Total Great Britain and Irish Foal Crop Dips 2% in 2019
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Photo: Courtesy Weatherbys
The Weatherbys Return of Mares 2019, just published, shows the number of live foals registered to date in The General Stud Book totals 13,443, of which 4,655 are registered in Great Britain and 8,788 in Ireland. This is a decline of 2% across both countries, equating to 270 foals.
The total number of broodmares reported at stud in 2019 is 22,919. This is a fall of 622 or 2.6% from 2018. Of these, 2,927 or 12.7% were not covered (1,249 in GB and 1,678 in Ireland) and 498 or 2% were barren.
Of the 22,919 mares, 20,149 were covered this year by registered stallions and 13,893 conceived (5,524 in GB and 8,369 in Ireland), an overall conception rate of 68.95% (after deducting the 369 mares exported or died).
The number of stallions has remained the same in Ireland at 252 but declined by six to 152 from 2018 (158) in GB. The number of stallions covering more than 200 mares rose from 11 in 2018 to 18, and the highest number of mares covered was shared by two stallions at 261 total recorded coverings each—Soldier of Fortune at Beeches Stud and Order of St George at Castle Hyde Stud, who both stand in Ireland. The peak number of mares bred by a single stallion was lower than in 2018 (281) and 2017 (341).
Breeders and owners have continued to register foals since Sept. 30 and total foal crop numbers for 2019 will be available in the Weatherbys Return of Mares Supplement published in early February 2020.
The following chart shows a six-year history of mares bred in GB and Ireland:
|
|
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
|
Great Britain, Mares Bred |
4,225 (1.0%) |
4,466 (+5.0%) |
4,597 (+3.0%) |
4,674 (+2.0%) |
4,726 (+1.0%) |
4,655 (-1.4%) |
|
Ireland, Mares Bred |
7,440 (+6.0%) |
8,205 (+10.0%) |
8,792 (+7.0%) |
9,044 (+3.0%) |
8,987 (-0.5%) |
8,788 (-2.0%) |
Other highlights from the Return of Mares report:
- The percentage ratio of foals GB:IRE is consistent but moving slightly in favor of GB at 34.63% to 65.37%, respectively, compared with 34.46% to 65.54% in 2018 and 34.07% to 65.93% in 2017.
- March and April remain the busiest months for foaling in GB—1,375 in March (29.5% of total) and 1,388 (29.8% of total) in April, a combined total of 2,763 or 59.3% of the foal crop.
- April remains the busiest month for foaling in IRE—2,852 (32.4% of total).
- 5,524 mares conceived in GB (77.57% of mares covered) compared to 5,803 in 2018 (80.60% of mares covered).
- 8,369 mares conceived in IRE (66.11% of mares covered) compared to 8,720 in 2018 (66.74% of mares covered).
- 20,149 total recorded coverings in GB and IRE combined in 2019 compares to 21,297 in 2018 (a reduction of 1,148) and 20,819 in 2017 (a decline of 670 in two years).
- 83 stallions covered 100 or more mares in 2019. This compares to 87 in 2018 and 92 in 2017.
- 18 stallions covered 200 or more mares in 2019 compared to 11 in 2018 and 10 in 2017.
- Soldier Of Fortune (IRE) topped the list by most mares bred last year with 281 total recorded coverings. He was also the most active stallion in 2017 with 341