How do I keep weight on my Lactating mare??

arwenplusone

arwenplusone

Well-Known Member
Joined
25 January 2007
Messages
6,160
Location
York
www.freewebs.com
Hi All, Need some advice if poss.
I have a 16.1 WB mare, middleweight always been a good doer - sailed through pregnancy (got a bit fat but not too much). Foal is a good size and gorgeous - now about three months old and is on hard feed, grass and milk, however, I am really struggling to keep weight on the mare . We have a bit of grass, and she's on two feeds a day, (mare & foal mix, plus build up, barley rings, sugar beet, alfafa and corn oil) and she's really hungry all the time. I presume the foal is just taking it all off her back but she has lost her topline and I can start to see her hips.
She has been wormed recently and she does have a big belly but I do hunterbreeding classes and she's def. not in show condition.

Any thoughts? Much appreciated!
 
I would see if she would eat more forage and we find Baileys stud balancer pretty good. But you need to be careful that by feeding the mare too much dosent over top the foal, Baileys nutritionalist is very helpful but some mares just put it on the foals and you might have to consider weaning promptly to allow for the next foal.
 
yup, hay rather than haylage, and we do have grass - she's basically eating 24-seven! Just wondered if there is a better feed or supplement for her?
Cheers
 
Am presuming that she also gets hay/haylage? Ad lib haylage would be best for her - though october (late cut) would be preferable, as it has a lower protein content.

Please do watch the protein content of her feeds! Being a WB (part or full doesn't matter) can predispose the foal to going upright - opposite of TB's that have a tendancy towards slackness. Often this can be exaserbated (sp?) by rich milk from the mare. They can go upright overnight too - I found this out last year, but caught it very early and all is ok, the foal was 5/8ths TB & 3/8ths WB.

I fed B on Hi Fi Lite, Unmolassed SB, carrots, worked her up to 700mls of oil a day + selenavite E so she could digest the oil. She also had Ad lib Readi Grass and low protein Haylage. She just about kept her weight on. Anytime I tried to add a low protein build up mix/cube to the equation, H started to try and go upright again. Then in Oct/Nov when the grass quality dropped, I was able to increase her feeds and I put her on the soaked oat diet - worked really well, though not too much Seaweed, as she was still nursing.

This year, I will allow her to get a little porky whilst in foal and I hope it will carry her through.

Hope that was of some help.
 
Thanks Maestro, that's a good point - I don't want the foal to get OD - perhaps I should talk to Bailey's. I have fed her stud cubes in the past (but Dodson and Horrell brand)
Will wean end sept I think as foal is v independent already.
 
Sportznight that was very helpful, thanks. Foal seems to be ok at the moment but I didn't know they could go upright that quickly - Will have to keep an eye out for that! Might try the readi grass but I never knew it was any good. Thinking of switching her to straights too so the soaked oats might help her into winter. I think she'll be ok once she's weaned mind, just got a very greedy foal!
 
Sounds like she is just passing all her nutrition on to her foal - otherwise known as a very good mum.
You'll probably find that she'll start to look better as the foal gets older and eats more grass etc instead of draining mum.
And I wouldn't feed her anything at all extra for being 28 days pregnant - don't feed for pregnancy until the last third.
S
smile.gif
 
My mare has done the same thing this year.
Have experienced it before.
Good old boy told me years ago feed mare soya bean meal (dampt down) with stud nuts and chaff. ALWAYS ADD LIMESTONE FLOUR. Soya is an old fashioned feed but great for breeding stock. it is about 26% protein hence the limestone. Foaly can have some to but not alot.
Mare could have 1/2 scoop per feed. depends how much you want to build her up. Never have had foal growth problems with this but have with extruded feeds.
Look at you tube SANDOKAN FOAL. this mare was also put straight back with the stallion. Update of them soon to be added.
HOPE IT HELPS
 
It's been a bu**er of summer to try to keep weight on anything especially if you've been waterlogged like we have.

If it was me, it seems like the foal is taking too much out of her so I would up her feeds to three a day if you can manage it; I'd also think about hay in preference to haylage; I've noticed a big difference in feeding the two, hay seems to suit them so much better and they hold weight better with it too (ours is only a nice meadow hay so not packed with protein but it is suiting them and it is dry, unlike haylage or the wet grass in which there is absolutely no goodness at all just now.) I'd also think about taking her off a stud mix and use stud cubes instead; weight for weight, you don't need to feed as much cubes as a mix; Bailey's are particularly good for weight gain) and top up the ration with a stud balancer, again Bailey's is first class.
Please don't feed sugar beet in any form (speedibeet, alphabeet, plain sugar beet, whatever even when properly soaked) if your foal can get to it! Their stomachs are not developed enough to be able to digest it properly until they are at least seven months old and it can induce colic so not worth the risk. If you can split mare and foal at feeding time, then that is different of course. Ideally, you should not be adding extra to the rations because you are unbalancing the ration, you would be far better feeding just one thing with a balancer (Blue Chip is also very good and probably works out the same as a stud balancer as you normally feed half as much BC to the stud balancer if that makes sense.
As SN and others have said, please watch the foal for going upright, it's horrendously quick to happen, can literally be overnight, and when it's started, then you will have to cut out all feed to the mare which is what she doesn't need just now.
Good luck, have you any pic's?
 
I'd speak to a nutritionist. By feeding all of those extra things in addition to the mare and foal mix, the diet will be unbalanced. i use either a stud mix or Bailey's balancer
 

Thanks Pat - there's so much to think about. Luckily I do split the mare and foal at feeding time (training from an early age!) so there's no worry on the foal eating the mare's feed (although more often than not it's the mare that tries the foal's food!) Vet coming for another scan this week so I'll ask her opinion too. Will try and ad some pics for you but not sure I've got the hang of it yet!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top