To understand why seminal plasma is beneficial in some situations and potentially harmful in others we must first review what it is, where it comes from and what we think are its roles in reproduction. The term seminal plasma refers to the fluid portion of ejaculated semen in which the spermatozoa are suspended. This fluid consists of secretions from the accessory sex glands in the stallion’s reproductive tract. These include the ampullae, the vesicular glands (seminal vesicles), the prostate gland and the bulbourethral glands (figure 1).

Heading into summer many of you will be contemplating the process of weaning your foals. Typically foals are weaned between 4-6 months of age and the process used is often dictated by the facilities available. Careful planning will reduce stress and set your foal up for success. Obviously the biggest change for your foal will be the loss of contact with its mother followed by the change in diet. At birth the foal’s sole source of nutrition is provided by the mare’s milk which at its peak can amount to 3% of her body weight per day. Over time the foal’s digestive tract matures. Bacteria are picked up from the environment and populate the hindgut. This provides the foal with the ability to start digesting more complex feeds such as pasture, quality hay or some other supplemental feed.

The 2021 SBS Foal Photo Contest has some exciting changes taking place this year! We have widely expanded the field of what foals are eligible and increased the prize to a $100.00 Amazon gift card.  As of this year the following foal photos are eligible for entry.

In our January 2020 E-newsletter, we introduced the first of a four part series of videos about "Frozen Semen for Mare Owners".  Part 4 of this series covers the topic of "What is Flow Cytometry?" (click video to left or link below to watch).  In this video, Paul Loomis explains the process of flow cytometry and what the data tells us about the sample.  Links for all four videos and the six additional "quick tip" videos are listed below.