what's a fair price for an on-farm broodie lease?

[classicsporthorses]

I have someone who is interested in leasing one of my broodmares, she would stay with me. There is a possibility she may look at another of my mares too. The mare(s) would be bred with frozen semen.

Yes, I did the math on my expenses just to keep my mare in hay, grain and shavings etc., but do you tack on an additional fee?

Just curious what others do.

[cdalt]

I had such a lease about 8 years ago and I charged one fee to cover all the mare's feed/vet/farrier, etc. and an additional "user" fee of 1K for use of the mare for 18 months (or till the foal was weaned). Now the economy being what it is right now, it might be good enough just to get all expenses covered, especially if you were not planning to breed the mare yourself this spring and she is a "keeper" who is not going anywhere! Be sure to spell out all the "what-ifs" in a written contract if you decide to go ahead with a lease.

[pony grandma]

A modest fee + most people will require some insurance to cover the mare's value so you don't suffer a worse case scenario loss.

[camohn]

I would do costs plus a user fee. Now WHAT that user fee is will depend a lot on the value of the mare.

[Blonde Filly]

I would do costs plus a user fee. Now WHAT that user fee is will depend a lot on the value of the mare.

Off topic...Christine I have tried to visit your web site in your signature line and it is no longer there...do you have a new web site? If so you may want to update your signature line. :yes:

[Tornado Run Farm]

I would do costs plus a user fee. Now WHAT that user fee is will depend a lot on the value of the mare.

If the mare was home-bred, i.e, not purchased, how do you determine her value as a broodmare in the 1st place? I'm getting ready to offer a mare for broomare lease myself. I spent a lot of time and money taking her to two inspections and numerous breed shows. (USDF ranked #1, #3; Breed show reserve grand, numerous Young Horse champsionships; #6 Top 10 WPN-NA; Premium mare in both WPN-NA and Oldenburg NA -- so registration possibilites of foal in these registries unlimited.) She has had one awesome foal -- took 1st time when bred, no problems in pregnancy or foaling, and she's a great mom. (Foal is registered WPN-NA, but not inspected due to distance of "closest" inspection site.)

I figure she has some good credentials, so should be valued as much as the above average stallion fee -- especially when she's doing all the work!! I was thinking about $2K. I cited this price to a friend who was interested, but she said it was way too high given the #of free uteruses around these days. I was offended! Should I have been? Or just offer the mare for "free" given the state of the economy...

VERY INTERESTED in anyone's comments!!!:confused:

[vtdobes]

I figure she has some good credentials, so should be valued as much as the above average stallion fee -- especially when she's doing all the work!! I was thinking about $2K. I cited this price to a friend who was interested, but she said it was way too high given the #of free uteruses around these days. I was offended! Should I have been? Or just offer the mare for "free" given the state of the economy...

VERY INTERESTED in anyone's comments!!!:confused:

This part of your post really stuck with me. Why do people think nothing of paying thousands for a stud fee but balk at paying equal (or less) to that for the other 50% of the genes??

$2k sounds very reasonable to me for your mare.

[FriesianX]

Well, remember, the stud fee is helping cover the stallion's feed, insurance, shoeing, training, vaccines, etc. When you consider that the average stallion gets 4 to 8 stud fees annually, you really aren't paying all that much more for that stallion!

I own a small band of broodies, but do look at broodmare leases every year - and because I"ve got some decent connections with area trainers, I do get some nice offers (even from area trainers who just don't have time to campaign their show mares). A local WB breeding farm offered me a breeding lease on a mare I really liked - but they also charged a "profit". I ran the numbers, and honestly, in this market, for 18 months of board and care and breeding costs and their profit margin, I would have taken a major loss on the foal.

Let's run a few numbers:

18 months of basic feeding, $150/month, $2700
12 trims, $30/trim, $360
Worming and shots, $200
Insurance 18 months, $1300
Breeding costs (ultrasounds and insemination and ranch calls), assuming 2 cycles, $1000
Stud fee, collection, shipping, assuming 2 cycles, $2500
Well foal check, post foaling check, IcG, $500

So, assuming NOTHING goes wrong, and the mare takes easily, we are well over $8000, so add $2000 in profit to the broodmare owner, and you have a $10k foal.

With the stud fee, other than the fee plus collection - the stallion owner is paying everything else, so in reality, people aren't donating a lot more to the stallion!

Now, another thing to consider - if the broodie goes back into production the next year, the lessor has paid for 6 months of her care while she is "baking" a foal for the next year, so in reality, the owner has gotten a little extra there.

[okggo]

So, someone would be paying you, to keep your mare, on your farm and pay for her care for 16ish months. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal! I'd just charge for full board, and leave it at that. Esp. given the competition (heck, look at the free leases in SHB) when a lot of people would love for someone to pay for their horse for a year or so.

With a stud fee, that is it. They would be paying for MONTHS of board and care for someone elses mare, plus paying their other breeding costs/foaling out costs/insurance, etc. It may sound like asking for a 2k "mare fee" but really that person is paying closer to 6k or more JUST on the mare already.

Anyway, I'd say charge for full board, ask for insurance on her, etc. and leave it at that (but timho)

[Amoroso]

A common broodmare lease is to return the mare in foal, which would mean a cost of around $2000 for the average stallion and breeding costs (if using chilled semen when re-breeding the mare). I think part of the reason a return breeding is more common is simply because you don't have to "pay" for the use of the mare until she has produced for you. I leased a mare this year, spent a heap of money trying to get her in foal with no result only to find out at a later date her previous leasor had been unable to get her in foal two years ago. Information I did not obviously get prior to taking the mare. Luckily, I was not on the hook for a fee associated with the mare, I would gather most would charge in advance.

I've leased a few mares where I was able to do a free lease, no additional charge for "use" of the mare. There seem to be a good number of quality mares available that way in my area, however, I wouldn't turn down a good mare on account of a modest fee. However, I would turn it down if, as mentioned above, the modest fee took up any expectation of a modest profit on the foal.

[RiverOaksFarm]

I figure she has some good credentials, so should be valued as much as the above average stallion fee -- especially when she's doing all the work!! I was thinking about $2K. I cited this price to a friend who was interested, but she said it was way too high given the #of free uteruses around these days. I was offended! Should I have been? Or just offer the mare for "free" given the state of the economy...

Part of the problem is that some people have the mentality that every uterus is equal, lol. Some people don't think much farther than mare + stallion = foal, when the reality of a good breeding program is NICE mare + NICE stallion = hopefully nice foal!

If there are horses of comparable quality to your mare, available for free lease, then it might be something you'd have to take into consideration. But not all mares are created equally, and just because there are free ones available, doesn't mean they are even necessarily worth breeding at all.

Having said all that, it could be helpful to a mare owner even just to have the expenses covered on a mare for a year+, especially if it is a broodmare which was going to otherwise be open anyhow.

:) gigha

[classicsporthorses]

Thanks everyone, She is an imported approved mare with past, (high) competition history.

I was just going to charge her board and any transportation costs. The would be responsible for and vet/medication costs.

She is coming to see the mare and my other ones in person in the next week.

Thanks so much