Expensive Babies

I'm not sure if anyone is interested in this, but I know I would have been before breeding. So here is a breakdown on the cost of breeding your own foal (obviously can vary HUGELY)

Before baby is born:

• RPSI (now Westfalen) inspection and breeding approval for the mare = $290
• Stud fee = $1400
• Collection and booking fee = $350
• Equitainer deposit = $400
• Kinda irritated I haven't received this back from the stallion owner yet...
• First mare reproductive exam = $59
• Jetta had a hemorrhagic follicle so we had to make it ovulate and then short cycle her
• Breeding package from vet = $465
• Includes the breeding, ultrasound check before to check follicle size, and post breeding to make sure the follicle ovulated and heartbeat check
• Mare boarding at the vet = $240
• I was out of the country at the time of breeding and was relying on a friend to pick up Jetta and she was kinda busy so Jetta stayed longer than I would have liked. Ideally I would've only paid the $20/day for less than a week.
• Endophyte testing = free (normally charge $75 per sample)
• Not necessary if you're not going to have them on tall fescue hay or pasture
• Mare color genetics test - $40
• Just for fun, tested red/black and agouti genes
• Foal halter - $2 
• I received a nice halter as a gift but it was kinda big so I bought a used tiny one at a tack sale
• Pneumabort injections for EHV-1 at 5, 7 and 9 months of gestation - my vet friend gave them to me for free, but you should expect them to cost ~$20/vaccine
• 6-way vaccination ~30 days prior to foaling = $27.95
• Not counting the very nice Orchard grass hay I switched Jetta to for her pregnancy, much more expensive than the normal local grass hay!

After baby is born:

• Snap test for IgG and placenta inspection, bute = $101
•  My vet recommends giving banamine after birth to the mare but I didn't have any on hand, and the local vet gave me bute instead
• I opted to do the snap test by myself to save money on a vet visit when I am capable of drawing blood myself, but usually this is included with the vet visit you have after the foal is born
• I also wanted a second opinion on the placenta since it was torn and I couldn't be sure there wasn't some pieces missing (fun fact - the most common location for a retained placenta is the tip of the non-gravid horn = retained placenta -> endotoxemia -> laminitis)
• Westfalen inspection/registration (includes lifetime USEF number, microchip, membership) = $477
• Ivermectin dewormer a week prior to mare foaling - mainly for Strongyloides westeri (threadworms) which can be transmitted in the milk = $4
• I did not count deworming for mare and foal (important for ascarids! Please deworm foals so you don't have an ascarid impaction colic which will most likely result in a colic surgery) and also vaccinations for the foal

The grand total? $3856!!

PRICELESS

For reference, the breeder sells foals (you can purchase in-utero or once they're born) for $9000. Granted, a lot of her mares are much nicer than Jetta!

I could have saved quite a bit of money if I had taken Jetta to the local community college that does breeding, they are quite cheap, but I bred outside the normal breeding season. Plus it would have been less expensive if she hadn't had to stay at the vet's for so long. If I ever get my $400 deposit back, that'd be nice. I saved a lot of money since I was able to do things myself (IgG snap test, sucromate injection for short cycling). I also had a few different stallions on my list that would have been cheaper too.

My aunt that has bred quite a few horses always told me to budget $3000 for the breeding, not including the stud fee, so surprisingly I stayed below that! Of course, this is if everything goes well. My costs could have quickly skyrocketed if things hadn't gone so well. For instance I was worried Maisie wouldn't get enough colostrum with Jetta spraying her milk everywhere (for four whole days...), so if she had failure of passive transfer (of antibodies), she would have required plasma which can cost over $1000!

Would I do this again and breed Jetta a second time? I've already had offers to buy Jetta's next foal, and of course looked at different stallions that I think would suit her, but I'm really not sure I could go through all of that stress again! I was an absolute basket case, especially the week of foal watch I did. No sleep + driving an hour to work and back again + stressing about baby = not a good equation. I wouldn't change a thing because now I have Maisie, but as much fun as it was picking out a stallion and getting a baby out of the deal, I would not have been able to handle a bad outcome very well and I almost think it's worth just buying a baby on the ground so you don't have to go through all the stress, you know exactly what you're getting in terms of gender, color/markings, conformation and temperament.