Cover image courtesy of Bronwen Healy
This last fortnight, discussion has been lively in the pages of TDN AusNZ as we speak to breeders about the 2022 breeding season. We’ve had discourse on fertility and reflections on a tough covering season, and studmasters, broodmare owners and trainers have been frank with their opinions.
On Wednesday, we spoke to breeders looking to pull the Australian season forward to August 1. To those we interviewed, it was a logical solution to a crowded, 90-day season by which the industry currently operates.
Like anything, there were pros and cons to it, namely the staff element that would need addressing, but our feedback was overwhelmingly in favour of ditching a September 1 start date for either August 1 or an August date in between.
But is it as simple as that? Would an extra 25 per cent of time in the Australian breeding season release all the pressure on the spring? A lot of people believe it would, and a few others believe it wouldn’t.
A mare and foal at Newgate Farm | Image courtesy of Newgate Farm
Does any farm these days have the staff capacity to lose a month of downtime in winter, rallying already sale-weary employees into a breeding season that would kick off on August 1 and mean foals arriving as early as June?
All of these are critical discussions when it comes to any movement of the breeding season. While any positives may well-outweigh any negatives, there is no doubt that ramifications would exist.
It’s also noteworthy that a stallion master’s perspective on this might be different to that of a broodmare farmer, so for this instalment in our series, we asked a number of stallion masters for their opinions.
Behind it 1000 per cent
At Newgate Farm, Henry Field has one of the strongest and newest stallion arsenals in the country. The operation kicked off in 2010 and, in the space of a decade, it has climbed to powerhouse status with the likes of Extreme Choice, Capitalist and Deep Field.
Henry Field | Image courtesy of Inglis
However, in the discussion about bringing the Australian season forward to a date in August, Field has a unique perspective because his strong alliance with the US-based SF Bloodstock means he has constant exposure to American breeding practices.
In that part of the world, the season kicks off around February 14, Valentine’s Day, and runs right through to June. It’s an extra month, almost, on what the Southern Hemisphere has to offer.
“I have significant exposure through SF Bloodstock to stallions in North America, as well as stallions in Australia,” Field said, speaking to TDN AusNZ. “There is no doubt that stallions in North America are more fertile and they run at a higher fertility percentage per cycle, and it simply comes down to the fact that they have an extra month in the breeding season.”
“There is no doubt that stallions in North America are more fertile and they run at a higher fertility percentage per cycle, and it simply comes down to the fact that they have an extra month in the breeding season.” - Henry Field
With the North American season running through four solid months, February to May inclusive with 'a few dribbles in June', it’s a notable advantage over the three months afforded to Australia.
“The norm in America is that the majority of breeding sheds are open three times a day,” he said. “Whereas in Australia, in order for all the stallion farms, including us, to pay off these stallions, we’re working them very hard and most sheds are open four times a day, in particular the very commercial sheds.”
There’s been no lack of discussion this spring about stallion fertility. John Messara highlighted it last week, and constant feedback to TDN AusNZ ever since has confirmed it.
At this point, no one knows why the spring of 2022 might have affected stallion fertility, but the issue of overbooking was raised by Dan Fletcher of Telemon Thoroughbreds, and Arrowfield’s chief veterinarian, Dr Wendy Perriam, wonders if the big wet of 2022 has played its part.
Newgate Farm | Image courtesy of Newgate Farm
Either way, there has been constant chatter about this stallion or that stallion from the Hunter Valley down to Victoria not meeting his targets, or needing to revisit mares for multiple returns. Would an extra month have eased a season like the one just gone?
“If stallions were open from August 1, they would have to breed less mares per day,” Field said. “It would make it easier logistically for all the studs to fit all the mares in, and it would also give the broodmare owners a better percentage chance of getting their mare in foal per cycle.
“It’s easy to say for someone like me, given we have a horse like Extreme Choice who would definitely benefit from an extra 30 days in the season, given he’s so restricted in his number of covers per day. However, this is something that I have long thought was an industry no-brainer and I am 1000 per cent behind it.”
“If stallions were open from August 1, they would have to breed less mares per day. It would make it easier logistically for all the studs to fit all the mares in, and it would also give the broodmare owners a better percentage chance of getting their mare in foal per cycle.” - Henry Field
A number of years ago, Field was on the board of Thoroughbred Breeders Australia (TBA) and he proposed an August start date as far back as then. But what would have to happen for the change to occur?
“I don’t know the answer to that but it shouldn’t be complicated,” he said. “To me, it’s something that should already have happened and I’ve been a fan of it happening for many years, since at least my inception of being in the stallion business and seeing, I think, how much better it is in the Northern Hemisphere with an extra 30 days in the season.”
The shuttle issue
For the seasoned Jon Freyer, Arrowfield’s long-standing bloodstock manager, an August breeding season kickoff is a little less cut and dry.
“There’s some merit in it,” Freyer said, when we approached him this week. “We’ve got a particularly short breeding season as compared to the Northern Hemisphere, and I suppose Rob Crabtree and others are right in that September 1 is an arbitrary date.
Jon Freyer | Image courtesy of Inglis
“But you do have another issue here and it’s the shuttle stallions, with quarantine impacting on them being available in August if the breeding season were to move ahead by a month or into another date in August.
“Obviously, there are a lot of stallions that don’t shuttle that would be available in that first month, but it would impact on others.”
Arrowfield has a long history of shuttling stallions from Europe, North America and Japan. Right now, it has the likes of Maurice (Jpn) and Admire Mars (Jpn) moving in and out.
Gallery: Stallions currently shuttling to Arrowfield Stud
The shuttlers have travel time and quarantine to contend with before any mares are presented in the barns and, as logistics stand with them arriving in mid to late July, it would be near impossible to have visiting stallions ready for August 1, or even mid-August.
