do I need to start foal watch tonight?

mynutmeg said:
Well still no foal grrrr. Queenbee - fancy a trip to cumbria? Pursuade the little monster to come out :p

On a good (I think note
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Ours didn't appear either but mare only lay down for a couple of hours and was more restless this morning she keeps looking round at her belly, resting different feet and lifting her tail. She's gone out in the paddock and is now grazing happily :rolleyes: day 341 today
 
mynutmeg said:
Milk test this morning is prob 500 or calcium ( my strips dont seem terribly accruate at higher levels) and the litmus paper didnt really change colour at all for ph so def below 7.
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What strips are you using? I use a few different brands but the Aquachek ones are my favourite as their colours are really clear to read. A tip I'd give is if you are unsure about the readings then take a photo of the strip. A friend of mine kept telling me last week that her mare was testing 6.4ph and 600 calcium which sounds about right ... but she was reading this for about 5 days lol! So I said something isn't right there lol and asked her to email me the photo, the reading was actually 8.4ph and 200 calcium and that's why the mare still hasn't foaled and she's still reading these levels :D
 
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Not sure on the brands. Its water hardness ones for the calcium with a little.pad on the bottom. Thr guide you check against has various matches and the top two are very similar in colour and go from 425 and the next is 1000ppm. Thr ph I am testing with bssic litmus paper, totally seperate from the calcium strips. She was solidly at 8 for ages then dropped to 7 for a couple of days and is now somewhere between 6-7. Thr paper is a yellowie colour and doesn't really change now. Milk is cloudy creamy colour and quite sticky but not yet sweet.

Shall get more photos tonight and sre if I can work out how to upload from my phone :-)
 
My mare went 323 days and had none of the signs that suggest imminent arrival. Except, Sunday 24th March, late afternoon she was shivering. It was very cold so that's what I put it down to and rugged her to warm her up :-0 I'd had a friend going down at 10 every night to check on her for me. I'm a 'not very well person', who takes very strong meds at night which was why my friend was doing nightly checks for me. The night of 24th at 10.30, she rang me to say that Bella was running milk and could she take the rug off! Sadly, not only did I not remember the phone call but I fell asleep with the phone in my hand! I'm up at 5am every day and was having a cup of tea and the phone rang at 5.30 am to tell me 'Congratulations, you have a foal'.Tea forgotten, I drove to stables that are just 2 mins away from me and there he was, safe and sound, delivered with no human interference. I was disappointed that I hadn't been present but knowing me,I would have interfered. As soon as vets opened, I rang them and mare and foal passed checks with flying colours. So, all that to say that your mare will foal when she's ready but it's your mare and you can be 'on foal duty' when you want to be. Not all mares read the text books on foaling :-) Best of luck. My red/white colt is 6 weeks old now and it feels like he's been here forever. He brings me so much pleasure and I'm sure yours will too. Looking forward to seeing the pics.
 
Cant seem to copy pic location over on phone grrr
However I think ph has dropped snd is def in the 6 range snd calcium has gone up some more. Now getting soya milk looking liquid.
Whats really interesting (sure I'm not imagining it) is that her belly seems to be jumping all over the place tonight. Never seen it do that before and she keeps looking round at it. Foally is usually pretty still snd you have to stand for a while to feel even a small kick so hoping that shes in first stages.Please send some foaling vibes and a swift kick up the butt to roo to evict thr little monster :p
 
Well still no foal arrgghh. Shes gonna pick tonight while im at s party isnt she? At least I have a fab sister ehos gonna do the early part of fosl watch and a fab mom whos going to pick me up and drop me at the yard so I csn still go :-)
 
this is the milk from last night and the test strips

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mynutmeg said:
Well still no foal arrgghh. Shes gonna pick tonight while im at s party isnt she? At least I have a fab sister ehos gonna do the early part of fosl watch and a fab mom whos going to pick me up and drop me at the yard so I csn still go :-)
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I know how you feel, my life is on hold and i've rescheduled my Saturday night out until the end of the month!
 
mynutmeg said:
this is the milk from last night and the test strips

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Her milk is the right colour. Has she got any wax? Most get wax although sometimes only just before they foal, and some get wax about 10 days before they foal! I used to use test strips, but they aren't much use with three of my mares so now i just go on colour of milk. Can you lift her tail (bone) up without her resisting it?
 
