Mares of Macha recently announced the birth of three unique cloned mares of their MoM's Contara, dam of the legendary breeding stallion Chacco-Blue. The filly foals, named Contara Alpha, Contara Beta and Contara Gamma, spent their first months healthy and well, and already frolicking in the pastures of Yff Vandendriessche (Co-CEO Mares of Macha).
Mares of Macha realized this exceptional initiative with the goal of preserving the exceptional genetics of Contara, which is literally at the base of Chacco-Blue and its successes. Despite the initial challenges with cloning, the results are beyond expectations with the birth of these three mares...: Klaas De Coster, also Co-CEO of Mares of Macha, explained the cloning project:
"Our goal was initially to produce embryos, but when this failed, we turned to cloning. It was a surprise to have three successful pregnancies at the same time, but it presents a wonderful opportunity for the breeding community." With three cloned mares, genetics will be more accessible to breeders worldwide, in line with Mares of Macha's mission - 'access proven breeding'.
The future of the young mares is still open.
"We only decide around their 5th year of life whether they will start breeding directly. Indeed, it is not yet ruled out that they will first participate in the sport, as the clone of Ratina does under Niels Buynseels or the clone of Otterongo with Christian Ahlmann. But regardless of their sporting careers, the intention is in any case to finally offer their embryos to our customers at a fixed price and with gestation guarantee. This is how we fulfill our promise: to give any breeder a horse lover, anywhere in the world, access to proven breeding" , said Klaas De Coster.
Today, MoM's Contara grazes in the pastures of the Mares of Macha estate, Borgo la Caccia, in Italy. There she continues to enjoy her old age in the company of her regular group of MoMs, and surrounded by the best care of our Borgo team.
In the Hippomundo ranking of Stallions by performance in internarional competition (offspring), Chacco-Blue is firmly at the top. View the ranking here. Chacco-Blue himself jumped successfully in the sport until 2012. View here his palmares.
Currently, Mares of Macha makes 31 mares available to breeders. The mares graze year-round in the green pastures of northern Italy on an in-house estate, Borgo la Caccia, where they are surrounded with every attention and comfort.
press-release: Mares of Macha
