Nandi Veterinary Associates is a general equine practice, specializing in the reproduction of the horse. The fertility clinic, located in southern York County, accepts all breeds of horses as patients. Specialized reproductive services are typically provided at the veterinary clinic at Nandi Farms, which was built specifically to accommodate the foaling of mares, breeding mares with fresh cooled semen or frozen semen, embryo transfer, treatment of chronically infertile mares, evaluation of breeding stallions, and freezing of stallion semen.Stallions at the clinic are also available for semen collection and artificial insemination of mares, cooled semen shipment, or semen freezing. Please contact us if you have any questions.
Foaling of mares (including high risk mares).
Mares foal at Nandi Veterinary Associates clinic for a variety of reasons, including convenience of the owner, value of the mare or foal, maiden mare, high risk pregnancy, etc. Nandi Veterinary Associates foals on average 75 mares annually. Foaling attendants are present 24 hours a day to monitor the mares for impending parturition. Foal Alert ® monitors are additionally used to alert impeding foaling. Foals are constantly supervised until they are able to nurse freely without assistance. Each foal is examined by the veterinarian between 8 and 16 hours of age. The immunoglobulin levels of the mare’s colostrum and the foal’s blood are checked and a complete blood count (CBC) is performed on each foal. If necessary foals can be supplemented with Nandi banked colostrum or tubed with plasma in case of failure of passive transfer of immunoglobulins.
The mare and foal may return home once it is determined that they are healthy. In some cases, they stay for rebreeding to stallions at the clinic or in our geographic area. Mares may also be rebred using frozen semen or shipped, cooled semen from other parts of the country.
High Risk Mares
A “high risk” mare is one that has increased potential for developing a problem during or after birth. The pregnant mare can have a number of possible health issues that affect her foal. These health issues include uterine or blood infections, problems with the placenta or umbilical cord, or if she is carrying twins.
The first 30 days of life for a foal can be especially fraught with potential health problems. Foals will have a heightened susceptibility to bacteria and other dangers commonly found in their everyday surroundings during this time. Foals born at Nandi are monitored daily to allow us to detect any problem early and treat it appropriately. If you have a high risk mare please contact us.
Embryo transfer with availability of onsite recipient mare herd.
Nandi Veterinary Associates has been involved in embryo transfer since 1985. This may be the oldest privately owned embryo transfer service in the United States. A herd of embryo recipient mares is maintained at Nandi Farms specifically for this purpose. Recipient mares are selected based on their reproductive status and temperament and are maintained in a closed herd at Nandi under stringent herd health care. The recipient mares are handled daily during breeding season. Embryo transfer has been performed on older infertile mares, mares with chronic uterine disease, young performance horses, and severely debilitated mares. Using embryo transfer techniques, Nandi Veterinary Associates has successfully produced multiple foals for numerous chronically barren mares over the age of 18. (Breed registries vary as to the number of embryo transfer foals that can be registered in a single year.) Note that pregnant recipient mares may remain at Nandi throughout gestation or return to the mare owner’s farm or boarding facility.
SAGE (pictured above left) came to Nandi Veterinary Associates for embryo transfer for twelve years. SAGE herself has never delivered a foal, but she is the dam of about 58 foals. In 2006, Nandi Veterinary Associates collected tissues from SAGE so that she could be cloned. In 2007, two “carbon copies” of SAGE were born in Texas. In 2009, the two young SAGE clones arrived at Nandi for use as donor mares. Embryo transfer was performed, resulting in three pregnant recipients from each of the two donors. We are not sure, but these may be the first clones to produce foals by embryo transfer. Via clones, Sage will pass on her athletic ability and talent.SAGE will now deliver six more foals with no pain. The two clones are now being trained to play polo and doing very well.
Please contact us if you have any questions.
General veterinary services
General Health
Nandi Veterinary Associates offers clients a variety of general equine health services for your horses. Our services include routine medical management and preventative care services such as vaccinations, dental exams and care and quantitative fecal egg counts for strategic deworming programs. Other services include lameness exams, reproductive management, internal medical issues, routine diagnostics, and minor surgery.
Emergency Care Within Practice Area
For clients who are located near the Nandi Veterinary Associates clinic, we offer ambulatory emergency care for our clients. We will visit your farm and evaluate the situation. We respond quickly and work closely with clients to ensure horses receive the proper care. Please notify Nandi if the situation is an emergency and needs attention immediately.
Stallion training for live cover, phantom collection and ground collection.
Phantom Collection
Equine Phantom training consists of teaching the stallion to mount a “phantom” mare and ejaculate into an artificial vagina. Training sessions are short (20-30 minutes) to prevent frustration on the part of the stallion, The sessions may be repeated several times a day as needed. The goal of each training session is to end on a positive effort and to make successful steps in training from session to session. The number of sessions needed to train a stallion to the phantom varies by stallion. Several variables need to be considered when training a stallion to breeding on a phantom. These include age, physical ability and past breeding experience. The stallions natural libido is also a vital factor. Some horse figure it out immediately, others may take a week.
Ground Collection
For horses with arthritis or other physical or neurologic reasons that prevent the stallion from mounting the phantom, we offer our clients the option of ground semen collection. Ground collection is the process of collecting semen while the horse is standing on all four feet and the semen is collected using an artificial vagina. Training again occurs in limited sessions as we do not want the horse to get frustrated or uncomfortable due to physical limitations. Horses with good libido are good candidates for learning ground collection.
Live Cover Training
Nandi Veterinary Associates offers our clients the option of live cover training for horse that will not be bred via Artificial Insemination. Dr. Sheerin and staff can safely help with training stallions for live cover breeding. We have quiet tease mares that can be used as part of the training process. As with all stallion training, patience and perseverance are key.
