Article - INTERVIEW Coping with Coronavirus Interview with Tullis Matson of Stallion AI How has the Coronavirus Lockdown affected you? For us, the effects of the coronavirus outbreak and subsequent lockdown were pretty immediate and far reaching. One of the hardest things to have to do was to cancel our annual Open Day and Stallion Show. It was clearly not possible to run the show under the present circumstances, but that didn’t make it any easier. It was a shame for all our stallion owners and breeders who were looking forward to the day and who value the opportunities it provides. It’s always a great event to kick start the breeding season, and very uplifting to see people interact with our stallions and having a lovely time. What was clear from the outset was that we had to look after our staff and their families, as well as the safety of our clients in all our interactions. Everyone is affected in different ways, and every member of the team is highly valued. We had to consider the needs of those who are themselves vulnerable and others who have vulnerable relatives at home. Others are affected because they have children to look after at home. Where we can, we have reorganised our administration, so some of those tasks can be carried out from home, reducing travel and enabling better distancing on site. The complications with horses are, of course, that they still need looking after, regardless of the global pandemic. The exceptional level of care and service we offer to our stallions and their owners lies at the very heart of our philosophy as a business, and is not something we were willing to compromise on. We therefore initially radically reduced the number of stallions on site. Of course it was really tough for us to do this, financially, as well as emotionally, because we hated having to disappoint our many loyal and valued clients. The wider impact of how we conduct ourselves as an industry is very important to us. While breeding horses might seem like the most important thing in the world to us, we have to accept that the outside world sees things very differently. We have to be sensitive to this and understand that our industry is not seen as an “essential business” to those outside equestrianism. It is for that reason that I think we have to show that we are doing our bit to help our country through this crisis. To help where we can, and to set a clear signal that we care for our communities and the wonderful work done by our NHS and all healthcare professionals, we have set up a programme of sending out gloves and alcohol spray, which we produce in our lab, to those who need it. In this way, we have already donated over 2,500 gloves to carers in our community, and we will keep going and doing our bit. What measures have you taken to ensure the safety of your staff and of your clients? The first and most obvious thing to do was to stop any public access, and to limit the number of stallions on site, which immediately reduces interactions and allows us to implement better social distancing procedures. Of course this all has to be done within reason, as it is near impossible to distance when collecting from a stallion, for example. We are always having to balance the different risks and keep health and safety and the welfare of our precious stallions in mind. As an industry, biosecurity is second nature to us, and we already have a lot of measures and procedures in place that, although originally designed to protect our equine clients, are equally effective in keeping our staff and human clients safe. This includes a high level of awareness of biosecurity, and the use of protective equipment as a matter of course. Our stables are routinely completely washed down with disinfectant about three times a week. We are getting through a lot of gloves in our day to day business. When new stallions come on site, we now minimise any interactions by taking the horses off the transporter ourselves. Each stallion has their personal tack locker, so we can reduce the risk of infection spreading from any equipment they bring with them. Other items coming in and out of our facility, such as semen storage containers and transport boxes for semen, are thoroughly disinfected. We are working closely with our transport partners to ensure we keep them safe and identify and mitigate any potential risks. How are things now for you, several weeks into the lockdown? I think it is fair to say that things are settling down a bit into a new way of operating. Initially, there was a lot of confusion around whether veterinarians could carry out any AI procedures at all, which had a lot of impact on demand and created a lot of uncertainty for us all. While there are still some aspects that are open to interpretations, breeders now, by and large, seem to have established workable solutions with their vets and are carrying on with their breeding plans. While we have taken the decision not to run our facility at anywhere near full capacity this season, in order to allow us to continue with our increased social distancing measures, we are now able to open the doors, very carefully, to a few more stallions coming in, and are able to support our clients safely and responsibly. These stallions are gradually “drip fed” into our facility to avoid any risks. One interesting effect of the crisis has been that we have been contacted by owners of stallions who are normally extremely busy in the competition career at this time of year, and - with all national and international shows cancelled - are now free for stud duties. How do you see the longer term effect of the coronavirus outbreak and the future for <strong>British</strong> stallions and breeders? While I don’t have any hard figures available, my initial impression is that our <strong>British</strong> stallions are getting used a lot more this year. What I don’t know is if this is because more people are wanting to breed this year, perhaps because they are unable to go out and compete, or if this is because <strong>British</strong> stallions have increased in popularity with existing breeders. The quality and choice of stallions available in this country is certainly going up all of the time, which is great to see! What I am certain of is that this outbreak has brought us together as a community and made us value each other a lot more. It has made us all re-evaluate what really matters in life, which is to show concern and care for each other, and to take responsibility in the way we run our businesses and interact with each other. The welfare of our staff, clients, and precious stallions always has to come first. Everybody has been absolutely incredible in the way they have worked together to face this crisis. There is a lot of good will and generosity out there, which will help us emerge from this stronger than ever. 70 | BRITISH BREEDER
Article - INTERVIEW Big Star who stands with Stallions AI at the <strong>British</strong> Breeding Stallion Event February <strong>2020</strong> BRITISH BREEDER| 71