Blogs

No rest for the wicked! We had a group of school children over to the stud today to see how a modern breeding enterprise works, and what is involved. They were introduced to Grafenstolz and the other stallions, Graf "performed" a collection for them, and then Anita demonstrated how to correctly aritficially inseminate a mare. They got to meet lots of foals, pregnant mares, mares waiting to be bred, and of course all of the resident stallions.
 

Well, it's been a stressful few weeks. We have been sending frozen semen all over Europe, and for the most part it has gone well. Except, that is for shipments using Cryodrums. For those of you who aren't familiar with shipping frozen semen, I will just give you a few pieces of information. Frozen semen must be maintained at -120 degrees centigrade or below or it becomes damaged and loses fertility. To achieve this, the semen must be kept in liquid nitrogen, or nitrogen vapour. As liquid nitrogen is dangerous (potentially), we must ship in vapour shippers (also known as dry shippers).

Earlier this week, we had a dysmature foal born at the stud. Born at 337 days gestation, the foal was not premature, but showed some signs of being underdeveloped. The foal's ears were lacking in cartilage, and so were floppy like "dog ears". She was very weak behind, and virtually unable to get up without assistance for the first 48 hours. She had a loud systolic heart murmur (which was probably patent ductus arteriosis), and she had virtually no sight in either eye (despite having grossly normal eyes with no cataracts or detached retinas).
 

Another new foalie born last night... a beautiful dun filly by Check In. She's doing great!
http://twitgoo.com/p3uk1

The Icelandic volcano may still be causing disruptions, but don't forget we have many continental stallions' frozen semen in the tanks here in the repro unit. We have already supplied Baloubet du Rouet to a client who was hoping to get chilled semen from Belgium, and today we are shipping out some Canturo semen. Both stallions' frozen semen has been tested in our lab, and has passed a post-thaw progression check, concentration count, and stress test.

***SEMEN ORDERS 2010***

Semen required for use within the UK must be ordered by 10am the day before it is required, by e-mailing delivery details to jamie@pelionstud.co.uk and calling through confirmation to 07577 682166.

I was fascinated today, to read an article in the Equine Veterinary Journal reporting the live birth of triplets to an American Buckskin mare. She foaled (unattended) at 300 days. Sadly, while all three foals were live at birth, only one survived past the first few weeks. That foal is now a small but healthy yearling.

Please look at our stallions page to see our latest arrivals, residents, and the boys who will be available through walk-in collections and/or frozen semen...

The videos for the UK Stallion Expo are now up online at http://www.horseandcountry.tv/expo

Have a look at Valesco, Zubin-R, Treliver Decanter, Grafenstolz, and all the other brilliant boys who were on display!