A.I. vs. Live Cover Breeding:
understanding the differences and choosing between them

There are two ways to breed your mare - A.I. or Live Cover.
  • Live Cover involves sending your mare to the stallion in person, bringing the two horses together, and having them physically breed to each other.
  • A.I. involves keeping your mare at home (or at your local vet's office), having the stallion owner's vet collect semen from the stallion, mail it to your vet, and having your vet inseminate your mare​.
​There are pros and cons for each method of breeding.
Live cover can refer to “Pasture Breeding” or “Hand Breeding.”
  • Pasture Breeding occurs when the stallion and the mare are let into a pasture together to breed as they choose.  This method is more natural but runs risk to both mare and stallion, as they may fight and be injured.  (Most stallion owners are reluctant to breed this way because a frightened mare may well geld a stallion with a well placed kick.)  Pasture Breeding also has a lower success rate than Hand Breeding, because, on their own, the mare and stallion do not always get the act done correctly (with all parts in the right place at the right time).
  • Hand Breeding is when the stallion owners bring the stallion and the mare together, on halters, and breeds them in a controlled manner once the mare has gone into heat.  In this case, the stallion owner must record when the mare goes into heat and begin breeding her a few days after her heat begins.  The stallion is normally put in a secure stall and the mare brought to him for teasing, which lasts 10 minutes or more.  Once this is complete, one person holds the mare and another brings the stallion, facilitates the mounting and penetration and then leads the stallion away once the act is completed correctly.  This will then be repeated every one to two days until the mare is no longer in heat.
A.I. stands for Artificial Insemination. A.I. can be done with “Cooled, Transported Semen” or “Frozen Semen.”
  • Cool, transported semen is the most common because it is more reasonably priced and has a good success rate.  The semen must normally be shipped to the mare within 24 hours of collection and the mare must be bred immediately.  Thus, timing is important with this method (and sometimes difficult).  (A vet must checks the mare and estimate when she is most fully in heat and this is never an exact science.)
  • Frozen semen is less common because it is more expensive and has a smaller success rate than other options.  However, it does allow for more flexibility on the part of the mare owner, as it can be shipped at any time and stored for as long as needed. It also allows for breeding to a stallion who is deceased or lives very far away, as semen that is frozen can be kept indefinitely and shipped without thawing (activating) the semen until the mare owner is ready for it.
Choosing Between A.I. and Live Cover
At Wild Mountain Farms we offer AI by Cooled, Transported Semen and Live Cover by Hand Breeding. There are a number of factors to consider when choosing between A.I. and Live Cover: cost, success rate, comfort of the mare, and safety.
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COST:
With both Live Cover and A.I., the mare owner pays a stud fee and then incurs other, additional expenses.

With Cooled, Transported Semen, the Mare owner incurs quite a few veterinarian expenses.  These include checking the mare’s follicle multiple times and having the mare inseminated.  The Mare owner must also pay the AI center’s fee when the stallion is brought in for the collection and pay the shipping fee to get the shipment from the mare to the stallion. (In 2020, collection in our area runs about $200, shipping is between $200-$300 and insemination runs about $56. Each of these expenses are repeated if the mare doesn't take on the first try and needs to be bred again the next month.)

With Live Cover the mare owner usually doesn’t have so many veterinary costs, but instead pays a daily fee for Mare Care and has to cover transportation costs, to get the mare to the stallion.    (Mare care in 2020 is $15/day and the mare is usually at the stallion's facility a minimum of 30 days, more if she doesn't take on the first try.)

Which of the additional expenses turns out to be cheeper (those for Live Cover or those for A.I.) depends upon how many heat cycles it takes for the mare to get pregnant.  If she must be inseminated on multiple cycles (quite common) the fees for this can rack up quickly, causing A.I. to be much more expensive than Live Cover.  However, if the mare gets pregnant on the first try, AI can be cheeper than Live Cover.  Though, if the mare doesn’t get pregnant during her first cycle at a breeder’s for Live Cover, then the costs can mount for that as well, as adding an additionally cycle often means another month of mare care costs.

SUCCESS RATE:
Conception rates vary depending upon three factors:  the different breeding option you choose, the breeder you work with, and the stallion you breed to.

