by Cynthia McFarland

Forget resolutions. When it comes to planning for a new year, farm owners and managers rely on more than just good intentions.

Because the business of Thoroughbreds has definite seasons, routines often are similar from year to year. Owners and managers in three different states were consulted to learn what occupies their time throughout the year and how they plan ahead.

Season to season

When a farm is active in multiple facets of the industry, there is never a complete downtime, although the focus may change from season to season.

"There's not really a transition period for us; we just move from one thing to the next," said Mark Roberts, who manages Frank Stronach's Adena Springs South in Williston, Florida. "You go from yearling-sale season to mare sales and then foaling season and breeding; there's not really a downtime when you're not doing anything, although some divisions have their lulls.

"Our planning for the next breeding season was being done last breeding season and through the summer. No matter if you have four or five mares, or 400 mares, after last year's breeding season, you're sitting there thinking of things you want to try next year. You look at things that worked for you and things that didn't work."

Roberts said Adena Springs South is fortunate to have a number of employees, particularly in management, who have been with them for a long time. These employees know exactly what is expected of them and how tasks should be completed.

With a farm that covers some 3,600 acres, maintenance is never-ending, but there are definite seasons to certain tasks. Any necessary repairs in the barns usually are done at the end of the season for that particular division. For example, work on the training barns is done in the early to midsummer months, while work on the yearling barns is completed by late fall. Mare barns are cleaned and painted when they are empty for the season, which is late summer and early fall.

Pastures typically are chain harrowed and aerated in the spring and fall, or at least once each year. In late November, the farm sows ryegrass on the turf course, which is just over seven furlongs long and 45 feet wide. Rye is not used in regular broodmare pastures, but is sown in some of the smaller paddocks that see heavy use for turnout of young horses.

While the one-mile dirt track is routinely graded every month, if new material is needed, this is added after the Christmas holidays, every year or every couple years as necessary. Because of the large population of horses on the farm, it is not realistic to buy a year's supply of hay. Instead, Roberts uses hay brokers to obtain high-quality hay and regularly has loads shipped in.

"We don't have the room to buy six months' worth of hay and store it; you also don't have good quality control that way," Roberts said. "We do stockpile hay around Thanksgiving and Christmas to make sure there's no chance of running out because trucking companies often have breaks around the holidays."

The farm puts up its own Bahia grass bedding, and this chore lasts well past the summer.

"We're still cutting bedding this time of year," Roberts said in early December. "We do our own bedding and we can't store it all, so we'll cut some in between frosts. There's plenty of moisture in the ground and the grass will come back if it's not too cold."

Familiar routine

Derry Meeting Farm in Cochranville, Pennsylvania, was started by the late Marshall Jenney in 1968. His wife, Bettina L. Jenney, continues to operate the 300-acre farm, which focuses on boarding, breeding, and selling yearlings.

In addition to farm manager Bobby Goodyear, Derry Meeting has an office manager and seven permanent farm employees. Additional temporary employees are hired as needed during the summer.

While there always are unexpected incidents, Jenney finds that the basic farm routine is seasonal and varies little from year to year. The farm already has a general schedule, so there is no need to map out a new plan for the coming year.

"We always have about 110 to 120 horses on the farm and about 65 of those are broodmares," Jenney said. "Bobby and I confer every day about what's going on. There's always something to talk about with horses shipping in and out, mares being bred, etc."

Fifty-six mares are due to foal at Derry Meeting during the 2009 season, and in the late fall those mares that are scheduled to foal early will be moved to the pasture closest to the foaling barn.

Every April, yearlings that will be going to the summer sales are brought into the yearling barn after their winter of being shed-raised.

"We have three older barns and one new barn," Jenney said. "Every barn is steam-cleaned in the fall, and barns are repaired and painted all through the year, as needed." It is impossible to plan ahead for everything that can arise in the horse business, and Jenney admitted the current economy makes it worrisome to think about the 2009 sales. Because her primary focus is on broodmares and breeding, she is relieved to have her farm in Pennsylvania.

