Rising Costs

[Riverrose28]

I haven't had a colt gelded here in three years, we don't breed much anymore, and my vet seems to have $260 stuck in their brain. Anyhow the last time I had a colt gelded it was $260 the same price as a well foal exam. Oh please forget having a dystocia, better have a credit card, which I don't have, but hubby does. Anyhow, I have two colts I would like gelded this fall, so I knew I needed to save at least $600, so someone must be sold, that's another story. Well huby ran into the neighbor from down the road that had a colt born this spring and he uses the same service I do. He called and asked about the cost of gelding his colt, would you believe they quoted him $600, that is for one colt! I know overhead has gone up but this is rediculous. Guess I'll call on Monday and see if this price is correct.

On another note, besides having to fill out yearly ag. reports now there are also new state fees being applied. Used to be if you sold or boarded 5 or more horses you needed a license that cost $80 a year, well now it has risen to $125 and only applies to one horse. Glad I don't board, but am trying to sell.

Another thing to consider when selling: We had home owners ins. plus farm ins. that covered the barn and tractors, plus an umbrella that covered somone getting hurt up to a million dollars. Well the home owners that we have had since 1977 checked our web-site and since we invited buyers to our farm they wanted to drop us. WE got angry and went shopping. We now have commercial farm ins. and still have the million dollar umbrella, but no longer have our barn covered becuase of the cost. Hay and grain has gone up, horse sales are non-existant and now the vets and the state are trying to shut us all out. We have had develpers ask about our land, but I won't sell. Farmers always seem to get nothing in return for all their hard work.

Sorry for the rant, I thought long and hard before posting, just so frustrated.

 

[disneyhorse]

That's a lot... Maybe call another vet. Gelding around here is between $375 and $500 which is pretty darn high...

Our vets are expensive. An emergency farm call is $175 just to have the vet get here...

 

[MountainWoman]

It's expensive to geld here as well - about 450.00 for an on farm gelding and more obviously if the horse has to be done at the clinic. I totally sympathize with everything you are saying. Horses are being given away and they are gorgeous horses at that. And because there are so many cheap horses around, people question pricing on even show horses. Shipping horses is high. Insurance is rising, gas costs are sky rocketing even for off road diesel which we use to run our farm, taxes are way up but one thing that does seem to stay the same here is our hay prices which are quite reasonable for gorgeous hay.

I just totally sympathize. Just have to say it seems unreasonable to have to pay licensing fees to sell one horse. Gee, with what horses are selling for that's a lot of money in fees.

Farmers are never appreciated enough for all the sacrifices they make.

 

[Riverrose28]

I'd like to say our hay prices haven't risen, but they have, and I totally understand with gas rising. I can slso understand why our grain prices have risen, just am so confused about the vet fees. I had the vet out a couple of months ago cause our old gelding 33 yrs. young had a running eye from flies, the cost of the ointment alone was $23. for one little tube, call out was $60. exam fee was $90 all of wihich I can understand not complaining about any of that, but $600 to geld a colt can't be recoupted in the sale price, especially with minis. I'm lucky if I get $100 to $300 for geldings and believe me they are show quality out of a Champion of Champions, the market just isn't here for geldings. As a responsable seller I always tell the truth and sell to be shown, either at halter, driving or whatever the buyer wants, but I'm working in the red here already and $600 to geld is going to put me under, further then I am.

 

[ohmt]

I just can't imagine having to pay that much for gelding. I wish you lived up here! It's $60 for my vet to geld. There are a few different places in MN that have gelding clinics where vets offer very low cost geldings for a day.

We are out in the middle of nowhere ND and 4 yrs ago a vet built her own clinic just 10 minutes from us. She is amazing and lives at the clinic so is easy to get a hold of. Our dystocia this year cost us $150 with emergency farm call and meds included. It did only take her 10 min to reposition the foal, though. Hay prices have risen here, but I'm not going to complain because we're still better off than most places.

$600 is just too much and why is there such a disparity from state to state? Supplies can't be that much higher in Florida than here, can they?

 

[amysue]

Wow that is an expensive quote! Is that just for the gelding procedure, or the whole call? My vet charges $50 for the call and I believe $3 per minute for surgery, it may have jumped to $5 (its has been a few years since). I would call around to the other veterinarians in your area and inquire about the cost, and see if they would do a quantity discount. My vet offers a herd discount on services if multiple horses are vaccinated, etc. It has been some time since I have gelded anyone (have been so lucky to get lots of fillies) but the last time I had one cut, it cost like, $100 with the farm call and supplies included. I understand you 100% that with the rise in costs, it is getting very difficult to make a living as a farmer.

