A stud animal is a registered animal retained for breeding. The terms for the male of a given animal species (

stallion A stallion is an adult male horse that has not been gelded ( castrated). Stallions follow the conformation and phenotype of their breed, but within that standard, the presence of hormones such as testosterone may give stallions a thicker, "cre ...

bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not Castration, castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e. cows proper), bulls have long been an important symbol cattle in r ...

rooster The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

, etc.) usually imply that the animal is intact—that is, not

castrated Castration is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which a male loses use of the testicles: the male gonad. Surgical castration is bilateral orchiectomy (excision of both testicles), while chemical castration uses pharmaceutical ...

—and therefore capable of siring offspring. A specialized vocabulary exists for de-sexed animals (

gelding A gelding (Help:IPA/English, /ˈɡɛldɪŋ/) is a castration, castrated male horse or other equine, such as a pony, donkey or a mule. The term is also used with certain other animals and livestock, such as domesticated Camelidae, camels. By compa ...

steer Steer(s) or steering may refer to: Animals * Steer or bullock, castrated male cattle * Ox, a bovine (usually a steer) used as a draft animal People * Steer (surname) * Steers (surname) Places * Steer Creek (West Virginia), a tributary ...

, etc.) and those animals used in grading up to a purebred status. Stud females are generally used to breed further stud animals, but stud males may be used in

crossbreeding A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. A domestic animal of unknown ancestry, where the breed status of only one parent or grandparent is known, may also be called a crossbreed though ...

programs. Both sexes of stud animals are regularly used in artificial breeding programs. A

stud farm A stud farm or stud in animal husbandry is an establishment for selective breeding of livestock. The word "stud (animal), stud" comes from the Old English ''stod'' meaning "herd of horses, place where horses are kept for breeding". Historically, ...

, in

animal husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, animal fiber, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, management, production, nutrition, selective breeding, and the raising ...

, is an establishment for

selective breeding Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant m ...

using stud animals.Taylor, Peter, Pastoral Properties of Australia, George Allen & Unwin, Sydney, London, Boston,1984 This results in

artificial selection Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant ...

Stud fees

A stud fee is a price paid by the owner of a female animal, such as a

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...

or a

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers. ...

, to the owner of a male animal for the right to breed to it. Service fees can range from a small amount for a local male animal of unknown breeding to several hundred thousand dollars for the right to breed a champion

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

race horse such as

Storm Cat Storm Cat (February 27, 1983 – April 24, 2013) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse and stallion whose breeding fee during the peak of his stud career was $500,000, the highest in North America at the time. He was the leading sire in North A ...

, who has earned stud fees of up to US $500,000. Many owners of high-quality

s also offer a

dead foal guarantee Death is the end of life; the Irreversible process, irreversible cessation of all biological process, biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former o ...

with a breeding, usually defined as a guarantee that once the

mare A mare is an adult female horse or other equidae, equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more th ...

leaves the

confirmed to be in foal by a

veterinarian A veterinarian (vet) or veterinary surgeon is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, veterinarians also play a role in animal r ...

, she will give birth to a foal that stands and nurses, or else the stud farm will re-breed the mare for no stud fee the following season. Most stud fees do not include the costs of boarding the female animal at the location of the stud animal, or the cost of collecting and shipping semen if

artificial insemination Artificial insemination is the deliberate introduction of sperm into a female's cervix or uterine cavity for the purpose of achieving a pregnancy through in vivo fertilization by means other than sexual intercourse. It is a fertility treatment ...

is used in lieu of live cover. Any veterinary expenses or medications are also an additional cost to the owner of the female animal.

References

{{Reflist Livestock Slang terms for men Animal breeding

Stud fees

See also

References