Ooh gawd I couldn't use those strips lol! I wouldn't have a clue what they are saying :o:D However, the milk does look the right colour. What is the consistency of the milk? Runny or thick and gloopier?
 
My mare is 323 days.

Udder:





From behind:



Belly:



Vulva:




Her milk is clear and watery.

Do I have long to wait?
 
You have a little while to wait, going by your photos and description of the fluid coming out of her teats. I'd say she looks fairly on track for foaling around the average due date, maybe a little after. She still has a way to go on her bag filling up and her vulva isn't ready yet.
 
Deli said:
My mare is 323 days.

Udder:





From behind:



Belly:



Vulva:




Her milk is clear and watery.

Do I have long to wait?
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I've got two mares that look like yours and i'm not expecting them to do anything for about another 10-14 days yet. I've never had one foal with clear watery/see through milk. They can change quickly though. Your mares bag needs to get a lot fuller and will look flat from the back.
 
I want to test the milk but the bag is really tight and only a few droplets come out. Her quarters are quite slack and her legs are quite puffy. Its her first foal.
 
i'll post my pic later of my test strips and what the milk looks like for you if i remember!

I wasnt testing daily but i do have pics of milk changes from various points, as well as a pic of the milk and the test strip on the evening that the foal actually came.
 
whirlwindhorses said:
Her milk is the right colour. Has she got any wax? Most get wax although sometimes only just before they foal, and some get wax about 10 days before they foal! I used to use test strips, but they aren't much use with three of my mares so now i just go on colour of milk. Can you lift her tail (bone) up without her resisting it?
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She doesn't normally resist much anyway, usually assists you, especially if you tickle the underside. Shall try tonight tho

Spring Feather said:
Ooh gawd I couldn't use those strips lol! I wouldn't have a clue what they are saying :o:D However, the milk does look the right colour. What is the consistency of the milk? Runny or thick and gloopier?
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I live in quite a small area and couldn't find anything suitable locally - non of the fish ones seemed to do calcium and they were all liquids and no pool places at all :eek: These are what I could find online that looked about right :rolleyes:

Milk isn't massively creamy but definately thicker last night than yesterday morning and was thicker again this morning - went everywhere when we milked rather than neat streams :rolleyes: It's pretty sticky as well.
 
Deli said:
I want to test the milk but the bag is really tight and only a few droplets come out. Her quarters are quite slack and her legs are quite puffy. Its her first foal.
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Roo was like this the first 4 or 5 days I was testing with only getting a few drops of liquid. Over the last 5-6 days she has increasingly been easier to milk
 
Can I just ask, doesn't all this milking lose valuable colostrum? My mare has foaled, so hopefully I can ask these questions without scareing myself!
 
Lady Supreme said:
Can I just ask, doesn't all this milking lose valuable colostrum? My mare has foaled, so hopefully I can ask these questions without scareing myself!
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My understanding is that the colostrum hasn't actually come through yet - it's kinda a pre-milk that you're testing. Also I'm taking about 1-2mm a time so not much
 
Mynutmeg, thanks for the info. I was too worried to even touch my mare's teats. Foaled on her own in the end with no probes, so the Winnie the Pooh baby's bottle I had ready to catch milk with colostrum in, is unused!
 
mynutmeg said:
Roo was like this the first 4 or 5 days I was testing with only getting a few drops of liquid. Over the last 5-6 days she has increasingly been easier to milk
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Just sayin:rolleyes:

I'm getting impatient now Mynutmeg... The offer is there if you want me to help:p:p
 








We had wax last night and now its gone. Milk still looks a bit yellow but is coming out much easier now.

I stayed out on foal watch last night, I am questioning whether I am wasting my time as only on day 329. She is very uncomfortable now, doesn't want to go out in field and lots of movement in her tummy
 
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Going from my limited experience of one mare I'd say you have a little while to go.
I would highly recommend milk testing as we only had 4 nights on eatch because of that.
With roo there was a definate change over 3-4 days from yellow to clear to white coloured in her milk and she had white for maybe 2 days before foaling
 
The milk testing came back high (8.4) it looked the same as the other lady on here who missed her foal.

Last year I had a mare who had NO signs and she popped him out during the day in the field.

I think this is why I am overthinking it!
 
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