# Artificial Insemination Cost Breakdown



## StarRidgeAcres (Jan 27, 2009)

A few weeks back I asked why so few mini people do AI instead of live cover. I got a wide range of answers, but most came back to two things:

Cost (high)

Experienced vet (lack of)

So I said I would start my own fact-finding mission and report back with my results. Sorry it took me so long, but things have been crazy around here - including starting our foaling season out where we left off last year with a foal that didn't make it.

I went to my local equine hospital and met with a vet who specializes in reproduction. We just sat around a conference table and talked; no specific horses were involved. I got to ask a ton of stupid questions and didn't feel bad about it since I was paying for her time!




Taking the information from that visit, adding it to the wealth of information I got from Stacy Score (Stacy, you're awesome!



) plus information I could find on the web and here's what I learned...

It *IS* expensive (for both the stallion and mare owner) and it *IS* hard to find a qualified vet to do the insemination. Here are the prices I was quoted:

Prep costs for the stallion:

Office visit: 17.50

Semen collection: 212.50 (per)

Semen evaluation: 86.50 (includes 9 tests, 3 extenders at 12, 24 and 36 hours)

Extender - INRA: 19.00

Extender - Amikacin: 13.50

Extender - plain: 12.25

Culture/Senstivity: 83.00

Cytology: 52.00

AMHA fee: 100.00

AMHR fee: 100.00

Total for the stallion owner to get started with ONE stallion: $695.25

Collection costs (probably passed on to the mare owner):

Office visit: 17.50

Semen collection: 212.50 (per)

Extender: 19.00 (used the highest one for estimate)

Overnight shipping: 75.00 (could be higher or lower)

Disposable Equitainer: 80.00

Total for the collection: $404.00

Mare costs:

Office visit: 38.00 (yes, it was more)

Insemination: 71.50 (per)

Ultrasound: 52.00

Culture/cytology: 135.00

Total for the insemination: $296.50

For the stallion owner, it's a one-time cost (probably) for the initial collection and testing. So once that's all completed, the stallion owner just has the yearly AMHA and AMHR fees and possible culture if bacteria/etc. is suspected. The owner of the mare has a cost of about $700 per collection/insemination on top of the stud fee. Plus whatever the stallion owner charges for the process of transporting the stallion to the vet for collection once the mare owner calls and says "now is the time!"

The other challenge is finding a vet (on each side) that has the proper equipment and experience to work on minis. MANY will say "oh sure, I can inseminate (collect) a mini" but when it comes down to it and you push them for information on their equipment, etc. they decide well maybe they don't have that much experience with minis. But they are out there. I came across one in VA that seemed fairly knowledgeable and could collect or inseminate a mini. Many of the universities can do it also.

The positives include not having to send the mare away, no risk of injury from a kick to the stallion, no mare care fees (or the hassle of having new mares coming all the time if you're the stallion owner), etc.

If you're the stallion owner, do you REQUIRE the mare have a culture/cytology? Do you offer a LFG? You lose control over your stallion's semen. There is extra paperwork with the registries. Will you get enough bookings to cover all your expenses of preparing your stallion? Some stallions won't do collections and live cover at the same time. What if you have one of those and now you have to AI your mares also. That could get really expensive. And all of this is irrelevent if your stallion doesn't have enough little guys (a min of one billion per collection) and the ones he does have don't live well/long enough in the extender.

Having said all this, I think I'm going to try it. Not will all three stallions, but I'm curious to see it really play out and find out firsthand if it's worth it or not.

Thoughts?


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## txminipinto (Jan 27, 2009)

Yes it is expensive and it has it's pros and cons. Personally, in our industry, I would find it only useful for breedings between animals that are in very seperate states which would make transport an issue. Would I collect my own stallion to AI my mares? No. The time involved is just not worth it in my opinion. Because, mares will have to make FREQUENT trips to the vet for palpation for ovulation as well as pregnancy check. Would I collect my stallion and have frozen straws on hand for outside breedings? No. I just don't feel there's an overwhelming desire for most to breed to outside stallions to make it worth the investment. Which is very unfortunate. We collect on a need be basis.