 

[BSharpRanch]

And you all wonder WHY there are so many stallions? A rescue here had (from what I heard) a well attended gelding clinic and were only charging $75 a horse. I heard through the grape vine they will be doing another this fall.

I have a SFA mare that needs a tooth dealt with and I was quoted up to $700 to get it removed. My plans were to get her driving well, put some weight on her and find her a home, but if I put 700 into her, I will not be getting that out, especially since she hasn't papers (even though she should have but the breeder had their reasons to feel it wasn't important.) So I am debating on what to do with her. Maybe just go ahead and haul her to the auction and let someone else deal with the problem. Yeah, right, like I could do that.

 

[Riverrose28]

BSharp this so sad, another friend of mine had someone dump a big horse on them, actually a welsh pony cross, that was lame. They didn't pay their board bill and just disappeared. Well the guy couldn't even aford to have the horse put down as it cost too much. Poor horse had to suffer until the barn owner could get the money together to put it down simple becuase the owner skipped out. I'm not sure what was wrong with the leg but heard it wasn't good. You would think the vet would take payments in this case, but no.

 

[Riverrose28]

A little background should be in order here, pleas don't get me wrong, I love my Vets, they are always here for me and mine. I've been with the same service since 1977. They have gone above and beyound for me and my horses. I've called them in the middle of the night for dystocia and they have spent hours trying to save foals and mares. It is just the rising cost of every thing that is killing us. It has opened my eyes however to why people sell colts instead of geldings. I just want to have two gelded to leave to my granchildren so they can show them. Sort of a legacy. These two are very well bred and onw has already proved himself in the show ring. As an older person I don't know what the future hold for me, I just want to be prepared in otherwords. But, 600 for gelding is beyond my finaces.

 

[Boss Mare]

The last time I called to get a quote for gelding (Tidewater Vet) it was $400-$500 and that was many many years ago.

 

[bevann]

I feel your pain Terry.I think many people don't have colts gelded due to cost and then unfortunately Newbies buy a cute colt for their kids and don't even think about the fact that it is going to become a stallion with raging hormones.then it often becomes a rescue Mini or auction Mini.There are breeders in this area that do that with no thought for the welfare of the animal.Hoping you can find a less expensive gelding so your grandkids can enjoy your colts(future geldings)In our area there are Amish who do gelding, but I'm not sure I would be comfortable having them do any of mine.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

That is a lot of money for a gelding procedure. I would have to think seriously about having a colt done at that price.

 

[MountainWoman]

One thing where I live is the fact that there are hardly any equine vets. One just left the area so we are down to not many in the state and they drive many miles to make farm calls. I just feel lucky to have a vet who is not only really good at what he does but is also willing to travel a long way to get to my farm.

 

[targetsmom]

It cost $450 to get Rusty gelded in 2011 (including farm call and vet lives on the next street) but I used a different vet this year because my regular vet had a broken leg. We have a LOT of equine vets in our area. Clyde - easily twice Rusty's size - was I think around $375 to be gelded although the estimate was $450. You do NOT make any money selling geldings.....but it is still the right thing to do most of the time.

 

[bevann]

Targets mom you are so right about not making money selling Mini geldings.In the pony world well trained small,med&large Pony Hunters especially pinto or flashy with chrome bring astronomical prices especially kid broke ones.Parents are waiting in line for something the kid can show and win big with.If I were much younger I would A I my Mini homozygous pinto stallions on small thoroughbred mares geld the colts get them trained and make big bucks.It always amazes me when I read some of the prices.wish our Mini geldings were worth so much more.They are so nice for kids to show.

 

[Minimor]

If I get 2 or 3 done at one time it isn't so costly--the procedure itself is about $80 plus drugs, then there is mileage for the vet to come here (clinic is an hour + away). Last time I had one done here at home it was $65 for mileage. This spring I had one done. It was $80 for the surgery, $90 for mileage, not sure what the drugs were? Add taxes and the total was well over $200. That one had no wolf teeth so there was no charge there--if there are wolf teeth to be removed, that's an extra $15, which is pretty cheap. the local clinic charges $65 to remove wolf teeth at time of gelding. If I do 3 at a time then it would have been about $150 each, which seems much more reasonable.

The local clinic charges $125 plus drugs for the gelding surgery, $65 for mileage. Neighbor had one done by that clinic and his total was just shy of $300.

