High Brow Cat found “infertile”
Back in the “old” days when a stallion became infertile it usually meant that he would be producing few if any more foals. So when I read that High Brow Cat was diagnosed as infertile I thought what a great loss that would be to the cutting world.
I then learned that High Brow Cat’s semen freezes particularly well, in fact his post-thaw analysis is better than many stallion’s fresh samples. And his frozen semen remains fertile for years. In fact when he had a bout of colic a couple of years ago during breeding season they used frozen semen to get his booked mares in foal with a 95% success rate – a better rate, in fact, than when they were using his fresh semen.
High Brow Cat is technically infertile but does continue to produce a couple of weekly collections of 50 million sperm. This is an adequate number of sperm to impregnate mares using ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection) doses at a cost of about $4500 per procedure. This procedure also allows you to order which sex you would like your baby to be.
Most mares will be bred to High Brow Cat using the post-ovulation low-dose, deep-horn insemination method, in which a small amount of semen is injected into the mare’s uterine horn using a flexible pipette.
So it is estimated that there could be 100 mares per year for another 20 years foaling own sons and daughters of High Brow Cat.
According to Equi-Stat, High Brow Cat has sired performance foals that have earned right at $39 million. His leading money earners are: Metallic Cat ($637,711), who was last year’s NCHA Horse of the Year; Boon San Kitty ($555,504); High Brow CD ($541,345); Smooth As A Cat ($500,038) and Oh Cay Felix ($439,324). He has 30 foals that have earned $200,000 and more. As for his second-generation statistics, sons of High Brow Cat have fathered 496 foals that have earned $6.4 million, led by Pretty Katz ($233,521) and Hay Maker ($204,115). His daughters have produced 146 foals that have performed to $3.8 million, a list topped by Aristo Katz ($270,162) and Rockin W ($267,321).
He is an exceptional sire no doubt. But, I wonder, are we compressing the gene pool in our performance horses even more by breeding him for what amounts to 2 generations or more? What great young sires are we going to miss out on by concentrating our best mares on the same old stallion instead of searching for new blood and new potential? Does the market ever get overstocked with his offspring? Are they simply so much better than the rest that nobody can compete? I welcome your opinion in the comments below. Lynn
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Very interesting post.
Undoubtedly a great sire of performance horses, but my concern is the negative impact on fertlity of this bloodline. Sure, with reproductive technologies available the horse can reproduce, but will his sons and daughters be fertile. Even if they are, are they as fertile as say the average of the population?
I have heard from a number of vets that horses are not nearly as fertile compared to other livestock species. Perhaps because there is little to no selection on fertility within breeding programs – technology is used to overcome the fertility problems.
As far as limitations in the performance gene pool, I think that has already occurred and it will continue to get narrower. HBC himself has common ancestors when you look back to his extended pedigree. With the use of AI and embryo transfer the process will be accelerated. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but breeding programs need to acknowledge the levels of inbreeding within their breeding stock and develop strategies that will reduce the adverse effects of it. Part of that process needs to include strict culling criteria for poor fertility, temperament and genetic defects.
Those are my thoughts….
Libby
That is a very good point on improving the gene pool by looking for new blood. Survival of the fittest is no longer in play with todays breeding it is who has the most money. It gets even worse with cloning. Look how many horses have Smart Little Lena in their pedigree. Now he has been cloned 7 times. A stallion like Highbrow Cat is an amazing horse but what reprocussions will his infertility cause with his offspring down the road? What is good for right now on instant gratification may not be the best for the whole of the breed later on.