Stallions I would collect from and keep frozen on hand would be those stallions who've aged and proven themselves over and over again in the show pen with their own show record as well as their gets' to be valuable assets to our industry.


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## StarRidgeAcres (Jan 27, 2009)

This is all based on cooled semen. Frozen is a whole different ball game. Plus the registries don't allow you to use it if the stallion dies or is gelded so I'm not sure why anyone would just "keep it on hand." If the registries would change that rule, maybe it would be worth it in a few cases.


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## Riverdance (Jan 27, 2009)

Parmala,

You will have to keep us updated as to how well this is going for you.

I know that it was tested by an AMHA committe a few years ago and the decision was that it would not work. But times change and perhaps in the future it will work.

I know a stallion I would like to breed to down in Florida. Shipping and mare care would cost about the same as AIing and I have a vet who can do it. Plus I would not have to ship out a mare with a foal by her side, but still, very spendy either way.

Almost cheaper to buy a really good son of the stallion one is interested in. Then one can breed to several mares.


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## End Level Farms (Jan 27, 2009)

In the future I will offer Shipped Semen as I am already working with a vet that does shipped semen due to my Paint stallion.

I do not find its worth AIing my own mares but offer it shipped to others.

HOWEVER.

At this time I would not charge a stud fee if someone wanted to ship semen. But I would require them to pay all the stallion costs. I wouldn't ask they pay for my time transporting him back and forth.

If AI was not such a hassle and more people offered it I would be breeding my mares to outside stallions a lot.


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## StarRidgeAcres (Jan 27, 2009)

End Level Farms said:


> At this time I would not charge a stud fee if someone wanted to ship semen. But I would require them to pay all the stallion costs. I wouldn't ask they pay for my time transporting him back and forth.



I'm not sure I understand the reasoning why you wouldn't charge a stud fee. Can you explain?


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## End Level Farms (Jan 27, 2009)

The reason behind it is at this time I am unable to fulfill the stallion portion of all the tests and procedures other than taking him to the vet to collect him.

However if someone wanted to cover those costs so they were able to breed their mare or mares to him. I would wave the stud fee in lou of not being able to do what I see as my portion of the contract to set him up and have him tested ect to be able to ship cooled semen.

So instead of taking a stud fee and making them pay for the stallion portion of the collecting and shipping. They would simply pay the vet instead. So they pay the vet the stud fee basically.


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## BigDogs & LittleHorses (Jan 27, 2009)

StarRidgeAcres said:


> Plus the registries don't allow you to use it if the stallion dies or is gelded so I'm not sure why anyone would just "keep it on hand." If the registries would change that rule, maybe it would be worth it in a few cases.


I fail to see the logic in this policy.





Those are two GREAT reasons to have frozen stored. There probably would be less mediocre stallions and more geldings if people could do this.

Frozen semen storage is standard practice now in the dog fancier world. I've got two of my dogs on ice. One of them I am almost sure I'll never use, but it's somehow comforting to know that I have the option.


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## StarRidgeAcres (Jan 27, 2009)

BigDogs & LittleHorses said:


> StarRidgeAcres said:
> 
> 
> > Plus the registries don't allow you to use it if the stallion dies or is gelded so I'm not sure why anyone would just "keep it on hand." If the registries would change that rule, maybe it would be worth it in a few cases.
> ...


I don't understand the logic either. If I have time, I'll call AMHA tomorrow and see what they say.


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## Minimor (Jan 28, 2009)

> The reason behind it is at this time I am unable to fulfill the stallion portion of all the tests and procedures other than taking him to the vet to collect him.


