27,000 Mares Used in Australia in 2008 Season
Michael Ford, the Keeper of the Australian Stud Book, has released statistics for the 2008 breeding season which show that the number of broodmares used has bounced back to nearly 27,000, about the same number as 2006, but over 2000 more than served in 2007.
In the latter year, one in which the equine influenza epidemic curtailed the season in New South Wales and Queensland, the number used fell to 24,512, the lowest for 30 years.
The numbers have held steady in recent years, but are nearly half of the record number of mares, 44,413, served in1988, a time in which breeding boomed around the world and then got flattened by an economic recession.
Michael Ford reports that 826 sires served mares in 2008 out of which557 were born in Australia, 61 in New Zealand, 20 in South America and the others in North America or Europe.
A quarter of century ago there were more than 2000 sires at stud in Australia but very few had books in excess of 50 and a big percentage had less than 15. Most of the top sires now each look after over 100 and the busiest in 2008 was the Coolmore based Danehill sire Fastnet Rock with 248 mares. This was 18 less than the Australian record 266 looked after by Bel Esprit at the Eliza Park Stud at Kerrie in Victoria in the2007 season. The sires used in 2008 included 114 by Danehill and 60 by his sons or grandsons.
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