HGG Community Forums

Lol.
I am so scared to cull some of them that passed SBA just based on low PT due to me knowing some are good breeders.. I am also scared that I am going to end up with mares that never produce intact foals.

I am willing to sell some of the plainer ones... Ughhhh this is so nerve racking.

I don't think it's really about a quantity. Do you go "oh man I still have all those mares to breed". Or do you get to the end and go "wow, I really wish I had more mares to do this line/stallion/project season whatever justice?

Also look at stallion/mare ratio. Since stallions can have 50 breedings a season, in theory you'd want 50 mares to a stallion. I personally have a ratio of 4 mares to a stallions. I'd prefer something more like 20 mares per stallion.

As long as you are still excited about the mares you have I don't think any is too much. If nothing else if you auction her foal every season that's effectively 66$ a day (2000$ profit/30 days in a month). Which is about equivalent to a show horse with 660 points.

I really like Cheers culling methods. I would definitely implement those if you feel like you have more than enough mares. And if you really want quality. Or any other reason. Why not try for quality? I also SBA all of my 2G foals. Why not when it takes 2 seconds to get them? You create a 4YO mare and you breed her. If they're a flop auction them both and get 2 more attempts. Although this is a personal preference too.

Also I don't think culling your more plain colored mares is too bad of an idea. It kinda brushes against my cull rate v. Alteration rate experiment . If they aren't producing colors you are excited about, then why have them?

Also, personally I don't even look at a mares PT. Just the PT of her foals. And use her PT to look at the quality of her parents. But I do look at PT of all show horses. Same cutoff point for all generations. Also helps me too see the decrease in cull rate as I go up from my generations. The "desirability rate"

Hope that helps! And remember in the end, it's up to you on how you want to play your game. That's what I love about it versus the other games of directly compete against the other players in a specified way. We are more free. But yet we can also share our ideas and why we like it that way.

(I will also say I really try to keep all of mine for 3 breeding seasons. Especially if they don't get the full month in pasture before that first foal...I feel like it's not fair to judge them after that first one unless it's a total total flop. I do occasionally cull after the second foal, especially if both foals were dismal and the mare was borderline for me anyway due to ancestry or color. I also am generally willing to sell any filly someone expresses an interest in having for their own herds unless she's really really special....while the market for colts can be pretty tight, you can usually sell decent fillies pretty easily!)