breeding experts question bagging up!!!

[trelawnyhorses1]

how many weeks prior to foaling does a mare start bagging up?? i should know this i know its jus lu has started to get some milk in her teates but i jus wanted to know as i got to make sure she has her caslick done intime. her 345day mark isnt untill 22 july

 

[Tia]

They're all different. My little mare who just foaled this year bagged up slightly about 3 weeks before foaling....however she was never very big and she never waxed up properly. She had a couple of crystals on her teats one day and she foaled that evening.

 

[StaceyTanglewood]

mine is bagging up over the last 2 weeks the vet came last friday to scan another mare and said she will have it in the next week so im on foal alert !!!

have a look for the slackening of the muscles behind and lengtheing of the (cant think of the word) vulva i think it is !!

 

[Faithkat]

Mine bagged up a good 6-7 weeks before foaling. Because of that I was convinced she would foal early but, no, 12 days late! The slackening muscles round the bum etc is a much more definite sign of imminent foaling. It is quite obvious, mine looked as though all the flesh on her hindquarters was literally hanging off her backbone/pelvis the night before she foaled.

 

[trelawnyhorses1]

ye i know all of the signs of immenient foaling etc its jus i never paid much attention about when milk forst starts production im hoping it will be about 3weeks yet

 

[Folara]

Millie started to bag up about 2 weeks ago and she isnt due until 19th July. Mind you she is HUGE and her bum is def. dropping off so not convinced she will make it to that date. She looks exactly the same as she did last time with 3 weeks to go. Still im sure she will decide when the best time is and the problem is all mares are different so hard to say that what happens for one will happen for another. Remember that the 'normal' gestation period is anything from 320 to 370 days.

 

[MillionDollar]

I think these articles are really good reading-

http://www.equine-reproduction.com/articles/overdue.shtml

http://www.equine-reproduction.com/articles/predicting.htm

 

[Spot_the_Risk]

Three weeks before foaling for our maiden mare, wasn't due until 23 July but the foal came on 8 July. The mare seemed no different the previous evening, but on checking her in the morning she had milk on her teats, and she foaled within half an hour.

 

[S_N]

TBH it varies hugely from mare to mare. Also gestation is said to be between 320 and 360 days. Personally I go by 11 months and 5 days - apart from the odd exception, this is probably 60% to 75% accurate. Certainly by this years foalings here. Going back to making a bag, if you lift her tail and look at her bag from between her back legs, when the ligament that supports the bag (forgotten it's name

) starts to relax, the bag will look like one sack from behind, in stead of two. This is generally an excellent sign that foaling is imminent. I've had mares opened up 6 weeks prior to foaling and also the day of foaling - they do so love to make you look daft! Better to be safe though....