help !!mare rejecting foal.

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aed

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Foal born tuesday 1st july At bout three am..mare done all by herself...unseen by us..hes a maiden mare ..lively bug colt foal..she fed him and took good care of him protective of him but not nasty to us just guided him away nicely...today wednesday..fed him ..minded him well..seen pacing roundfield a bit ..kept him away from us but took her feed twice today from bucket seemed bit grumpy then and would not let foal fed squeled at him and kicked Several times last let him feed at 8.15.pm.now 12..she pacing about eating grassand wont let him feed..what I do..
 
Agree with the others, you need to act very quickly or to put it bluntly, your foal could die if she has an infection that could affect the milk stream and he could also get seriously dehydrated and weak if he can't feed.
 
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Apart from the above, you could try taking a dog in the paddock with you. That will often get the maternal instincts working. That is a well known shepherd's trick with sheep and worked with a mare I had here who looked as if she might reject her first foal. I am sure you know that mares (especially those foaling for the first time) should ideally be left in peace as they can be quick to reject a new foal. (My experience is limited to Highlands, other breeds may be different).
 
Ha Ha used to have a collie who hated lambing time as he often got chucked in a pen with ewe and lambs . Also used as a cure for dogs that chase sheep!!
I am most worried because it sounds like the mare is ok with the foal but is not letting the foal feed due to discomfort. Also agree that they need leaving alone if they are being fussed to much.
 
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Keep us updated, as said sounds mostly like pain when feeding , possibly a blocked teat or lack of milk. If you have any replacer or goats milk see fi the colt wants some, to make sure he is getting fed.
 
Was the mare checked after foaling to make sure she is okay? This is why I keep harping on about people making sure they are with their mare when she foals because if not then you have no history on what happened and there could be a good reason for why she's now rejecting the foal. If she allowed the foal to suckle in the first few days but isn't now then she needs to be checked over by a vet as that's unusual. If there is nothing physically wrong with the mare then you may need to hold her at each feeding for a few days to get her back on track again. Mares like this need time alone with their foals so as little interference by people (but with close watching!) is best.
 
We forum members are all so supportive, I too hope all is well.

I always have the vet in within a few hours of foaling to check foal and placenta, give anti-tet. I agree with others if rejection came some time after foaling it suggests she may not be right.

Sending you good vibes for both mum and baby.
 
Has the foal been feeding from both quarters? If the mare has a teat with the plug still in place, then she will be in pain. If you have a stable, then bring her in, if not, then get someone competent to hold her, you'll probably need to pop a twitch on her, and then inspect her bag. Express milk from both sides, then check, manually, by holding her bag in your hand. If either side is noticeably hotter than the other, or worse if one side is stone cold, then you'll need a vet, and a bit sharpish.

Dose she have any discharge from her vulva, and did you check that the placenta was complete, and without any tears? Did she shed the placenta unaided?

To reject a foal, after two days of being attentive would point to there being a health problem. Will you let us know how she progresses?

Alec.
 
Thank you everyone.all is well. Yes id vet outto check within hours being born and got injections and placenta etc all fine. Turnsoutshe was being real bita moody biddy!! She pushed him awsy for few hours and squeled at him and walked of ..then...she changed and was all in love withh her baby!! Feeing him and fussing..musta been hormones!! Ist time mother. We haltered her walked her round and she real relaxed now. I ll try putting pic up .hes by ringfort cruise...dams vechta ..grand damby a tb and flagmount diamond. Vet says hes great colt foal very tall..gona be a big boy.
 
Gulp!! Ohh I never heard potobucket... img... I ll try..no easier way fo

???? Lol. Thanks everyone for all advice .im sure I ll need some inthe future oh and I love all yourposts
 
MiniMilton said:
Me too, the dog trick is one I must remember!
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Encouraging or triggering, a mare's protective stance, and so her acceptance of her foal by the use of a dog as a 'perceived' threat could indeed produce results, but it needs to be carried out with extreme caution and care. It's a trick used by shepherds with a ewe which rejects her own lamb, but there would be a world of difference between a ewe crashing up against a sheep hurdle, and a mare at full tilt!

