Blue Gum Farm

Mares Under Lights — Tahnee Griffith
The 2007 breeding season is not far off now and one of the first tasks on any stud farm gearing up for breeding is the organising of its dry mares to go under lights. As Dry Mare Manager here at Blue Gum Farm I wanted to run through the logic of doing this and offer some advice for those breeders wishing to put their mares under lights this year.

The thoroughbred mares cycle is controlled by her pituitary gland which sits just behind her eye. It reacts to light which during the winter months is not as abundant as later in the spring when normal healthy mares tend to be cycling regularly. With the emphasis on earlier rather than later foals however, what we are doing by putting mares under lights is extending their daylight hours artificially in an effort to stimulate the pituitary gland and get the mare cycling earlier than she may if not introduced to the therapy. This doesn’t happen overnight though and in-fact studies done by leading equine reproductive specialist and our attending veterinarian, Dr Angus McKinnon, show that non cycling mares require a minimum of six weeks under lights to gain benefit from it. I feel it is important for breeders to be aware of this fact when making plans for their dry mare to go under lights.

At Blue Gum Farm the mares begin their time under lights on the first Monday of July. This involves stabling them late in the afternoon and putting them under an individual fluorescent light which we leave on to allow them access to upwards of 16 hours of light per day. This is where the extra costs of having a dry mare under lights versus simply paddocked comes from but the benefits of an earlier foal are obvious and have a habit of recouping the original expense many times over down the track. Another factor in us obtaining an early positive result with your mare is her diet. Dry mares do not need to be fat, in-fact in keeping with the logic behind putting them under lights, fertility is increased as the mares are exposed to a rising scale of nutrition going into spring time. Conversely overweight mares are harder to get to cycle and if you need to decrease their feed intake, as opposed to increasing, it becomes harder to simulate spring. So don’t have your dry mare too fat at the start of the season, she’ll be in great condition when she comes home and hopefully carrying a nice early service for you!


		2007 Breeding Tips
At Blue Gum Farm the mares begin their time under lights on the first Monday of July.		Mares Under Lights — Tahnee Griffith The 2007 breeding season is not far off now and one of the first tasks on any stud farm gearing up for breeding is the organising of its dry mares to go under lights. As Dry Mare Manager here at Blue Gum Farm I wanted to run through the logic of doing this and offer some advice for those breeders wishing to put their mares under lights this year. The thoroughbred mares cycle is controlled by her pituitary gland which sits just behind her eye. It reacts to light which during the winter months is not as abundant as later in the spring when normal healthy mares tend to be cycling regularly. With the emphasis on earlier rather than later foals however, what we are doing by putting mares under lights is extending their daylight hours artificially in an effort to stimulate the pituitary gland and get the mare cycling earlier than she may if not introduced to the therapy. This doesn’t happen overnight though and in-fact studies done by leading equine reproductive specialist and our attending veterinarian, Dr Angus McKinnon, show that non cycling mares require a minimum of six weeks under lights to gain benefit from it. I feel it is important for breeders to be aware of this fact when making plans for their dry mare to go under lights. At Blue Gum Farm the mares begin their time under lights on the first Monday of July. This involves stabling them late in the afternoon and putting them under an individual fluorescent light which we leave on to allow them access to upwards of 16 hours of light per day. This is where the extra costs of having a dry mare under lights versus simply paddocked comes from but the benefits of an earlier foal are obvious and have a habit of recouping the original expense many times over down the track. Another factor in us obtaining an early positive result with your mare is her diet. Dry mares do not need to be fat, in-fact in keeping with the logic behind putting them under lights, fertility is increased as the mares are exposed to a rising scale of nutrition going into spring time. Conversely overweight mares are harder to get to cycle and if you need to decrease their feed intake, as opposed to increasing, it becomes harder to simulate spring. So don’t have your dry mare too fat at the start of the season, she’ll be in great condition when she comes home and hopefully carrying a nice early service for you!