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You also need to consider the reputation of the farm where you choose to stand your young stallion. It should have a first-rate reputation with mare owners in regard to care taken of their mares. It must also have a high success rate when it comes to getting mares in foal and foaling out mares. And, it must have quality facilities and outstanding customer relations. A farm without these traits is less likely to attract the number of mare owners that a first year stallion needs to prove himself to the public.
HOW DO I SET A PRICE?
In general, Eller says, the more mares a stallion breeds the better his chance to sire superior performers. The stud fee for a first year sire should be a reasonable price to attract as many mares as possible. Then, his price can be raised accordingly when the stallion proves himself to be one who can sire superstars.
The problem is, if you breed him to too many mares then the offspring can be a huge drag on the market at the yearling sales. There needs to be a balance of getting the stallion owner and mare owner as much return as possible.
According to Wise, knowing the client base of the farm and owners can assist in setting fees, but you don’t want to set the initial fee out of the market. It should be enough to maximize return to the stallion owner while being affordable enough to make good money at the yearling sales so mare owners bring their mares back.
“Let’s face it, there are many, many stallions in our industry that were exceptional perform- ers with exceptional pedigrees,” says Eller. “Before those stallions have offspring to brag about, the cost to breed to them is often the determining factor in how many mares are bred to them. Setting a young stallion’s stud fee too
high is the biggest mistake an owner can make.” Wise says it is very difficult for any horse
owner to realistically evaluate their own horse, so one of the biggest mistakes a stallion owner can make is to not get help in that evaluation.
HOW MUCH SHOULD I ADVERTISE?
Problems with advertising a first year stal- lion are multiple, says Wise. There are a lot of people who like to sit down with the printed stallion directories. But, if you are running in December races and haven’t already decided to retire your stallion to stud, you will prob- ably miss the advertising deadline on these publications. So you are already behind the bubble with his promotions.
The growth of the Internet has figured into this because people are booking their mares earlier than ever before. They used to wait until the year end magazine reviews and stallion directories came out to make their breeding decisions, but now they research online prior to those publication dates and may have already made those decisions. You have to be very aggressive in marketing a stallion that runs in December because he’s already at a disadvantage to those that have been in the stud for a year or more.
When advertising a young stallion, it is
very important to keep his name and photo in front of the public as much as possible. Eller says, “Never use a photo in print, on-line, in social media venues or wherever, that is not
a great representation of the horse made by a professional photographer.” Many people take
a photo of their stallion and think it looks
okay when, in fact, it’s not. If you want to keep people from breeding to your stallion, just put a bad photo out there and see what happens.”
Consider using a diverse blueprint that includes multiple media, including print publications, online sites, social media, video, etc., in order to maximize your stallion’s exposure. Be prepared to place ads in maga- zines and post ads online, as well as to have flyers and DVDs that you can send or hand out to potential customers. You should plan on spending $15,000 - $20,000 annually to adequately advertise a young stallion.
Eller says that ad designers at the major magazines do a great job and can be very helpful with ideas. He personally likes an ad that, “is clear and concise with a good photo and without a lot of verbiage that people don’t always read.”
HOW DO I KNOW THAT IT HAS BEEN A SUCCESS?
Wise says that success is often graded. There are a lot of excellent stallions out there, but for some reason the public has lost interest. You just never know what persona is going to grab the public’s attention and for how long.
Jimmy Eller from Granada Farms in Texas, at the 2013 TQHA Awards Banquet
When breeding for yearlings to take to the sale, you must pay attention to what is fashion- able, but you must also choose the best stallion for your mare based on pedigree and conforma- tion. If you are going to take your young horse to the track, don’t overlook the lower priced stallion that may be a great fit for your mare.
Breeding horses is an interesting experi- ment. We are constantly gathering data and testing and evaluating hypotheses, says Wise. With young horses, often times you will see that his second, third and fourth crops are better than the first. You can see what works and what does not work, where bloodline and conformation are concerned. It is easier to see results later on in the stallion’s career.
Eller says, “In my 30 years at Granada Farms, I’ve been blessed to have managed some of the greatest stallions in our breed’s history. From Streakin La Jolla, Ronas Ryon and Runaway Winner, to Docs Oak and Sonitas Last. Although some of the stallions started their breeding careers elsewhere,
I’ve been able to watch with pride as many young horses started their careers with us and achieved success as sires. That’s been a great thrill for me.”
Standing a first year sire can be full of rewards, but you must be ready to make
a long-term commitment to that stallion. Where you locate your stallion should be chosen carefully based on a number of factors, including the availability of mares and the state’s breeding incentives. Price should be set so you can maximize the numbers of mares bred and the return to the owner and farm. Keeping these things in mind should bring you to the best choice about standing your young stallion at stud.
Butch Wise from Lazy E Ranch in Oklahoma, at the Oklahoma Hall of Fame Ceremony Dinner
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