I have to ask--when you cannot do any of the testing to see if your stallion will ship at all and with which extender--why on earth would any mare owner put out the money to pay for collection and shipping, even if they don't have to pay the stud fee?? I sure wouldn't.
I would suggest that if you cannot do it properly then there is no point in doing it at all.

edited to add: and yes, I did actually read what you wrote above, I know you aren't doing it at this time, but you say you would if a mare owner wanted to pay the costs--I just couldn't see why you would agree to it all when you can't do the proper testing to make sure that the mare owner would receive viable "product"


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## End Level Farms (Jan 28, 2009)

And if you had actually read the post above that it stated that at this time I am NOT offering this service at this time.

I have been approached by several mare owners asking if I would consider doing this and I told them what it would take.


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## uwharrie (Jan 28, 2009)

I also fail to see the logic with this rule as well. To me freezing semen gives you a chance to breed back to an animal years down the road. Italian Greyhounds have finally had a couple of successful frozen litters ( it is much harder to succeed with small animals) So I now plan to get a couple of my boys collected and frozen.



BigDogs & LittleHorses said:


> StarRidgeAcres said:
> 
> 
> > Plus the registries don't allow you to use it if the stallion dies or is gelded so I'm not sure why anyone would just "keep it on hand." If the registries would change that rule, maybe it would be worth it in a few cases.
> ...


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## Kendra (Jan 28, 2009)

I work at a vet clinic that does a lot of repro, breeding between 80-100 mares each spring for our clients.

The average cost per cycle for breeding with cooled semen is $1150, and average cost for breeding until pregnant is $1500-$1800. Those are just the costs paid to us ... not including stud fee or stallion collection fees. Sometimes the semen shipment is paid through us, sometimes through the stallion owner.

There are some stallions that stand at the clinic for the breeding season, and a number of others that come in as needed to ship semen out ... generally though, once the stallion has done the trials, etc, the costs are covered by the mare owner.

Frozen semen isn't as reliable as cooled, but can be much more convenient for the stallion owner, for example if the horse has a busy show schedule and can't be constantly at the vets for collecting. It can also be shipped in advance, so no FedEx mix-up's to cause you to miss your mare's ovulation. I don't see why the registries don't allow it though. A few years ago we had a client who had her mare bred with semen from a stallion who had been dead for 10 years ... pretty cool!


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## StarRidgeAcres (Jan 28, 2009)

Kendra said:


> I work at a vet clinic that does a lot of repro, breeding between 80-100 mares each spring for our clients.
> The average cost per cycle for breeding with cooled semen is $1150, and average cost for breeding until pregnant is $1500-$1800. Those are just the costs paid to us ... not including stud fee or stallion collection fees. Sometimes the semen shipment is paid through us, sometimes through the stallion owner.
> 
> There are some stallions that stand at the clinic for the breeding season, and a number of others that come in as needed to ship semen out ... generally though, once the stallion has done the trials, etc, the costs are covered by the mare owner.
> ...


Hi Kendra,

Thanks for the info on the clinic you work at!

Just to clarify, the registries both allow frozen, there are just different rules surrounding it.


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## Littleum (Jan 28, 2009)

Big horse friends tell me that the costs from booking to pregnancy are about $4,000ish for fresh or frozen (not onsite AI). Includes the stud fee and all the mare management associated costs. Typical stud fees include the 1st collection, subsquent collections are $200-$250ish a pop.

From Star Ridge's posting I guess that $4,000 figure would be a safe guesstimate for minis too.

Probably won't stop me from using Dad In A Can. Geography wouldn't stop me from choosing Mr Perfect!


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## midnight star stables (Jan 28, 2009)

:yeah



:yeah



*THANK YOU PARMELA!!*




:yeah



:yeah


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## Psultan (Jan 16, 2011)

StarRidgeAcres said:


> A few weeks back I asked why so few mini people do AI instead of live cover. I got a wide range of answers, but most came back to two things:
> 
> Cost (high)
> 
> ...




