VIe CONG. INTERN. REPROD. ANIM. INSEM. ARTIF., PARIS, 1968, VOL. I

Contribution to discussion at the Panel on Artificial Insemination of the
Mare.

F.L.M. DAWSON
The White House, Hadstock, Cambridge, England.

| felt that Miss OSBORNE and Dr. DAVID might be under some
disadvantage regarding these matters in not living within half an hour
of Newmarket as |, myself, did. | admired Dr. DAVID's imaginative
scheme, and agreed that it made many valid points, including the
chance of improving fertility of subfertile stallions and the value of a
semen bank (strictly from the point of view of the stallion owner!).

| could not agree that the number of mares served naturally by a
stallion was limited in practise by his physiological capacity. Valuable
stallions were limited to a certain number of mares in order that they
might serve only the best mares at a high fee. Until recently, "premium"
stallions used for hunter breeding "walked the district, " and would
serve hundreds of mares in a single season. Owners of good stallions
object to their use on moderate mares,

Regarding the concept of some form of "contemporary comparison"
for progeny evaluation, as in cattle breeding, this method based on the
first year's production, was not universally accepted even for the bovine
species. In British racing it was well known that very few winners of
the big race for two-year olds (2, 000 Guineas) went on to win the
Derby and St. Leger a year later. Probably hard racing as two-year
olds had a depressive effect on later development.

The official birthday for thoroughbreds of January 1st had been
altered from May Ist to suit those breeders who were clever at getting
January foals. Such foals had had the advantage over later foals of
several more months for development by the time they began racing.
Bitter resistance was therefore to be expected from influential circles if
any proposals were now made to advance the birthday date.

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