MANAGEMENT OF THE BROOD MARE 
47 
inserted into the uterus of the mare ready for insemination. This is 
repeated until all the mares have been treated. 
To avoid danger from kicks, Carlson 8 advises that the left foot of the 
mare be held up while the operation goes on, while Riley 83 suggests that 
the mare be hobbled, adding that the tail be bandaged to eliminate at¬ 
tendant inconvenience when the hairs are in the way. 
Lewis 80 states that a vigorous stallion is capable of ejaculating as 
much as from fifty to one hundred cubic centimeters of semen in one 
service, containing from one hundred and fifty thousand to two hundred 
and fifty thousand spermatozoa per cubic millimeter. There may be as 
many as twenty-five billion of the sperm cells in the semen from one 
service. These would give an idea of the potentiality a stallion has in 
procreating its kind when artificial insemination is practiced. And ac¬ 
cording to Brown 84 instead of the 50 or 60% of foals begotten by the 
natural method of breeding the stallioner may raise this to 80-80% when 
artificial insemination is adopted. 
Lewis 88 through his experiment, brings out interesting results as re¬ 
gards the number and vitality of the sperm cells in the course of natural 
matings. A draft stallion was used and it was found that at the begin¬ 
ning of the experiment there were present in the semen 131,000 sperm 
cells per cubic millimeter with vitality lasting over nine hours. At the 
end of 9 days, allowing the stallion one service daily, the sperm cells per 
cubic millimeter was found reduced to 5,800, the vitality lasting for only 
three hours. 
With regard to the practicability of transferring semen for long dis¬ 
tances, it is worthy of note that Johnstone 8 succeeded in inseminating 
a female burro, carrying the capsule filled with semen from a Shetland 
pony from a distance of forty feet. The burro successfully produced a 
hinny. 
In concluding the subject of artificial insemination, the following 
“don’ts” formulated by Riley 83 will not be amiss: 
“1. Don’t expect much, if any, success in artificial breeding unless 
you practice care, cleanliness, and sanitation. 
“2. Don’t allow direct sunlight, cold air, dust, dirt, or disinfectants 
to come in contact with semen. 
“3. Don’t allow water in which instruments or semen is placed to be¬ 
come warmer than 100 degrees or colder than 95 degrees. 
“4. Don’t breed a stallion to a mare showing symptoms of disease. 
If you breed her, use a capsule. 
“5. Don’t breed mares that are very warm, tired, or excited, until 
after they have been cooled off and rested. 
“6. Don’t give mares violent exercise immediately after breeding. 
“7. Don’t be disappointed if you meet with a few failures—they come 
in nearly all lines of work.” 
8. Feeding 
Kennedy 81 states that the brood mare during the breeding season does 
not only have to do regular work, but besides she is putting herself 
in condition for breeding, suckling her colt or developing a fetus. So 
the carbohydrates needed for the work and protein and ash for other 
demands just mentioned must be met with by a comparatively large 
supply of these substances. It is advocated that the feed consist of 
oats balanced with oil meal or bran, and sound clover or alfalfa hay for 
roughage. 
According to a table presented by Carlson 8 , range feeding proves to 
be the best system in carrying through brood mares, as far as the per¬ 
centage of foals obtained is concerned. Feeding on grass during the 
summer and alfalfa in winter shows up high, ranking second to range 