“As such, there’s definitely merit in an earlier start date relieving the pressure on the rest of the season, but maybe all you’d be doing is bringing the whole season forward a month and still leaving it as compacted. For instance, what is now the period of late November could simply become late October by moving everything forward.”
Freyer isn’t convinced that an earlier breeding season in Australia would fix anything, and he admits that the challenges widely spoken of this spring have prompted more discussion than usual.
“...there’s definitely merit in an earlier start date relieving the pressure on the rest of the season, but maybe all you’d be doing is bringing the whole season forward a month and still leaving it as compacted.” - Jon Freyer
“Probably, for various reasons, it’s caused people to look at different things to improve matters,” he said, “but I’m not certain that once you do that (bring the season forward), it would change the dynamic of the season dramatically.”
Freyer doesn’t know if foals being born in the depths of winter is a good idea. Likewise, he would be concerned that the staff element in dealing with an earlier season would present a lot of difficult challenges, and not just to the bigger outfits like Arrowfield.
“The way the sales season goes now, people get very little down-time in the industry,” he said. “That period of time, until the season starts on September 1, is an opportunity to rotate staff around for holidays and breaks from what is a fairly intense regime that we work to.
Arrowfield Stud's stallion barn | Image courtesy of Arrowfield Stud
“Put it this way, I think there are a lot of negatives to it that would need discussion.”
As a point of comparison in the problem with shuttlers, Freyer uses the late, great Danehill (USA) as an example.
“We haven’t got a shuttle stallion right now of the calibre of Danehill, but if you did have a Danehill today, consider how that would go,” he said. “Danehill was available around August 28, and if all the other horses were available to cover on August 1, how would that have worked out?”
“Danehill was available around August 28, and if all the other horses were available to cover on August 1, how would that have worked out?” - Jon Freyer
In other words, if non-shuttlers were ready for Australian covers on August 1 but a Danehill-like success story wasn’t available until late August, would a bulk of mares hold out anyway?
“It would be an interesting situation, no doubt about that,” Freyer said.
In Freyer’s mind, bringing the season forward to August would still spell a seasonal glut, just an earlier one, and the most popular horses would still be busy, just busy earlier. To him, it’s just moving the deck chairs around, so to speak.
Go later, not earlier
At Widden Stud, Antony Thompson is a studmaster with the perspective of both history and dual-state presence. Widden has operated since 1867 and, since last year, it has also operated in Victoria.
When we spoke to Thompson this week about the possibility of bringing the Australian season forward to August, much like Jon Freyer he wasn’t sure what it would achieve.
“From a studmaster’s point of view, it would theoretically extend the season,” he said. “But what you would find is that people would finish covering their mares early, which then shortens the season or indeed doesn’t make it any longer, and that defeats the purpose of changing it in the first place.”
“...what you would find is that people would finish covering their mares early, which then shortens the season or indeed doesn’t make it any longer, and that defeats the purpose of changing it (the season) in the first place.” - Antony Thompson
To Thompson, everything would just shift forward a few weeks because the desire for early foals would remain, and while he thinks an August kickoff might be useful in the Hunter Valley, he doesn’t see much advantage to it in Victoria.
“Taking a look at our two farms, it’s easier to get mares covered in September in the Hunter Valley than it is in Victoria, where they have a slower start to the breeding season,” he said. “So I think it would be helpful in the Hunter, but I don’t really see any benefit to it in Victoria.”
Thompson’s unique perspective is that breeder mindset should shift to later in the season, not earlier. He would like to see more mares covered in November and even December.
Antony Thompson | Image courtesy of Inglis
“As a young fellow in the industry, we’d be foaling into the New Year even,” he said. “Now, everyone is very quick to stop covering mares later, so it has become a very short few breeding months.
“By bringing everything forward, would it make the season any longer? I’m not sure. It would still be a three-month season, but it would just mean we’d start earlier and finish earlier.”
“As a young fellow in the industry, we’d be foaling into the New Year even. Now, everyone is very quick to stop covering mares later, so it has become a very short few breeding months.” - Antony Thompson
This TDN AusNZ series has alluded to the earliness of the Australian yearling season and how that is influencing the breeding season overall. Breeders want early foals because buyers want early foals, so market demand is driving this endless loop.
“Statistically, later-born foals have a great record and there have been plenty of examples of late-born foals being very successful,” Thompson said. “So while Magic Millions in January is certainly a driver, there’s no reason not to be breeding for any of the later sales in the year.
“Personally, I’d like to see encouragement towards breeding later in the year rather than necessarily jumping in earlier.”
Widden Stud | Image courtesy of Widden Stud
Agree to disagree?
Henry Field, Jon Freyer and Antony Thompson are a small portrait of Australia’s wider stallion farms, but their respective opinions on this issue show that an earlier breeding season isn’t a foregone conclusion in this country.
Some people agree with the concept and others don’t. Some breeders think it will solve a lot of problems, and others think it will just shift all the problems ahead in the year. Getting everyone to agree on an outcome, if one is eventually needed, will demand robust debate.
Getting everyone to agree on an outcome, if one is eventually needed, will demand robust debate.
What this series has shown, possibly, is the different perspectives held by stallion masters and those held by broodmare breeders. While they’re aligned in an industry sense most of the time, they can also differ in opinion and perspective on what should be done and what needs to be done.
One thing is fairly conclusive, however, and it’s that the breeding season of 2022 has driven widespread, even-tempered discussion, living right up to the words of famed physician Edward de Bono when he said that discussion should be a genuine attempt to explore a subject rather than a battle between competing egos.
