I was speaking with a mate last night who has just organised for his bitch to be served to a Victorian based Sire. Now I am no astute breeder having only ever bred one litter, but was amazed as to the hoops he had to jump through in order for this process to take place.
With alot of sires now only being available with frozen semen or AI, studmasters obviously don't want the bitches on there properties. In order to have the bitch served you then have to make arrangements with a vet to carry out the procedure. Not all Vets have the capacity to house the bitches and unless you have the time and live close enough to vet to have progesterone tests done every second day to give the mating every chance of being successful, you have to come up with alternate accommodation and travel arrangements for her aswell. So you pay the stud fee, Vet costs($6-700 I'm told), upkeep of the bitch for anything up to 2 weeks + transport costs too and from the Vet! Now I'm not whinging about this as this is just the way it is, but say you pay $2200 for a stud fee its really going to cost you something in the vicinity of $3000 when all is said and done!!
I was spoilt when I bred my litter as the studmaster took care of the lot, I just never imagined that it had got so complicated! No doubt this is not always the case and just wondered if there was some better case senarios around or easier methods!