Stud sends wrong semen...what would you do?

[RiddleMeThis]

So this has come up on another forum and I'm curious to see what the breeders on COTH would do.

You decide to breed your mare to Stallion A. Semen gets shipped out, put in mare, mare gets pregnant has the baby.

Upon baby being born you realize that there is a VERY slim chance that this foal is by the stallion that you chose to breed to.

DNA verification gets done and it comes back that its NOT Stallion A but rather Stallion B.

Stud farm is contacted and basically says that theres nothing we can except learn and move on.

Do you leave it at that? Or?

[Carol Ames]

They should at least give you a breeding certificate to the stallion you did breed to, and a free breeding to your original choice :yes: next year.

[Cindy's Warmbloods]

Ditto Carol Ames

[Hampton Bay]

They should at least give you a breeding certificate to the stallion you did breed to, and a free breeding to your original choice :yes: next year.

Agreed, and I would not settle for less.

[rideagoldenpony]

They should at least give you a breeding certificate to the stallion you did breed to, and a free breeding to your original choice :yes: next year.

Absolutely!!

That's a pretty shocking mistake. I'd be quite angry if I was the mare owner.

[Summerwood]

I'd be demanding a free "rebreed" to the original stallion. It was a mistake, but very unprofessional, and their response was even more so. There's lots of nice stallions for mare owners to look at out there, I think if I was them, I would be bending over backwards to make that up to you. The very least I would do is give you a free breeding to the original stallion. What if the mare was in her 20's and it was her last foal or could be her last foal? I would be livid.

[Dressage_Diva333]

I'd be demanding a free "rebreed" to the original stallion. It was a mistake, but very unprofessional, and their response was even more so. There's lots of nice stallions for mare owners to look at out there, I think if I was them, I would be bending over backwards to make that up to you. The very least I would do is give you a free breeding to the original stallion. What if the mare was in her 20's and it was her last foal or could be her last foal? I would be livid.


I feel exactly the same. I actually know of an instance where this happened... stallion owner ended up giving 2 free breedings to the intended sire of the foal to the mare owner. I think that was fair :)

[Renae]

I'm not a lawyer, but I would think you would have grounds to sue the stud farm for breech of contract. Assuming you signed a breeding contract for semen from stallion A and it was never delivered, and instead they delivered semen from stallion B and you invested X amount of $$$ into making, delivering and raising a foal that was not the one you want, IMO the stud farm owes you more than a free rebreeding to the stallion you actually wanted and a breeding certficate for the foal you actually have. It was their mistake, not yours.

[TrueColours]

Years ago something sort of similar happened with 2 TB stallion's named Duluth and Orono. Both were unmarked dark bays.

Both were at the farm and one suffered an injury and was going to be retired and was going to Anderson Farm in Ontario to stand at stud and the other was returning to the track. I think the story was (this was back in the '80's so a little fuzzy on the details ... ;) ) that the grooms had cleaned halters and put them on the wrong doors and the van driver came and picked up the wrong stallion based on the name plate on the halter.

So the 8 year old stallion with the suspensory injury returned to training and the youngster "retired" to stud.

Everything went along swimmingly (no pun intended! :D ) until the race track one was ready for his first race and in the paddock where tattoo's are checked and matched against papers on the day of his race, the mistake was finally uncovered

I believe there were 15-20 mares affected that had been covered and confirmed in foal. All of the mare owners were given a free re-breed to the *correct* stallion the following year and all were happy with that resolution (I think both stallions were standing in the $10,000 range and both were equally well bred)

It does happen, but I think thats the first time Ive ever heard of it happening with a very large, very reputable TB breeding farm! :)

[back in the saddle]

Free breeding next year at the VERY minimum or FULL refund for last years "mistake".

[spotmenow]

I'm not a lawyer, but I would think you would have grounds to sue the stud farm for breech of contract. Assuming you signed a breeding contract for semen from stallion A and it was never delivered, and instead they delivered semen from stallion B and you invested X amount of $$$ into making, delivering and raising a foal that was not the one you want, IMO the stud farm owes you more than a free rebreeding to the stallion you actually wanted and a breeding certficate for the foal you actually have. It was their mistake, not yours.

