Regardless of the number of mares being bred, it is important to monitor the stallion's reproductive success in order to maintain his reputation and give yourself time to address any problems he might have. Evaluating breeding records can enable you to determine if changes in breeding protocols might be needed if you would like to increase his book size or if you need to accommodate a heavy competition schedule during the breeding season.

If your stallion is only breeding a few mares, examining the records could indicate changes that could be made in breeding protocols to more efficiently use the time spent with outside mares. Conversely, the analysis might show things are going well and changes are not necessary. As the number of mares bred to the stallion increases, so does the importance of record evaluation, which can reveal changes in fertility that, if addressed early, can usually be managed successfully.

How Did He Do?

Many criteria are used to analyze breeding performance of a stallion. The more information available in the breeding records, the greater the likelihood of identifying the reason for a drop in pregnancy rates. Breeding records should include the number of mares bred by the stallion, status of the mares (foaling, barren, or maiden), age of the mares, number of cycles bred, number of covers per cycle, and results of pregnancy examinations. Records can be stored in systems that range from hand-written notebooks to complex computerized spreadsheets from which statistical analysis can be performed. There are a number of commercial software packages available for analyzing reproductive data