Do you keep your fillies from your stallion?

[RobinRTrueJoy]

I only have room for one stallion. That's ok, because I adore him. He is Havencrofts Phantom Warrior. Split black/white face with a blue eye, homozygous for tobiano, mostly white with a chest shield and black tail and has some round black spots( Not an appy). He drives, is sweet and mannerly, and everything that I have wanted. I hope to keep him for a long time.

I have just a handful of mares , all unrelated to my stallion.. The dilemma is... that I would like to keep a filly but I only have him as a stallion.

What do you all do... breed to outside stallion if all you have is their sire? Or just sell all the babies?

Thanks,

Robin

 

[Songcatcher]

I don't think any one answer will fit every situation, but some things to consider are:

Do you need to make the decision right away? Do you have facilities to keep them separate?

Do you have access to an outside stallion?

Sometimes sire/daughter crosses turn out quite well. Not a recommendation, just a thought. I have not done it myself, but would not entirely rule it out.

 

[Marty]

Great question. Robin I have Nick's two daughters, the black ones that I call my "twins" and I did not want to breed them to their daddy. People do it all the time but its not for me. IF I were to keep them and IF I want to breed them, there would be a chance I would have bred them to that Redneck colt of mine when he became of age. IF I were to send anyone to an outside breeder, I will not send out my horses to anywhere unless I went there personally and check the facility.

However, That's a lot of "IF"s and I'm not breeding anyone right now and I was going to sell the twins eventually so I'll have to wait and see what happens.

 

[Charlotte]

Oh yeah. We now have 6 broodmares by one or the other of our stallions. 4 will be bred for the first time this year. 2 have been producing for several years now and that is what convinced us to keep more of our own fillies. These two mares have been simply outstanding crosses when bred back to the stallion that is not their sire.

We had never planned to have more than one stallion either, BUT! Actually we find management to be pretty simple. The two stallions hate each other so are kept pretty far apart. Each has a dry lot and also a grass paddock they can be turned out into. Each is stalled at night.

I don't take mares to outside stallions. (a number of reasons for that)

I'll tell you what our reasoning was in keeping these fillies.........We liked them as well or better than mares that were available from other farms. So why sell one then go buy a mare that maybe wasn't quite as good, that possibly had not had the health care and training attention that our own horses get and probably wouldn't have the show records that our young mares have. It just didn't make sense to sell them. Of course, now we are having more really nice fillies, but WE CAN'T KEEP THEM ALL!

Once you start down the road of keeping a few babies it's a slippery slope!

Charlotte

 

[Joanne]

If you are doing your breeding program correctly, then ideally you should be producing foals that are better than their sire and dam.

Like Charlotte said, keep some of these as finding replacements may be hard.

What you do with them will depend on a lot of things. Some farms have more than one stallion. If you know of a stallion that is close to you that you could take your filly (when she is mature) to, then you may get a great cross that would once again, bring in some new lines.

 

[Becky]

Robin, I've kept fillies from several stallions I've owned. In fact, the majority of my broodmares were bred by me. I have sold the sires of all except for Redrock Magic Maker and he will not be leaving.

Since I am now keeping a few of his daughters for broodmares, I added a new young stallion last fall to breed to Magic Maker daughters and others.

I bought and sold several stallions as they just weren't quite what I was looking for until I found Dusty Lane Tribute Let Freedom Ring. He should be a great compliment to the Magic Maker daughters and some of the other mares in my small group.

I have been more than happy with the quality of horses I've produced here over the years and I feel that by keeping some daughters of stallions I've owned and finding the right stallion to breed them to when the time comes, I'll be taking my breeding program to the next level.

 

[minih]

This year we have a stallion that we are getting his first foals from, and I bred him to one of our other stallions daughters. I am very pleased with this cross. The other foal we had, we took our mare over and had her bred to another stallion at another farm, and we are very pleased with this cross as well. In fact, may have to do that cross again sometime in the future? Someone in an earlier post I read, said they would not take their mares out for breeding. We are very selective who we take our mares to, I would not just send them to anyone.

 

[MindyLee]

I kept my 09 filly for now. I would NEVER breed her to either her sire or the other stallion I have. She has way to many lines to her grandsire through both her dam and sire (King Supreme), and my other stud is big boned where she is very refind. If I was to breed her in the future, I would look to a outside stallion for sure or just sell her as she is everything I ever wanted to breed for and want to offer to anothers. If I was to sell her, I want to offer her to someone who will either show her to her full potential that I could never do, or add her to a broodmare band and out produce her own beauty and better the future miniature horse which I know she could. BUT untill then, if that day comes...

Shes stayin here, on my show string, and getting all the lovins I can give her!

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I keep the fillies, almost always. But, then, I have never thought twice about putting a stallion on his daughters. It is something that I have always done. Very occasionally I will have one that a "little voice in my ear" will tell me not to breed back, and I always listen, but at present I am breeding Rabbit onto two of his granddaughters, both of whom are out of mares related to, but not by, him.

The results are excellent.

Is it possible, though, if this does not appeal, to maybe do a swap for a summer with someone?

 

[minie812]

I would keep the fillies. If they are nice and what you are breeding for then why sell them. I am keeping Fiestas daughters simply because I like what he produces and if something were to happen to him then his daughters would be gone...nada...ziltch!