Agreed. They did NOT fulfill the contract. At the very least you are entitled to your $$$ back. This is a very cut and dried example of breech of contract and one you could easily win in small claims.

[camohn]

Ditto.... a breeding certificate for the foal that WAS born and either a free breedback to the intended stallion or a refund of the stud fee if you are afraid to use them again!!

[DownYonder]

I would expect whoever made the mistake to make some sort of offer - refund of stud fee, free (or at least half-price) rebreed to the CORRECT stallion, etc.

[ThreeDays]

Yup - there was a similar semen mix up a few years ago that a friend of ours dealt with.

The outcome: stud owner/ broker made appology and honored a rebreed to original stallion selection the following year. I belive that stallion owner also helped with the expense (or covered) of DNA testing so that the correct sire was identified for registration.

[alliekat]

I have to be honest this is the exact SO I am trying at avoid. Not because there was a mistake made but because they don't feel a need to try and correct it. Well I guess if I have to "learn " from it, I have learned that I will never use them again.
If I was the SO I would offer the breeding certificate to stallion A and re-breed to stallion B with no added collection charge...not to mention an apology.
This just makes me more thankful for the stallion owners I have used.

[Coppers mom]

Who was it? You can PM if you want, but now I'm nervous after hearing all these stories :lol:

[vineyridge]

If something like this happened to me, I would be beyond furious. In the first place, the mixup might not have been totally innocent. Just as a what if, they weren't able to collect or didn't have the correct semen available when it was needed. So they send semen from their other stallion, figuring that in another year, the mare owner will be so happy with a foal, that s/he will be less likely to make a real stink.

It's as if the stallion owners were blowing off all the time a mare owner spends on selecting what s/he thinks is the perfect stallion for her mare.

The foal's owner is stuck with something that s/he never wanted in the first place, and whether or not the foal is as valuable as the planned foal would have been, or as saleable. And whether or not the foal's owner is also going to have to spend years in maintenance before it is of riding age--if that was a consideration in the original breeding.

I'd get a lawyer, myself. I'd demand that the stallion owners not only make good on their contract for the original semen and/or return the stud fee, but that they buy the unwanted consequences of their "mistake" as part of the damages. This is a situation where the semen and its results are identified to the contract, and there are very special damages associated with that kind of breach of contract.

[Mythology]

I believe the question is more of a "What if" than an actual incendent, though we all know that these things do happen.
If it is just an accident- Then hey, accidents happen. Just a free rebreed to the origional stallion of choice and an apology should suffice. If it has happend to multiple mare owners and/or it turns out to be a bait and switch scam then there is a problem that needs a different and better solution. However I don't think requiring the stallion owner/station to buy back the foal is such a swell idea. If they are that disreputable to pull such a scam, I doubt they would bat an eyelash at euthanising a foal that won't sell and is costing them $. Even if the foal was a mistake, I would feel responsible for bringing that life into the world and finding it a good home.
If the stallion owner/station has pulled this scam once then they have pulled it before- Round up the mare owners and file a lawsuit for monetary damages from the scamers.

[Edgar]

I would be sad to have the wrong stallions foal because you pick a cross for a reason but I can understand that giving them the benefit of the doubt, a mix up could happen unintentially. I would be pretty mad to get such an inadequate response to remedy and would judge what to do next by the foal. If it turned out quite nice and the pedigree is good I may leave it with a letter, but if it is not at all what I am looking for I would start with a letter...

I had an upset client last year who got a phone call from the AHS that her foal did not match the routine DNA profile done before registration. When I heard about it I got worried, checked the records and only had one other collection that same day from another stallion that could have possibly been switched. I had the AHS check and they checked parentage for all of my stallions and none matched the profile ?????