In the 12 years I've had Minis I have gelded quite a few. There are 21 geldings on the place at the moment, plus there are a couple I've sold...so no one can say that I don't believe in gelding! I've paid much less than $200 for most of those surgeries--most have been well under $150, as costs were much less up until a couple years ago...now at the price I paid for the last one I am very glad that at the moment I have only one more to geld!

It is unfortunate that so many people have to pay so much money to geld a Mini--it's really too bad that people feel that they are better off to sell an intact colt for $200 than to pay for gelding and then try to sell that gelding. That's one reason there are so many stallions being sold, and one reason why so many people own stallions even when they shouldn't. Geldings SHOULD be worth more than they are--but I'm guessing that as long as there are colts or stallions being offered for sale for $200 that a good many geldings are not going to be worth any more than that. And as long as they are not worth more than the cost of gelding, people are not going to bother gelding their colts and stallions.

 

[SampleMM]

Are there any Amish in your area? I know quite a few people in our area use them over the vets due to price. Just an idea.........

 

[targetsmom]

I am not sure the real problem is the COST of the gelding but the fact that people don't know what to do with mini geldings. We actually had someone ask us that at a recent show - their show geldings were getting "old" (all of 3 years old) and they asked what they could do with them, since they didn't drive? Coming from the big horse world where geldings are the lifeblood of the industry, this was a real wake-up call. I know the registries are trying to promote geldings with special programs, and that is a start, but more needs to be done. I would like to see more emphasis on performance classes and awards for the "all-around" horse. At least the Open Shows in our area (New England) are helping by adding Divisions and High Point awards for miniatures. And using minis in 4-H is gaining converts in many states.

 

[Minimor]

In reference to having someone other than a vet perform surgery...IMO it is incredibly cruel to perform surgery with no anesthetic. I know someone who had her farrier geld her horses...and that disgusts me.

Here it is actually illegal to have someone other than a veterinarian do the gelding surgery.

 

[paintponylvr]

Besides cost, I have recently found a new "problem"... Seems that several vets in our area feel that the Shetlands and Minis don't have large enough testicles to "cut"... A couple of male vets are very adamant that the boys need to be well developed before they will even look at them and won't consider doing anything younger than 2 bordering 3 yrs of age, several of the newer vets (recently out of vet school - not necessarily from NCSU) are women who feel the same as my current vet below.

My current vet, the one recommended by the previous one that I'd had for more than 8 years even after I moved more than 50 miles away, says that she just "can't be bothered" by gelding something that is so difficult/small to do - which she considers all of mine to be. Now I do currently have one that has one testicle that he "draws up" and has since birth. Now she's saying he's a cryptorchid - that he's not even got the 2nd testicle descended - and that what she previously thought was a "small testicle" is just a "wad of fatty tissue" where the testicle should be - she's given me a quote of $1,000 for a flank surgery in the field and more at the vet clinic or if he goes to NC State. She's gelded 4 for me and 3 others for neighbors when we've done combined farm calls at my "farmette". She always thinks my guys are so small!!! Personally, most have had the same size testicles as the ones coming from full size horses at the same ages when I used to go to Farm Calls with gelding with our previous vet. Only "larger ones" were with full size breeding stallions and yes, then there were vast differences in size - even in the full size boys.

:arg!

So, I will be talking to some other vets and may have one or two come out and take a look at some colts that I want to do this fall (at least 2 including the one above, could be up to 4 if they are willing to do weanlings - both of whom had 2 testicles at birth - even checked by above vet as well as myself).

I've had several people state I should take my boys to OH with me on one of my "trips" (no more planned this year right now) and have them done by either the Amish or their vets (it's been unclear whether it would be a vet working on my ponies if I did that)...

***Edited to Add - I've had quite a number of colts gelded over the years. I've only sold one purebred Shetland, at 9 months of age, that I felt would make a stallion prospect. None of our xbred colts has left our property whole - even when sold as weanlings. I currently own two that I'd sell as stallions. One is a 2 yr old that I purchased in utero and has been shown as a yearling and two yr old and has developed awesomely into a colt that I think will make a stallion. Next year is his last year in the Futurity Program. The other colt is a suckling - a son of our first stallion (his last foal) and out of the dam of the above 2 yr old colt. We are currently not listing him for sale, but would if someone came along really wanting him. He's so much like our first stallion - with a couple of things that are improved - that our family would like to keep him even if we do geld him as he'd make an awesome riding pony for our granddaughters... ***