Reproductive management of the mare and stallion.
At Nandi Veterinary Associates, we offer a range of broodmare management and breeding services. Some of our services include stallion semen collection for insemination or storage, foaling mares, embryo transfer, fertility/breeding exams, estrus cycle management, artificial insemination and live cover breeding . At Nandi, we will work with you and any problem mares to help diagnose and treat the causes of infertility, such as uterine infections. Dr. Sheerin uses the most current reproductive techniques to get your mare in foal.
Nandi’s breeding options include either artificial insemination or live cover. Our artificial insemination techniques use fresh, chilled, or frozen semen. Dr. Sheerin is trained in embryo transfer with the availability of an onsite recipient mare herd.
Mare boarding for the Pennsylvania sire stakes program ( Standardbred and Thoroughbred).
Horses may stay at Nandi facilities during the breeding season or year-round. Mares are often bred to resident stallions or stallions standing at other Pennsylvania farms and in other jurisdictions. Local transportation can usually be arranged for mares being bred to Thoroughbred stallions.
Some sire stakes programs have a residency requirement for eligibility. Mare owners should check with the appropriate racing commission for the requirements for their state and breed.
For Standardbreds, foals sired by a Pennsylvania-based stallion are eligible to the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes program. Since the advent of slot-enhanced purses during the 2007 racing season, Pennsylvania-sired foals have raced for increased Sire Stakes purses. Overnight purses have also increased for horses racing in Pennsylvania. Standardbred breeders who breed mares to Pennsylvania sires are eligible for Breeders Awards, based on race winnings in Pennsylvania for horses aged 2 to 5. Breeders Awards are determined by all race earnings: grand circuit, sire stakes, stallion series, overnights, and county fairs. The amount of these awards is based, to some extent, on the residency of the foal at birth.
From arrival to departure mares are given the individual attention they need daily. Our facilities are well maintained and equipped to take care of your mare. Our experienced staff help keep a clean stall and to ensure you mare receives the proper health maintenance. Indoor exercise devices are available for when there is bad weather or for rehabilitation. We accept standard and thoroughbred horses of any type.
At weaning time, foals can also remain at the farm and clinic. The foals and/or yearlings may also stay to be prepared for the sales. Please contact us for more information about rates.
Stallion semen collection for evaluation, shipping or freezing.
At Nandi Veterinary Associates, we accept stallions for semen collection. Semen collection is not only used in breeding, but is also used by veterinarians to help diagnose infertility. : Additionally semen collection is essential in the evaluation of sperm production and quality to assess suitability as a breeding stallion. Collection techniques are also useful in training stallions to collect on a phantom with an artificial vagina in preparation for a breeding career. Semen collection can also be used to cryo-preserve (freeze) semen from a young stallion prior to castration or starting a performance career.
Frozen Semen
Once semen is collected, it can be frozen and stored at very low temperature (-196C) for an extended period of time. It is stored submersed at a temperature so low that metabolic reactions in the sperm occur at an extremely slow rate. This process allows us to keep the sperm in a state of suspended animation. If frozen semen is appropriately stored, it is theoretically good forever. We offer our clients the option of freezing and shipping or storing the semen on site. Nandi is a USDA approved semen collection center. This approval allows us to collect, freeze and store semen for export to countries outside the United States. Requirements for quarantine vary by country so contact us if you are interested in exporting frozen semen. Each year, 20 to 40 mares are bred with frozen semen, either processed here at the Nandi veterinary clinic or received from elsewhere in the United States and Europe.
Shipping Semen
Nandi Veterinary Associates collects and receives stallion semen for shipped, cooled semen breeding programs. Semen is sent to and received from all parts of the United States and Canada. Extended semen is usually shipped via Federal Express or UPS, but can also be sent to mare owners via air transport (counter to counter). Baltimore and Harrisburg airports are available for air shipments.
Breeding via live cover or artificial insemination of fresh, cooled and frozen semen.
Artificial Insemination
Artificial insemination refers to the process of introducing semen into the uterus manually, without natural breeding. Semen is collected from a stallion using an artificial vagina (AV) and is transferred into a mare’s uterus via a long pipette which is passed through the cervix and into the uterus. Our staff can use fresh, cooled, or frozen semen in the artificial insemination process. Semen can be deposited into the body of the uterus or placed at the tip of the uterine horn. Body insemination is typically used with fresh and cooled semen. Deep horn insemination, which uses a longer pipette that is guided to the tip of the uterine horn is used for frozen semen and cooled semen where sperm numbers are limited.
Advantages of the artificial insemination program at Nandi Veterinary Associates include:
1) decreased risk of injury to mares, stallions and handlers
2) the ability to breed multiple mares with semen from a single ejaculate
3) decreased risk of infection to the mare and stallion
4) the ability to breed a larger book of mares to a stallion
5) semen can be transported to mares off the stallion farm
Live Cover
We offer our clients the option of using live cover (sometimes referred to as natural service) instead of artificial insemination. During live cover breeding, our trained and experienced staff employ techniques to maximize safety for both horse and handler.
Sales preparation
Each year, Nandi prepares Standardbred yearlings for the fall sales. A 68-foot diameter Equiciser™ has been installed to assist in preparation of the yearlings. The Equiciser™ is under roof so that horses can exercise in various weather conditions. The farm manager oversees the daily grooming and handling of the horses and also manages the nutrition program for the brood mares and young horses.
Horses graze in the morning and afternoon and are fed on the same cycle. Our staff personally grooms horses thoroughly and works closely with Dr. Sheerin to develop a proper nutritional diet along with any supplements needed. This helps ensure horses have a good coat texture along with muscle build. We take great pride in the detail and attention we show each horse.