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CrowsnestRidge · Sep 10, 2023 9:25 AM

Just looking for some advice/info from folks who have been even breeding in the higher generations.

I've been noticing that ever since I tried out strict breeding advice, I don't have a lot of foals that pass at the upper generations. I expected that, but I'm not sure if there's also more that I could be doing to increase the number of foals who pass.

This season I got about 108 foals that passed strict breeding advice and 124 foals that did not (47% passed). They're about even in terms of gender (58 fillies passed, 50 colts passed). Of those, I ran the numbers for each generation. I'm going to lose some more after doing comparison testing.

For generation 2: 59 passed, 26 failed (69% passed)
For generation 3: 34 passed, 44 failed (44% passed)
For generation 4: 8 passed, 29 failed (22% passed)
For generation 5: 4 passed, 21 failed (16% passed)
For generation 6: 3 passed, 3 failed (50% passed)
For generation 7: 0 passed, 1 failed (0% passed)

I'm just wondering if these are normal proportions, since I know it's harder to get foals that pass at the higher generations, or if there is something more I could be doing.

I've been doing my best to avoid mare lag by keeping only superior mares and recently also doing benchmark testing with them as well. I now comparison test all my horses and require an AGA result compared to a horse that was "best in pasture" and also be superior to sire/dam. I only pasture breed and typically have the 30-day bonus. I usually don't boost or max.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!

Fiddler · Sep 10, 2023 9:27 AM

definitely looks normal to me.

Herzeloyde · Sep 10, 2023 12:09 PM

Looks normal to me too. As you get closer to the breding limit in the game, you will notice that fewer and fewer horses pass testing.

There is a reason why the top top top breeders in the game has not been through BA, because if you push through the breeding cap, the foals will never be as good as their parents, and as you gtt closer to the breeding cap, it will become much more difficult to get foals that are significantly better than their parents.

OopsDotCom · Sep 12, 2023 8:04 PM

What's benchmark testing?

MackZ · Sep 13, 2023 10:19 AM

Benchmark testing is done with comp testing. When you receive the "Best in Pasture" email, after comp testing that foal against its sire/dam, that foal becomes your benchmark to test all other foals against(if it'ssuperior to parents). You would then only keep foals intact if they test AGA that benchmark foal. Since your benchmark foal has already tested superior to parent(s), there's no need to test the other foals against the parents.
The benchmark can be replaced if you get a foal of the same generation that tests superior to your benchmark. That superior foal then becomes your new benchmark.
I think most players who do benchmark testing primarily use it for stallions.

OopsDotCom · Sep 13, 2023 10:26 PM

Wouldn't you only do that if the bob horse was compared with a couple dozen other foals at least? Some of mine are in a group of 10 or less, I don't think thats as big a group as needed to give you a good guideline? How many horses minimum in a control group would you suggest?

MackZ · Sep 14, 2023 9:55 AM

I usually have a benchmark colt for each generation within each line. The benchmark is the best of the group, regardless of how big the group is. And he remains the benchmark until a future colt of the same generation level is superior to him.

OopsDotCom · Sep 14, 2023 8:35 PM

Thank you, Mack. That makes sense.

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