help please - i dont think my mare is producing enough milk

[aregona]

hi, i bought my mare and her 8 week filly in from the field last night (she is in every night) and noticed that the mare seemed a little uncomfortable, she and her baby settled so i left them to it.

i have been watching them today and everytime the filly goes to have some milk the mare kicks out and sometimes turns her head to bite the filly.

She doesnt seem to have much of a bag anymore, what can i do????????

is there anything i can give the mare to help her produce more milk or is it better to get some foal milk and put it in a bucket for the filly??????

any help much appreciated, thanks xx

 

[Simsar]

Start with holding tying the mare, then let us know what happens, if the mare wont let the foal drink try holding a leg up, please DON'T let the foal go to long without milk, keep us posted. x

 

[aregona]

luckily enough the foal is quite persistant and just keeps trying and the mares give up and lets her suckle, im worried about long term and i dont really want this getting worse,

 

[Simsar]

Oh thats ok then I thought you meant the mare bully's the foal, is the foal eating mum's feed yet if so how does the mare cope with that?

 

[FRESHMAN]

Feeding large amounts of Cocoa Powder in mare feed should help, make sure the mare is drinking enough also.
Good luck

 

[Simsar]

If the mare is maiden she won't be very big anyway.

 

[aregona]

the filly has her own little bucket but does also eat mums food and mum is fine on that, the mare just seems really uncomfortable when baby drinks, i dont think she is being nasty i just think her teats are sore.
how much cocoa powder is lots, sorry i know its a daft question but i have some here and will go and give her some but are we talking 1 table spoon or more like 10????

 

[aregona]

shes not a maiden, this is her second foal. both times she has not produced enough milk when the 2 babies were born so both times we had to get the vets to inject her but the first baby we didnt have anymore probs after the day she gave birth

 

[FRESHMAN]

I really can not remember the size of the tin just remember feeding massive amounts untill things improved. Would guess approx a full tin per day in the early days (about the size of a large jar of coffee) My Vet reccomended it & this was seconded by the National Foaling Bank. Do not think you will cause any harm feeding in large amounts, but may need to add something like sugar beet to take the bitter taste away.
Let us know how you go on.

 

[FRESHMAN]

Forgot to add. If teats are sore I always use Kamillosan (sp) on the mare. It is not harmfull at all & I remember the relief it gave me many years ago !!!!!

 

[SusieT]

Have you checked her bag to see if it's hard? If it's very hard as opposed to just firm it could be mastitis-and she would definitely have reason to be kicking out!
Also wouldn't hurt to get vet in.

 

[Maesfen]

Is your mare getting enough supplemntary feed if your grazing is poor too? My mare came back from a very well known stud like a bag of bones, had completely dried up and wouldn't allow the filly to suckle at all in spite of me warning them that she needed supplementary feeding as she always put everything into the foal. This was in spite of me getting regular updates and being assured everything was fine, the foal was growing well! Ironic that they are sponsored by a very large horse feed firm and were also awarded a 'stud of excellence' kitemark just before I collected her. Got her back home onto some decent grass and feed (also ironic as it's by the stud sponsor!) and she was back in full flow very quickly with the filly showing no ill effects at all. I hope it's something as simple for your mare too.

 

[Vickijay]

I was told you only have to give the mare 1 big tablespoon of cocoa powder per feed......

 

[aregona]

thanks for all your help, i have a plan of action, im going to move her to some grazing away from home which has much better grass. she is on 1 feed a day with hay at lib but i will up this to 2 feeds a day with cocoa powder and go from there. i have had a feel and she still feels nice and soft so hopefully she is just giving a little too much to the foal and that is all.
thanks everyone il let you know how we get on.

 

[not_with_it]

How does the foal look?

I can only offer my very limited experience but my mare never had a big bag and I too was worried the foal wasnt getting enough milk. The foal always looked well though and now at 3 1/2 months is a big strong foal so she must have been getting enough. She is living off grass and has an hour or 2 in the stable with hay, Gin wont let her have any hard feed but tbh she doesnt need it.

 

[aregona]

this is mum and baby taken at the futurity on thursday, judge commented she could be more developed

 

[Maesfen]

She looks a sweetie, grand stride on her but I can see what the evaluator meant. While I don't condone over feeding, I think your mare could be giving her all to the filly and leaving nothing for herself; she can only give so much before it takes a toll on her by loosing weight or not being able to produce enough milk so I think she needs some help from you with extra feed and with the better grass, hopefully you'll see a difference soon. Could be a plan to take pics every week so you can look back to actually see some improvement as sometimes it creeps up on you when you see them every day. I don't know what you feed but I'd possibly be adding more stud nuts at least for a start and feed twice a day, at lunchtime too if you can manage it and see if they help; nuts are better for weight gain than a mix and won't hurt the foal either.

 

[jmponzo]

I have successfully used the cocoa powder for the mares.
Would like to hear experiences with the Dutch Process vs the Natural.