FOALING
If you have a mare foaling this spring it is time for her “pre-foaling” vaccinations. By vaccinating the mare 4-6 weeks before foaling, the antibodies in the colostrum are tripled. Equine foals are born without antibodies in their system, and depend on the colostrum (first milk) to protect them for its first 4 months of life. If the mare is given 7-way and rabies vaccines, the ingested colostrum protects the foal against Tetanus, West Nile, Rhino, Flu, Eastern and Western Encephalitis and rabies.
FOALING PREPARATION
Provide the mare a safe, separate place to foal. Pasture mates may try to steal the baby and jack donkeys are even known to attack new foals. In warm temperatures, a grassy pasture is an acceptable location. Foaling in dirt or muddy areas puts the foal at risk for a naval infection. Pastures with a pond create a drowning risk if the mare foals too close to the water. If the foaling area is enclosed with pipe fencing you must prevent the baby from getting underneath, stuck or thru the rails. Boards, cattle panels, or hay bales should be placed around the bottom to prevent injury. A foaling stall 14×14 or larger with clean shavings and straw on top is ideal. Cameras on the stall are great when on foal watch because you can observe the mare and not disturb her every few hours. There are foal alarm devices that attach to the halter and alert you when the mare is laying down to foal. PH milk strip tests can pinpoint the foaling day/night.
FOALING KIT
For your foaling kit, have 2 enemas, Povidone Iodine or Chlorhex for the navel, a towel, and a dose of Banamine or Bute for the mare.
FOALING
The mare’s gestation is approximately 11 months so if she was bred April 1, she should foal around March1. Watch for udder development. In the last week of pregnancy, milk the mare to get a drop of milk for the PH milk strip test. When the strip color changes to Green, the mare is going to foal. Not all mares wax before foaling.
Remember foaling 1,2,3: Normal foals take 1 hour to stand, 2 hours to nurse, and at 3 hours the mare should have passed the placenta (afterbirth). Make sure the foal is actually nursing by observing that the foal is latching onto and sucking the mare’s teat. Treat the foal’s navel and give it an enema. Imprint and handle the foal. Check that there is no retained placenta or white sack hanging from the mare. At 24 hours old the foal should have a blood test to check its IGG level. Foals that did not nurse enough or drank poor-quality colostrum may not have adequate antibodies. A plasma transfusion may be needed.
BREEDING WITH SHIPPED SEMEN.
Find out from the stud farm which days they collect the stallion to ship or pick up the semen. The mare will need ultrasound exams of the follicles on the ovaries and uterus to determine when she is in a good heat cycle to order semen. Uterine cultures are needed on mares that have been bred before to check for infection before breeding. After breeding, the vet will ultrasound the mare to confirm ovulation and that no fluid is retained in the uterus. Sonogram the mare at 16 days after breeding to check for pregnancy and for twins.
WHEN TO CALL THE VET
1. During foaling if there is no progression every 5 minutes or if there is no foal 20 minutes after the water breaks call the vet.
2. If the foal can’t find the teat after 3 hours, the mare needs to be milked and the foal tubed (by the vet) or bottle fed the colostrum.
3. Nervous mares that won’t stand still and let the baby nurse, may have to be tranquilized or restrained. The vet will tube the foal with colostrum.
4. Any placenta that is retained placenta 4 hours after foaling, will have to be removed by the vet. Don’t pull on the placenta. You could pull the uterus out of the mare.
5. Foals that continue to strain to poop even after an enema are constipated and need vet care.
6. Colic or cramps of the mare after foaling even after a dose of Banamine.
7. A sick or weak foal, diarrhea or the foal bumps the bag and doesn’t nurse.
CASTRATION SIGNS Feb 22-28
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