeze Zone" is ) and thats it. So her paddock can be 10-15 feet away from all other pregnant mares and stallions and even if she is fully viral, she will NOT affect them. Not unless I guess they are downwind from her, she sneezes, the wind carries it over and they breathe it in ...

And it isnt also a 100% sure thing that the mare inseminated with the EVA positive semen will 100% affect / infect all other pregnant mares around here either. In the case of the stallion Redwine, in the beginning year no one was aware that he was EVA positive (he was tested prior to coming over from Europe and was found to be negative and then the following year in the USA, AFTER semen was sent out to MO's and AFTER they were inseminated and got in foal and AFTER those same mares were housed and pastured with other pregnant mares THATS when it was discovered that somehow he was now EVA positive) and there wasnt one single mare that was a pasture mate that did end up aborting, so I honestly dont know under what circumstances that mare in question can and will infect her pasture mates. I dont know if its luck of the draw or specific criteria that allows it to happen, but its NOT a wholesale decimation of an entire pregnant mare herd. Not at all ...

Believe me - I was NOT comfortable with it - not at all in the beginning, but now that I almost fully understand it, it doesnt bother me at all. What does and will continue to bother me is other people's misconceptions about it - hence my decision to never inseminate one of my mares on the same property as my stallion resides on as with the misconception abounding out there, and people believing that he is now infected / affected, that could adversely affect my revenues and business with him ...

[madelyn]

I agree with you TC, regarding the precautions, and some of the misconceptions. But the "sneeze" range can be expanded, as the virus can be carried across on a boot, a bucket, a feed scoop, etc.

I have a "little" farm. Isolation like that would put an unnecessary burden on me. I have mares in foal, oftentimes, on no guarantee seasons. I sincerely believe there are PLENTY of good stallions there who do not carry EVA that I just don't need the risk. OTOH I only breed TB's and don't do AI.

In KY, the state requires all TB stallions to be vaccinated annually for EVA. It is a REQUIREMENT, and vaccination can only be reported by a vet. This, I think, is to prevent falsifications. The KBIF/AQHA program rules withhold KY breeder's incentive payments for failure to test/vaccinate AQHA stallions for EVA. And EVA positive stallions are ineligible. Period.

We vaccinate our colts for EVA starting as yearlings. If all those EVA positive stallions had been vaccinated as colts, perhaps they wouldn't be out there shedding this awful virus through their semen.

In my opinion, JUST MY OPINION, breeding to an EVA carrying stallion is, in effect, bringing a disease onto my farm. So I won't do it. Ever.

[ireneinwa]

The farm I bred at all mares received vac, so many days til bred, all, kept in barn away from other mares. It's not hard to stop from becoming a problem if the breeding farm has the facility.

Icouldbeyou-
If it happens to be at a farm in the NW PM me and I can tell you the excellent service they provide.

[TrueColours]

Madelyn, I asked Kathy St Martin from Equine Reproduction what precautions you needed to take so that you didnt pass it on from an infected farm, back home to your animals and this was her response:

The virus is very short lived and not particularly hardy. But, if you are dealing with an animal that "is" positive, you want to take appropriate precautions to avoid the risk of transmitting it inadvertently to your own animals. Washing hands after touching animals at another facility is always a good practice, changing clothing if you KNOW you are dealing with a positive animal, and stepping in a footbath is a good idea, as well. Probably not necessary, but we tend to err on the side of caution. If we breed with EVA positive semen, all of the equipment that could potentially come in contact with the semen is disinfected, and all equipment used, if possible, is disposable.

So - it doesnt appear that visiting a farm with EVA positive mares and then coming home to your place 30-60-90 minutes later would pose a risk to any of your animals, but the prudent thing to do would be to take the necessary precautions anyhow. Just in case ...

[ireneinwa]

Yes, you can vaccinate the mare against EVA. If you only have one mare it's no big deal. The problem arises if that mare will be on a farm with many other pregnant mares who have NOT been vaccinated, and don't necessarily belong to you. Your mare could transmit EVA and cause an abortion storm among the OTHER mares.

My stallion was vaccinated for EVA on Dec 11, for the upcoming breeding season. It's not a cheap vaccine. The shot was $44 plus farm call.

Farms with EVA stallions that I know of keep the mares isolated from other mares if being bred to that stallion. For someone to just turn them out with other mares would be bad husbandry and shouldn't have clients horses in their care.

[LKR]

I thought once a stallion is vaccinated for EVA that he will always show a positive even though he never had it, was simply vaccinated for it.