 |
[RC] Gelding Stallions (was: Wild Horses) - k s swigartLisa Salas said: I have suggested to the BLM, (since they are spending soooooo much money on rounding up these horses) to geld the stallions, instead of wasting money on throwing out of helicopters "birth control" pellets which have not been approved and they don't even know if they work. Perhaps they have not taken up this suggestion because, while the "birth control" pellets that they throw out may not work, they know that gelding stallions won't. They, at least, understand, that in order to reduce the number of foals born you have to reduce the number of mares being bred, not the number of stallions. You don't need very many stallions to breed a bunch of mares. Now, if they were to spay the mares rather than gelding the stallions... But just gelding some of the stallions is unlikely to have much of an effect. The fertile mares will just find the males that haven't been gelded....and the entire males will run off their immasculated counterparts and keep the fertile mares for themselves. Perhaps if they were to give vasectomies to the stallions (so these infertile males could defend their mares and "breed" them, but not actually produce any foals), this might help. kat Orange County, Calif. p.s. This, btw, is also true of domestic horses. The over-population of domestic horses is a function of the number of mares being bred, not the number of stallions. "Irresponsible" breeding can be laid almost entirely at the feet of mare owners. The number of stallions available is virtually irrelevant. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
|