FoalMaker™ was developed after field work and a two-year double-blind, placebo, crossover study involving universities and outside professionals. The notes below separate what a published abstract and the patent support from later company field reports.
Nie G., Rohrback B., Wenzel J., Bennett B., Bailey J., Martin J., Davenport D. (2003). “Effect of Feeding a Nutritional Supplement (FoalMaker™) to Breeding Stallions on Semen Quality and Pregnancies per Cycle in a Double Blind, Placebo Controlled Study.” Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 22(5), p. 475, Abstract 79.
Also presented at the 2003 American Academy of Veterinary Nutrition Clinical Nutrition and Research Symposium at the ACVIM Annual Meeting, and as a poster at the American College of Nutrition 44th Annual Symposium. This is the citation to put first. It tests the finished product in breeding stallions. It is an abstract, not a full peer-reviewed paper.
➔ It does mean pregnancies per cycle rose from 24% to 39% in treated stallions. That is a 62.5% relative increase.
➔ It does not mean 62.5 percentage points were added. The result was not 24% to 86.5%.
➔ Treated stallions accounted for more pregnancies with 128 fewer cycles. Non-supplemented control stallions did not show that statistical change.
➔ The controlled population documented with the patent work was Tennessee Walking Horses, bred by artificial insemination with fresh semen. Do not describe it as a live-cover Thoroughbred trial.
In January 2002, DVM360 reported midpoint results from the double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study. That report described about a 30% improvement in per-cycle conception versus control at the midpoint, and increases in total sperm in some stallions. Mares were bred by artificial insemination with a controlled number of sperm cells, so the conception-rate result was discussed separately from a simple rise in sperm count.
Company materials have described documentation over four years and more than 30 commercial stallions, with an average 62.5% improvement in per-cycle conception. Those underlying datasets are not a separate peer-reviewed paper. Treat that line as company-reported field documentation, not as a second independent publication.
Mare observations, including mares that had been bred and stayed barren, are clinical and field experience. They are not the same evidence as the controlled stallion trial.
➔ Stallion packet — 10 g, two times daily.
➔ Mare packet — 8 g, two times daily.
➔ Jugs for either.
➔ Start 60 to 90 days before breeding. Proper use is often 6 to 12 months.
➔ Limited special order. Call 1-800-628-0997 before ordering, because this is a limited supply product. We are booking orders for the next breeding season now.
Source page: FoalMaker on MD's Choice.
A fertility or conception claim on a commercial feed label can raise animal-food regulatory issues. A careful on-label line is “Studied in breeding stallions in a blinded, placebo-controlled commercial breeding study,” rather than a large 62.5% efficacy claim, unless feed-control counsel has cleared that wording. (In other words: there was no statistical change in the non-supplemented control stallions, but those getting FoalMaker created MORE pregnancies, with 128 FEWER cycles!)
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
U.S. Patent 7,776,366 B2. The product page states the patent covers mammals. Both the stallion and mare packets carry this patent number.