I've never had a mare reject her foal, and it would be a rare occurrence, I'd have thought, but I have used a dog to encourage a ewe to take her lamb, and whilst sometimes successful, when it fails and the ewes still wont have anything to do with her lamb, then the use of a dog seems to actually make matters worse and drive the wedge deeper between mother and young. I've found that young and confused (and often maiden) ewes generally benefit from time and gentle persuasion, and if the ewe really wont have anything to do with her lamb, then no dog in the world will change her mind!

aed, it seems that time and patience brought the reward that you were looking for. Well done, and if you ever do fathom the vagaries of posting pics on here, it would be lovely to see the foal!

Alec.
 
It may be totally irrelevant, but I've been told (by someone who should know) that a ewe will more readily accept a lamb (either one she has rejected or one for adoption) when mother's milk has passed through the system and come out as poo the other end. Presumably it will be a smell she'll recognise or identify with. This has a ring of truth about it because most animals seem to attach some importance to the scent emitted from the anal region. I was watching my two dogs, who are kennelled and fed different diets, mutually poo and anal sniffing this morning and wondering what messages they were receiving! We must miss at awful lot by not brown nosing as animals obviously find this important.D:

Oh, another trick, if it hasn't been mentioned, is to squirt a small quantity of cheap scent up a ewe's nostrils to kill the scent of an adopted lamb to confuse her. No reason why that would not work on other species.
 
My employer and I lamb just under two thousand ewes. Last year, the ewes had been through a pretty bad winter and the grass was slow to come, so, despite being fed neeps and cake, many of them had little or no milk at lambing. We had lots of trouble twinning lambs onto ewes which had lost their own. We skinned dead lambs and smoored them with lambing fluids and held the ewes till the lambs sooked, but had limited success. We ended up with lots of pet lambs.

This year, after a very mild winter and a warm spring when the grass never really stopped growing, the ewes were in great order, needing no hard feed, so they were bursting with milk. Any which lost their own lambs were so desperate for a lamb that we only had to show them one and they wanted it. I even occasionally got away with presenting lambs which weren't even wearing a dead lamb's skin and the ewes took them. We had 75% fewer pet lambs this year.

When ewes are in good order with plenty of milk, it is often through their udders being so full and sore that they can be loathe to let lambs sook. If they are restrained while the lambs get their first fill, they usually settle quickly after that.
 
I agree with Alec,although I mentioned my use of dogs I have never ever used on mares and I am very cautious with cows .
With lambing I have always found that nature is always one step ahead . Invariably you will get one day at lambing when several ewes will reject their lambs even though you know they are with the right ewe. This I find strange to say the least its like something enviromental has freaked them out.
Also ewes will often just walk away from a lamb that has something wrong with it and will not survive its like an inbuilt sense
 
AengusOg said:
My employer and I lamb just under two thousand ewes. Last year, the ewes had been through a pretty bad winter and the grass was slow to come, so, despite being fed neeps and cake, many of them had little or no milk at lambing. We had lots of trouble twinning lambs onto ewes which had lost their own. We skinned dead lambs and smoored them with lambing fluids and held the ewes till the lambs sooked, but had limited success. We ended up with lots of pet lambs.

This year, after a very mild winter and a warm spring when the grass never really stopped growing, the ewes were in great order, needing no hard feed, so they were bursting with milk. Any which lost their own lambs were so desperate for a lamb that we only had to show them one and they wanted it. I even occasionally got away with presenting lambs which weren't even wearing a dead lamb's skin and the ewes took them. We had 75% fewer pet lambs this year.

When ewes are in good order with plenty of milk, it is often through their udders being so full and sore that they can be loathe to let lambs sook. If they are restrained while the lambs get their first fill, they usually settle quickly after that.
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Your post has made me realise just how much I miss the big lambings!! The altering of plans, and hourly sometimes, were only to match up the motherless lamb with the lambless ewe, if that makes sense!!

You haven't even touched on the ewes who close to parturition will steal the lamb of another, but then turn around, and with venom, reject the lamb which they stole, but previously, when their own are born! Bloody ewes!!

I'll admit that I do rather miss the 'busyness' of a lambing yard! I still have the ambition to lamb 500 ewes 'out', and with a proper shepherds hut with both a bed, a bottle and a barbecue, and a quad bike and the dogs. Oneday, perhaps, one day!

Once again, the subject is off at a tangent!! I apologise!

Alec.
 
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