AND I have already bought the small stallion I think will compliement Fiestas girls and will breed to him nx year and hope that my cross is a good one

We have downsized alot and will do very limited breeding but I really like the two stallions I have.

 

[sedeh]

I have the same dilema. I only have, and only want, one stallion. I have a small broodmare band and don't really want to have a huge herd. One of my mares was in foal when I bought her so I got to keep her daughter and since I bought my stallion as a yearling, I had leased a friends stallion until he came of age....so I got to keep the one filly from that cross. My plan has always been to sell the babies. Last year I got my first filly from my stallion. Of course she's everything I'd want in a future broodmare! Homozygous for tobiano and black, and she's put together very nicely, has a spectacular trot and a lot of presence in the show ring. Won her futurity at her first and only show. I'm sticking to my plan, she is on the sales list....but I'm not giving her away and, I wouldn't be too upset if she doesn't sell and I ended up keeping her(don't tell my husband!!). Then I would have to decide what to do when the time comes to breed her. Who knows what other nice fillies I may have from my stallion by then! I may decide to sell my current stallion(which would be hard because I love him so much), lease a stallion for breeding season, or look at sending her to an outside stallion. For now though...I'm sticking with the "sell the offspring" plan. Good luck with your decision!

 

[HGFarm]

If you want to keep his daughter(s) and breed them later, then you will have to keep them seperated til they are old enough to breed. If you are only keeping one or two favorites, maybe you could find someone else with a nice stallion to cross them with when they are old enough and swap breedings or something, rather than buy another stallion. Or, lease him or sell him out to someone and get one unrelated to ALL your horses and use that one for breeding.

I have a couple of fillies I have kept back, but have two stallions so I can outcross. It's a pain keeping two sometimes, but handy and I dont have to worry about finding something else to breed to cause I love both my boys.

 

[RobinRTrueJoy]

I only breed one or two sporadically, not every year. I have always sold my babies and no longer have any of my own. I had thought to keep last years filly, a really dark bay wildly marked split face blue eyed homozygous pinto filly, but she died because of an ulcer( started treatment the very same day any syptoms started and she died 24 hours later. She was not related tro my stallion.

Yes,

I do have the option of breeding outside and actually could use my owed breedings from when I sold a real nice stallion a couple of years ago. I do not keep mares and my stallions together. All breedings are planned.

A friend mentioned to me just this afternoon, that I might think of trading fillies with her if we liked each others babies... so we will see. I am happy with my current mares, and I have got the numbers down to easy labor for me.

Robin

 

[Songcatcher]

I only breed one or two sporadically, not every year. I have always sold my babies and no longer have any of my own. I had thought to keep last years filly, a really dark bay wildly marked split face blue eyed homozygous pinto filly, but she died because of an ulcer( started treatment the very same day any syptoms started and she died 24 hours later. She was not related tro my stallion.Yes,

I do have the option of breeding outside and actually could use my owed breedings from when I sold a real nice stallion a couple of years ago. I do not keep mares and my stallions together. All breedings are planned.

A friend mentioned to me just this afternoon, that I might think of trading fillies with her if we liked each others babies... so we will see. I am happy with my current mares, and I have got the numbers down to easy labor for me.

Robin

With your circumstances, I think it would just come down to "Do YOU like this filly and want to keep her?" You seem to have the ability to keep them separate and access to another stallion when and IF you want to breed her.

So, are you going to show us pictures of this beauty?

 

[Little Wolf Ranch]

Well. . . .I **really** like having alot of options and outcrosses when it comes to breeding so as of right now I have four stallions - three of whom live together perfectly fine in a bachelor herd all year long (two 2008 models and one 2007 model) while my 2005 model - who can't stand another stallion - lives with my senior QH gelding. . .and boy do they love each other something pitiful. . .if one can't see the other, you better be ready for a LOT of nickering and neighing! I only have two that are "cousins" if you wish - my 2005 model and one of my 2008 models, but one is at a mature height of 28" and the other at a mature height of 32.5"!!!

I only have three mares at this time (hopefully my bred mare for 2010 is carrying a filly) and so I have plenty of option as to whom to breed to whom! However, everyone is "interested in the girls" except for one of my '08 model stallions and I have two plans set up right now. . .if he isn't interested in breeding I will let him sit out this year and let my other three stallions each have one mare. . .if he is interested in breeding I will let him breed and sit out my 2005 model stallion who is expecting a 2010 foal.

I do not plan on purchasing anymore horses for a good long while unless I see something that I must absolutely have to have! In 2005 I purchased Sampson and then my next in 2008 I purchased a Azul and Allula in December, in 2009 I purchased Ranger in March, Missy in May, Sassy in October & Tiny Tim in November.

However, I do plan on keeping ALL fillies born here and we are still undecided about keeping a nice homebred colt - we have the room, time, etc. and it would be nice - but he would have to be exactly what we are looking for. Since I have four non-related stallions, I have plenty of "play room" and so I wouldn't need any outside stallions to breed to my homebred mares.

 

[eagles ring farm]

We have only kept 1 filly by our stallion she is a 2 year old this year

in a couple years we do plan to breed her probably at 4 yrs old

but if I don't have another stallion by then ( I have my eye on my dream colt)(maybe he'll still be available when can afford him) but there are so many nice stallions out there I would have her bred by an outside stallion