N.Z Breeding Decline

There has been a decline in the number of mare's been bred to in N.Z this past season and it's the lowest in the past 10yrs.

01/02 4879
02/03 4856
03/04 4676
04/05 4226
05/06 4071
06/07 4052
07/08 4266
08/09 3867
09/10 4015
10/11 3500

With the decline in mare's being served there could be a few reason's for this.
1. Race day Stakes
2. Stallion service fee's

It's a little wonder why studs and stallion owners were willing to wheel and deal like never before with the numbers declining as they did last season. It will be interesting to see if some studs drop there stallion fee's as it's becoming more cut throat to get the mare's.

I put this info on here to see what people think and what there idea's would be to help this industry go foward.

Had this very conversation yesterday at the track at smoko whilst working the horses and of the 5 of us there, we all cut our breeding down. Between us there, we left 11 mares empty this season. Why? The consensus seemed to be pure and simple finances. I have a horses 3-4 wins that are racing for $1500 - $2000 less than than when they were maidens.
Having said that, I have had 2 studs giving a good size discount for two of my mares.