"My main thing is the broodmares, and I'm very lucky to always have a full farm because of the Pennsylvania-bred program," Jenney said. "The wonderful program makes it very attractive to own a Pennsylvania-bred. Because of the bonuses and the purses, it's very good to race in Pennsylvania now. When my husband died in 2000, we were sending the majority of the mares to foal in Kentucky, and now it's the exact opposite because of the Pennsylvania breeding program."

As of early December, Jenney still had not finalized breeding plans for all her mares, and was considering various options.

"I confer with my main adviser, James Wigan, owner of London Thoroughbred Services," Jenney said. "He lives in England and is a longtime friend, partner, and adviser. He gives input on matings, and we will get together soon to make the final decisions."

Jenney said her clients mostly breed to race, but she herself does not have a large racing stable.

"I will keep a filly out of an older good mare and race her so I can keep the family," Jenney said.

When it comes to pasture maintenance, Jenney has the soil tested every spring; fields are then fertilized accordingly. She pays close attention and never allows fields to become overgrazed, as she finds that is vital for maintaining good grass. She also tries to rotate fields and give every pasture a rest at some point during the year.

Pastures important

Robbie Lyons, owner and manager of Hartwell Farm in Keene, Kentucky, finds attentive pasture management is an important part of his job because quality forage is such a vital part of raising horses.

Hartwell is a 190-acre, full-service commercial breeding operation. In addition to boarding and sales prep, Lyons also manages bloodstock interests for a number of clients.

When it comes to pasture maintenance, Lyons said his goal is to ensure the horses have the best grass possible.

"Most of the grass on farms here is fescue, so I manage it and seed with other grass, including bluegrass, orchard, and ryegrass to put a variety of grasses in the pastures," Lyons said. "We don't have many problems with fescue. We watch mares carefully and if we anticipate any problems in the late spring when you see most of the fescue problems, we make sure they have plenty of forage to eat."

Fertilizing and seeding are routinely done every year. Soil samples are taken every three years; lime and fertilizer are applied accordingly. Lyons will direct drill in the late summer and early fall, and also may do so again in the spring.

"This summer and last summer it was a waste of time drilling and seeding because of the very dry weather we had," Lyons said. "We had a severe drought last year and this year."

Pastures are clipped routinely to maintain the grass at a good height. If there are bare or heavily trafficked areas in a field, Lyons will cordon off that section with electric fence. This gives the grass a chance to come back without having to pull horses off the entire pasture. When shopping for hay, Lyons tries to buy locally as much as possible, but recently has found this a challenge.

"The last couple years, local hay has been very scarce," Lyons said. "Hay has gotten very expensive, so we're looking to get the best hay possible for as good a price as we can. Before, we wouldn't have considered using those 1,000-pound square bales, but I think now everybody in Central Kentucky is being forced to look at these."

When Lyons buys large bales, he prefers to get an alfalfa-orchardgrass mix and stores them in barns so they are not exposed to the elements.

When it comes to routine maintenance, each year Lyons makes a point of replacing older portions of the three- and four-board oak fence, as needed. He also plants some trees on the farm every year to enhance the property.

By late June and July, mares and foals are outside much of the time, so Lyons takes this opportunity to steam-clean the barns. Any repairs and renovation also are done at this time. Come December, barns are steam-cleaned again, as necessary.

Lyons plans all his own matings and also assists his clients.

"This is an ongoing process," he said. "From October to December once the yearling sales are out of the way, we really start to nail down matings for the following year. Some clients will come into town to look at stallions and to see their mares. I encourage them to do this because it's considerable time, effort, and money to breed the mares."

Lyons feels fortunate in that a majority of his clients breed to race. That said, he still believes breeders need to have confidence that their mare will produce a good individual when looking at more expensive stud fees.

"You're not as concerned about the price of seasons when breeding to race as you might be when breeding for the commercial market," Lyons said. "The last few years the market has gotten so selective, you really have to have an exceptional individual. If it doesn't meet very strict criteria, you're not going to get your money back; it doesn't matter if it's a $20,000 stud fee or a $300,000 stud fee. You've got to be very sure of your mare before you invest a lot of money in a stud fee, and even at that, everything's still got to go well for you."

Cynthia McFarland is a freelance writer based in Fairfield, Florida