I would like to say great topic.

We have bred for many years and have done lots of AI well maybe not lots around 15 mares that we covered by AI from stallions from all over the country.

Here is some of what we were charged as mare owner and we did have a couple of our stallions collected as well.

Stallion owner of what you listed for *PREP* is not far out of line maybe collection was a little high. But I would ask the stallion owner has collected and shipped seman to a friend via DELTA DASH and have it sent back to stallion owner's vet and check seman as some stallions do not ship well.

Collect cost a little high and I would remove the the cost of shipping and container over to the mare owner cost side. The stallion owner should have there own Equitainers that are returned back to the stallion owner (deposit fron mare owner till container is returned). As mare owner I bought 6 of them and I would send containers to the stallion owners weeks in advance to send back with the seman. Delta Dash overnight is around $75 and or if needed ASAP then counter to counter and can have it in a few hours for around $100 more (picked up at airport)so that looks like it would drop the fees on the stallion owner side by $155 but added to mare side.

One more thing I do not know about collecting the mini's but the stallion should get enough seman and split it 3-4 ways. So the stallion owner can send seman to 3-4 mare owners on one collection and 1 collection cost.

Mare cost:

I never paid office charge.

Insemination was for me $40

Ultra sound was $25

No need for culture

Shipping Delta Dash $75 +-

Container ???? if stallion owner soes not have one I would suggest buying one or ????

I would not deal with frozen there is no need to now days.

Now that said:

Here is what we did if it helps you.

We know our mare and heat cycles. Day 7 of heat we took our mare to vet palpate and ultra sound. He will tell us when to breed her he orded seman from stallion owner we provided to him. Stallion owner sends our container with seman to our vet, our vet calls us when it arrives, we take mare to inseminate and we only want to cover once. Oh the day before mare is covered we give the mare HCG to ensure ovulation.

I have insemated our own mares when needed. And yes was taught by my vet.


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## Nathan Luszcz (Feb 15, 2011)

The costs listed seem really high. A stallion owner should be able to get semen to the mare's doorstep for $300 including standard overnight FedEx.

Frozen semen is much more expensive due to the storage, shipping, and intense ultrasound use.

I no longer recommend Equitainers. They are okay, but there are better products that are a lot cheaper. The disposable EST (Equine Semen Transporter) offer superior cooling, and costs much less. They cost about $35 each. Use them once, charge them to the mare owner, and save the return shipping (which costs $15-20 just to return it to the stallion owner!) plus, cheaper to mail the first time! Safe for use on Airlines as well (which other disposables fail at miserably). Great product, highly recommended.

Any specific questions regarding any AI procedure including frozen, feel free to ask, its my specialty.

"The average cost per cycle for breeding with cooled semen is $1150"

WOW. That's amazing!!!!! We put out a final bill for FROZEN semen at $400 for a cycle, including board. I can't ever picture 1150, unless you're paying $100 per farm call and the vet is overchecking the mare. Even eFSH isn't that expensive.

Also note that while DeltaDash is nice, it is very expensive, and requires "precertification" from the airline before you can use their services (as a terrorist precaution, I guess). This involves an on-site inspection, and must be done for every airline used (most stallion stations have two or three airlines certified). We traditionally used Delta as our first choice, as well as American Airlines and United. The other station I managed used Delta and American. Delta is awesome to work with. It really depends on your local hub though, for us, Delta hub is local.


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## RockRiverTiff (Mar 26, 2011)

This is the most in-depth discussion of mini AI I've ever seen. (Thanks Parmela!) We had a couple of our Quarter mares AIed a decade ago, and more than once I've looked at mini stallions on the other end of the country and wished it was an option. I do wonder why we are so far behind the full-sized breeds in this area? When you break it down it sounds extremely tedious, but on the mare owner end if you have a competent vet and a healthy mare I think it beats the heck out of sending your mare cross-country, potentially for months. As a bonus, our vet always liked to serenade the mares with "Blue Moon" while performing the insemination.


