MARES UNDER LIGHTS

Every year it seems to come round faster and faster but again the breeding season is nearly upon us. Those of you with empty or maiden mares who are planning to breed this year need to give thought to getting these mares ‘under lights’ as soon as possible (early July) if you wish to give yourself the best possible chance of having a mare cycling in early September. This process takes six to eight weeks so you cannot afford to wait too long even if you have not yet finalized your plans for the season.

This is particularly important for Thoroughbred owners, but other breeders should appreciate the advantages of getting away to a timely start. The mare cycling early in the season has a greater opportunity to conceive before Christmas due to a greater number of cycles and has more time for any work to be done in order to help her conceive. In addition, in our local climate of hot, dry, dusty summers the older, stronger, more adapted to eating solid feed, more immunocompetent foal has a much better chance of surviving and thriving and is less of a burden on its mother through summer than the late foal. The early foal also gives the mare a better chance of being able to produce a foal a year, than the late foal.

The ‘under lights’ program relies on ‘tricking’ the mare into thinking that the longer summer days have arrived through increasing day length (leaving mares in yards or stables with bright lights on until ten pm) and increasing feed levels (mimicking the spring flush). Owners are encouraged to send their mares to Riverdene in order to join ours in this highly successful program or to discuss with the vets how they may be able to achieve this at home.