  • Nationally, Cooled, Transported Semen has a success rate of 50% - 60%
  • Nationally, Live Cover has a success rate of  60% - 70%

However,  a good breeding farm will be able to raise the average success rate of their Live Cover mares by being diligent and effective with breeding times and methods.  (At Wild Mountain Farms, our success rate for Live Cover is 98%.)

The success rate for A.I. cannot always be effected by the breeding farm.  The only factor in this method that is effected by the breeding farm is the fertility of the stallions.  Some stallions have higher success rates with shipped semen than others.  (We don’t yet have any statistical information on our stallion, as he is still in his first breeding season.)

COMFORT OF THE MARE:
One of the most important considerations with breeding is the comfort of your mare.  Clearly, it is easier on your mare to stay at home than to go to a new place, possibly staying there for many months if the first breeding doesn’t take.  Further, if the mare has a young foal by her side, you may miss out on valuable handling time with the foal.  On the other hand, some mares quite enjoy breeding and really buddy up to the stallion.  The key, if you do decide on live cover, is to pick a stallion farm which you believe will be sensitive to your mare’s comfort and (if needed) handle her foal.

SAFETY:
The one area in which A.I. clearly wins out over Live Cover is in the safety of your mare. Though the stallion is often more likely to be injured during a breeding than the mare, horse breeding is a volatile process and it is always possible for either or both horse to be injured. Add to that the normal, every-day risk any horse has of injury, increased when the horse is in a new location and surrounded by unfamiliar people, and a risk of injury to your mare exists with Live Cover breeding. It is possible for a breeding farm to mitigate these risks and, if you are going to do Live Cover, this should be taken into consideration when choosing a stallion to breed to. Questions to ask include...
  • What is the stallion like when breeding? - Some stallions are perfect gentlemen, patiently wooing their mares and respecting their space until invited by the mare to breed. Other stallions are quite violent and and aggressive about breeding and much more likely to injure the mare. Asking about a particular stallion's personality in this regard can help you pick a stallion that is less likely to injure your mare. However, it should be noted that even the most gentle and respectful stallion will end up having difficult, contentious breedings with some mares. Often it is the mare's comfort with the breeding which determines whether there will be dangerous conflict, and there isn't always anything the stallion owner can do to prevent such episodes. That said, a responsible farm can and should do a lot to reduce such risk and see two horses safely through a difficult breeding, but risk will always exist.
  • What is the injury rate at that farm? - Accidents happen. Horses get injured. Sometimes an accident is simply no one's fault. But ask about accident rates at the farm, especially in relation to breeding. If they seem unusually high, look at another farm.
  • What do they do if a mare is difficult to breed? - Many mares love the breeding process and take to it naturally. But some mares can be unusually frightened or unhappy about the close contact with the stallion and occasionally one will change her mind about what she wants to allow mid breeding, or otherwise attack the stallion without warning. This is when most breeding injuries occur (both to the horses and the people involved). A stallion may not be able to get away in time or may become frightened or angry in response to the attack and increase the volatility of the situation. There are many things an experienced breeding farm can do to reduce the likelihood of such situations, or help prevent them if a mare shows signs of discomfort, but they are time intensive and require a good deal of personal attention for that one mare. Ask the farm what they do to reduce the frequency of such issues and how they respond if such a thing occur. 
IN SHORT:
The choice between A.I. and Live Cover is not clear cut for one side or the other. One method may be better in some situations and the other better in other situations. 
  • cost - either can be the less expensive option, depending upon how quickly and easily the mare gets pregnant. In general, if the mare takes on the first cycle, Live Cover is often cheeper. But if the mare needs multiple cycles to get pregnant, A.I. can end up being the cheeper option.
  • Success Rate - If you choose a farm and a stallion with a good record, the success rates are higher for Live Cover than A.I.
  • Comfort - If your mare is particularly uncomfortable or stressed in new situations, then Live Cover is likely to be harder on her than A.I., but this is obviously effected by the stallion farm you send her to.
  • Safety - While most breedings go off without a hitch, there is more of a safety risk to a mare in breeding Live Cover than in breeding A.I.