do I need to start foal watch tonight?

How big is her bag? Does it look flat at the back (no line between each side of teats). Is the milk clear yellow? I've had a few with gold wax, it will turn white eventually, normally. One of my mares who looked like yours last week has now got a full bag but no wax yet, i can't check her milk because she has made it perfectly clear that she does not like me milking her! Milk can go from clear yellow to proper milk within 48 hours but can also be like it for a week or more. It will gradually get cloudier and whiter. If its still clear yellow then if she was mine i would check her late at night and then first thing in morning.
 
With milk testing you don't just pick and choose what readings you follow. The calcium will always rise first. In the lady's readings that you are mentioning her mare tested at 800-1000 calcium. That is VERY high calcium reading and had it been my mare I would definitely have expected it to foal on that. Her pH readings of 8.4 would have dropped dramatically if she had tested the mare again that night. If your reading for pH is 8.4 and your calcium readings are 1000 then yes I'd expect your mare to foal, however if your calcium readings are 200 (for example) then no she's not going to foal.

If she were my mare I wouldn't even be milk testing her yet as there are no other signs there that would make me think she's about to drop her foal. Her vulva doesn't look anywhere near ready, the foal doesn't look to be in the right position and her bag looks like it's just started filling. I don't milk test any mares until all the other signs are in place, and even then I only do a couple of times.
 
Thank you. The milk looks very watery and a hint of yellow. That has put my mind at ease that I'm not a bad owner not doing 2 hourly checks. I will keep monitoring her, of course.
 
I've been following this thread with great interest as my mare is at day 314 now.

Spring Feather - thank you for sharing so much of your knowledge - it is incredibly useful and I've printed quite a few threads off that you have contributed to as there is so much info there!

I have also come across a great website - that has some great photos under the 'Foaling Section' which some of you might find helpful too. It's called yellowhouseranch.com - they're not selling anything as they don't breed any more and have just kept their web site running to help others :D
 
Iwantcandy said:
I've been following this thread with great interest as my mare is at day 314 now.

Spring Feather - thank you for sharing so much of your knowledge - it is incredibly useful and I've printed quite a few threads off that you have contributed to as there is so much info there!

I have also come across a great website - that has some great photos under the 'Foaling Section' which some of you might find helpful too. It's called yellowhouseranch.com - they're not selling anything as they don't breed any more and have just kept their web site running to help others :D
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I would like to echo the thanks - SF you have been a superb source of info and always willing to help. Thank you so much
 
My pleasure :) I've been milk testing for a lot of years now and have seen lots of different scenarios with it, and kind of perfected how I read the readings after doing it so many times. I've also seen mares who have read the book and do everything how it's supposed to be, and then I've had mares who most certainly don't lol! I've seen some very odd things happen where milk testing is concerned, which confused me at the time but then foaling the mare/s out following years, have actually helped me understand why what happened, happened. It's all a learning process and I'm still learning about it, but for the most part I have a pretty strong handle on what milk testing tells you. I always say to people who are new to milk testing, the results may not always tell you that the mare will foal within 24 hours, but it WILL tell you when she won't! :) I'm only passing on my experiences with using it as another medium and hopefully it helps someone along the way.
 
Spring Feather said:
My pleasure :) I've been milk testing for a lot of years now and have seen lots of different scenarios with it, and kind of perfected how I read the readings after doing it so many times. I've also seen mares who have read the book and do everything how it's supposed to be, and then I've had mares who most certainly don't lol! I've seen some very odd things happen where milk testing is concerned, which confused me at the time but then foaling the mare/s out following years, have actually helped me understand why what happened, happened. It's all a learning process and I'm still learning about it, but for the most part I have a pretty strong handle on what milk testing tells you. I always say to people who are new to milk testing, the results may not always tell you that the mare will foal within 24 hours, but it WILL tell you when she won't! :) I'm only passing on my experiences with using it as another medium and hopefully it helps someone along the way.
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Definately helped me - as we reckoned from the pics she wasn't ready to go but the milk said otherwise so we had 4 nights of foal watch and managed to be there for the foaling :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
 
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