Stud Terms – The Jargon Buster

The importance of a breeding contract

As briefly touched on in Choosing The Right Stallion for Your Mare, we recommend that every stallion owner or agent provides a clear breeding contract to the prospective mare owner before the stud fee is paid, to protect both parties and helping to prevent any confusion or discrepancy further down the line. By signing the document, both parties acknowledge and accept the terms and conditions outlined before the sale is made. For the purpose of this article, we will refer to the contract as “Breeding Contract” but you may also see this referred to as a “Nomination Form”, “Stud Agreement” or “Stud Terms”. Stallion AI Services would recommend buying semen from a reputable stud/agent who can help advise you on the most suitable breeding contract for you and your mare.

 

Fresh/Chilled Semen Contracts

NFNF – No Foal No Fee

  • It can literally mean if there is no foal born from the use of the semen, you are not expected to pay a stud fee or it can also be if the foal is not alive at birth or doesn’t survive 48 hours
  • There may be a time limit specified for example, if your mare isn’t in foal by the 1st of October you receive a refund of your stud fee
  • You may find that towards the end of the stud season, some stallions who were previously on a LFG contract may try to encourage more breeders by switching to a NFNF contract
  • Payment for the full stud fee is usually required upon heartbeat scan, however you can also be required to pay upfront, with the stud fee refunded if the mare is not in foal

 

NFFR – No Foal Free Return

  • If the mare is not in foal by 1st October, you can use the stallion again on the same mare the following year without paying an additional stud fee
  • You may be able to use a different mare for the free return, but it depends on your contract with the stallion owner. If in doubt, check with the stallion owner

 

LFG – Live Foal Guarantee

  • Depending on your contract, LFG means a live foal at birth, for a minimum of 24 hours or 48 hours
  • If unsuccessful, you will be able to have a free return the following year

 

First of October terms

  • If your mare is not in foal by 1st October after inseminating throughout the stud season, depending on the contract, the stallion owner might refund all or part of the stud fee or offer the mare owner a free return the following year

 

Sexed Semen (Fresh AI only) 

Despite being used in cattle for many years, sexed semen is relatively new within the equine industry, with Stallion AI Services being the first to offer this service in the UK in conjunction with Cogent and Sexing technologies. Mare owners can either choose to have a colt or a filly, which can be achieved at 96% accuracy with the highest purity. As this is a technology in its infancy, this contract is for fresh semen only with mares AI’d at Twemlows Stud Farm. The sexing process takes between 5-6 hours so not every stallion’s semen is eligible. If you choose to apply this additional service, it is worth bearing in mind that there will be an additional sexing fee payable per cycle and the sexing contract will most likely be in addition to one of the above contracts (NFNF, NFFR, LFG or First October Terms). 

 

Frozen Semen Contracts

In addition to the contracts for fresh/chilled semen, there are more types of contract applicable when purchasing frozen semen, as outlined here.

 

Per Breeding

  • This contract can either be a limited number of doses (usually up to 3 doses) or as a LFG contract where the number of doses used is unlimited with both allowing one pregnancy to be achieved.
  • The stallion owner decides how many doses are released in each shipment. It may be 1 dose at a time, especially if the semen is very valuable or there is a limited number of doses taken from the stallion as he may no longer be able to produce semen to replenish stocks
  • On average, we would say it takes 2 doses to achieve a pregnancy using frozen semen. This is obviously stallion dependent and can be slightly less or more

 

Per Dose - Purchase by the dose

  • You would buy enough frozen semen for one insemination only
  • You would usually pay less than you would for a breeding or Live Foal Guarantee contract, however if the dose is unsuccessful, you would need to purchase another if you wanted to try again.
  • The advantage of purchasing semen by this method is that if you are breeding at the end of the season, you are not committed to using the stallion the following year. 

 

Per Straw – Purchase by the straw

  • Semen is usually sold by the straw if a stallion’s semen is very fertile or also if the stallion is deceased
  • This can seem like a more affordable option, however, if unsuccessful, more semen would need to be purchased. 
  • It is important to point out that not every stallion’s semen is of high enough quality to sell by the straw. Although pregnancy results may be reasonably good using one straw per insemination, the chance of achieving a pregnancy is lessened as the concentration of sperm cells per ml is reduced. Stallion AI Services would always recommend inseminating “the optimal dose” for the stallion. In Big Star’s case, for example, this would be 3 straws per insemination.

 

ICSI (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection)

  • ICSI is a micro-injection of a single sperm cell into a mature oocyte and is a fairly new technology in equines. 
  • The concentration of sperm cells per straw may be reduced if originally frozen for an ICSI programme but you can “snip” the straw a number of times and potentially achieve many pregnancies from one single straw.
  • The procedure is extremely tricky and as a result, there are only a few clinics worldwide who can perform the procedure. With an ICSI contract, many stallion owners charge a significantly higher fee to account for multiple pregnancies or alternatively, a charge per additional pregnancy is applied.