Horse Breeding - Costs Related To Breeding

Costs Related To Breeding

Breeding a horse can be an expensive endeavor, whether breeding a backyard competition horse or the next Olympic medalist. Costs may include:

• The stud and booking fee
• Fees for collecting, handling, and transporting semen (if AI is used and semen is shipped)
• Mare exams: to determine if she is healthy enough to breed, to determine when she ovulates, and (if AI is used) to inseminate her
• Mare transport, care, and board if the mare is bred live cover at the stallion's residence
• Veterinary bills to keep the pregnant mare healthy while in foal
• Possible veterinary bills during pregnancy or foaling should something go wrong
• Veterinary bills for the foal for its first exam a few days following foaling

Stud fees are determined by the quality of the stallion, his performance record, the performance record of his get (offspring), as well as the sport and general market that the animal is standing for.

The highest stud fees are generally for racing Thoroughbreds, which may charge from two to three thousand dollars for a breeding to a new or unproven stallion, to several hundred thousand dollars for a breeding to a proven producer of stakes winners. Stallions in other disciplines often have stud fees that begin in the range of $1000 to $3000, with top contenders who produce champions in certain disciplines able to command as much as $20,000 for one breeding. The lowest stud fees to breed to a grade horse or an animal of low-quality pedigree may only be $100–$200, but there are trade-offs: the horse will probably be unproven, and likely to produce lower-quality offspring than a horse with a stud fee that is in the typical range for quality breeding stock.

As a stallion's career, either performance or breeding, improves, his stud fee tends to increase in proportion. If one or two offspring are especially successful, winning several stakes races or an Olympic medal, the stud fee will generally greatly increase. Younger, unproven stallions will generally have a lower stud fee earlier on in their careers.

To help decrease the risk of financial loss should the mare die or abort the foal while pregnant, many studs have a live foal guarantee (LFG) - also known as "no foal, free return" or "NFFR" - allowing the owner to have a free breeding to their stallion the next year. However, this is not offered for every breeding.