Turns out the neighbors pony stud had gotten loose one day.....The stall help never said anything but he was a match and she said it was apperently a cute foal...:)

[paintjumper]

by giving you whatever you need to register the foal on the ground AND give you a free breeding to the original stallion. I had a very similiar experience but it was the vet made the mistake, he bred my jumper mare to a QH cutting bred stallion and a cutting horse mare to my jumper stallion!!!! That would have been a mess but he caught it the next morning and short cycled both mares and he paid for EVERYTHING, including the collections of the 2 stallions again and all of his repro work was free for both mares.

[RiddleMeThis]

I believe the question is more of a "What if" than an actual incendent,
Nope, it was an actual incident. I can PM you the thread about the whole long ordeal if you would like me to.

So far the Stud has said they would give the mare a breeding certificate to the correct stallion, but that's it.

Here is the stud http://www.lissavastud.com

[Coppers mom]

Nope, it was an actual incident. I can PM you the thread about the whole long ordeal if you would like me to.

So far the Stud has said they would give the mare a breeding certificate to the correct stallion, but that's it.

Here is the stud http://www.lissavastud.com

See, that farm just makes me nervous. If you click on any of the stallions progeny, a page comes up with a ton of random foals on it. Most of the foals appear on multiple pages, so who's foal are they really? And then you get to the sales page and some of them are listed as sired by a completely different stallion that the stud doesn't even own! So, sadly, it's not even surprising that they'd mix the semen up.

[Mythology]

Nope, it was an actual incident. I can PM you the thread about the whole long ordeal if you would like me to.

So far the Stud has said they would give the mare a breeding certificate to the correct stallion, but that's it.

Here is the stud http://www.lissavastud.com

Da*n, that really stinks! I don't believe they wouldn't even give a rebreed to the stallion origionally chosen. I'm sure no one who hears about this will breed to their stallions in the future!

[ShannonD]

The mare owner paid for another breeding to the correct stallion as soon as the error was discovered because they really do want a foal by this stud and knew the issue wouldn't be handled in time for the mare to be put back in foal this year. I don't think the stud really intends to refund that paid stud fee.

[RiddleMeThis]

See, that farm just makes me nervous. If you click on any of the stallions progeny, a page comes up with a ton of random foals on it. Most of the foals appear on multiple pages, so who's foal are they really?
If you click on the pictures it enlarges them, and pedigree info comes up as well, but I agree. Not the best format for that.

[vineyridge]

Equilibrium has dealt with these folks several times in the past. She has indicated that she has been very happy with them.

That said, if the mare owner/foal are in the US and the stud and stallions are in Ireland, that might make a big difference in how the situation is being addressed. It might it a lot easier for the stallion station to be difficult if the injured party is an ocean and a continent away. And if the quality of the two stallions is equivalent or the wrong semen was from an even more expensive/better stallion, that might factor into why the stud is being hard nosed about their mistake. Of course, if the pedigrees are not compatible or (Horrors) if there is too close linebreeding in the now existing foal, that might give the mare owner incentive to pursue this farther.

I'd still have a lawyer look at my contract to see where jurisdiction lies and go from there. I'd be willing to bet that the contract says Ireland, and if it does, then perhaps getting an Irish lawyer to look the situation over might not be a bad thing. Bad publicity about things like this, if legal action is taken in Ireland, could hurt their primary business with European clients.

From what I understand, European legal help (do the Irish use the solicitor/barrister system?) is cheaper than it is here.

[ShannonD]

The mare owner is also in Ireland I believe.

[RiddleMeThis]

Yes both are in Ireland, and apparently there was no contract.

[avadog]

Is this the thread that was on the horse grooming forum? I wondered what happened with the DNA but couldn't find the thread. She had a bay out of two chestnuts and someone told her it couldn't happen. Too bad, I'm sure it was an honest mistake but it would have been nice if they gave her a free breeding.

[RiddleMeThis]

Yes that is the thread avadog.

Its been confirmed that its NOT the stallion that they wanted.