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## Nathan Luszcz (Mar 28, 2011)

I think its just the mini mentality. Why pay $300 for servicing a $400 horse, once? (Don't get me wrong, I love my $200 pony!!!) Combine that with the difficulty logistically; You need a special AV and special tease mare/phantom, combined with the notoriously difficult to cool miniature horse sperm (I'm told, I've never dallied with minis semen), plus the very difficult insemination technique (speculum method). All together, its a huge hassle for someone who doesn't have lots of experience with it. Now, once you HAVE that experience, I'm sure it would be a piece of cake, but its that huge hurdle that makes it so hard. I've collected several minis for BSE exams, and haven't ever had too much trouble once the logistics were overcome. And AI'ing through a speculum, while an acquired skill, isn't hard to acquire.

Anyways, the summery of my ramblings, its expensive and I don't think most mini owners are willing to pay that kind of money. Add that to the mini mentality of "its easier just to buy my own stallion" (how many "big" horse owners have their own stallion to breed their herd? Maybe 2%? How about mini owners? I bet its close to 85%) and the whole AI thing becomes a huge headache and head-butting with the full sized horse repro person who's doing the services. Just too complicated!

Which is a crying shame. There is no reason why mini folk should shun AI like they do. We have the technology to cool even the most difficult stallion's sperm, and given the time and practice, there is very little reason (except $$) why AI shouldn't take off like it did in other breeds.

Another ramble... I really wonder how much "damage" to the mini AI industry the very common practice of owning your own herd stallion has done. Its so much easier buying the stallion then it is to ship semen. Whereas in big horses most people run screaming from the thought of standing a stallion.


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## drmatthewtaylor (Mar 29, 2011)

AI doesn't need to be cheaper than shipping a mare for live cover, the advantage is it is safer.

Every summer I deal with mares and foals that have gotten ill or died at the breeding farm, strangles, and stallions that have gotten injured breeding the outside mare. I have rarely seen these due to negligence, rather crap just happens. But, if you're attached to your mare, foal or stallion then these things produce bad feelings.

Dr Taylor


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## Nathan Luszcz (Mar 29, 2011)

People don't ship their mares long distances to get bred, from what I've read here in the past few years. Its not like the QH or TB industry where that's the norm. So $40 in fuel to drive to the local farm, or $1000 to buy your own stud, is a lot cheaper than $1000+ per mare just in AI related expenses.


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## kaykay (Apr 15, 2011)

I so agree Doc.

I am very lucky in that my neighbor runs an equine facility and I help out down there. Feature was tested and we found the right extender that did great with him. Remember there are many facilities like my neighbors that are not as expensive as using a vet.

Collection fee 100.00

Inseminate a mare 35.00

Pick up at facility 50.00

Shipping US 125.00 Fed Ex next day

AI in Small Equine


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## K.C. Lunde (Jul 22, 2011)

I went in to the clinic Kendra Gale works in mid-may and asked for an estimate and the lady quoted me $800-900, for the collection and storage. They have always been great about making adjustments for the minis and they said they could do it.

But the point of this story is a week later, my stallion that I would have booked in passed away from a very sudden colic. It was very sad as he is leaving me with only two bred mares, due here soon. Most of the mares he ever produced are treasured by their owners (so hard to get his past babies) and he produced a world champion stallion too.

So now I always think, what if I could have went through with booking an appointment before he died?

So.. I believe the rules should be changed, regarding semen from dead stallions. I'm positive that there is plenty of Boones Little Buckeroo and many other horses' semen stored.. and for that quality semen to essentially be gone to waste because of registry rules.. Its just sad.


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## Nathan Luszcz (Jul 26, 2011)

That really stinks




I'm sorry you didn't get a chance to do it before.

$900 does seem rather steep... we used to charge $400-550.


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