Question for Sportznight re Foals

AmyMay

AmyMay

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After some advice from you, if I could.

After the mare has foaled - do you let nature take it's course, or do you help put the foal on the teat??
 
i had to help mine because the mare kept moving away.lol.she needed sedating in the end.
i would leave unless there is a problem or it doesnt find it within about 2-3hours after birth. or if the foal gets very tired.they tend to go for dark corners too so limiting any dark areas in the stable if poss will help.if you can position the foal if needs be by the mare facing its rump they usually catch on quick and then seem to take a few tries before catching on exactly where the milk is!
 
I remember your very long and detailed pm to me about it!! Filled me with panic because I'm convinced this is going to be Amy
crazy.gif
She can be an absolute bugger.

But I'm curious as well though, because I know some people seem quite anxious to get the foal on and suckling - which seems to make the whole event very stressful ultimately. And I really do not want that to be the situation with Amy.
 
That can depend. I'd say that 98% of the time you'd let nature take it's course. Some mares have poor colostrum (it's not dark cream and viscous, like good colostrum), some may have dripped run milk for a few days, therefore you need to bottle feed BEFORE the foal finds the teat - the foal won't be interested in the bottle once it's been to the milk bar!! IF a foal has had colostrum from a bottle (something that you NEVER do if the foal is lying down, they HAVE to learn that they need to get up to nurse!), then IMO you really should leave it to nature and TOTALLY leave them alone, but discretely checking to make sure that foalie has nursed. This is because the foal will immediately associate YOU with food, not it's mum!! Now, obviously, not everyone has a store of frozen colostrum, but most studs have some and may let you have/buy some should you need it - more likely to be successful if you ask the stud where the sire stands.

Interfering with a foal that is trying to find the bag and nurse is damned difficult and IMO only really necessary if there are problems with the foal physically - ie if it has difficulty standing and balancing, then you may go in and stand behind the baby to help it keep it's balance. Remember, you can only do what the mare lets you!! If the foal REALLY needs help, then she may need restraining if she is un-cooperative - bridle/chiffney/twitch/hobble. I've not had to interfere very often, the worst case was in a small, weak foal that had no suck reflex - she decided to suckle when she was 14hrs old! but by then she'd had plasma and been tubed with her mother's colostrum. She was apparently a rarity, having such a delayed suck reflex! I'd say that 50% of babies are born and within 10 mins they are trying to suckle on anything that comes close enough - the rest tend to find their feet, get over the vertigo and then think "Hey, I'm kinda hungry".

Most of the time all you need do is gentley express a little colostrum from the mare and rub it on her bag and then let the foal smell it on you hand. Yeah, they'll suckle all over her chest and her elbows and hocks and some even latch onto the stifles, but they all get there - the majority within 3hrs I'd say. The last one I foaled, was up in 25 mins and had found the milk bar 15 mins later - but then that was a filly! Boys tend to be slower to get up and slower to find the bag.

ETS - if your mare does decide to drip/run milk, then milk her and freeze it to give to the foal once it's born - remember do NOT defrost the colostrum in the microwave! Put the container in boiling water and use a glass bottle and sheep teats to feed with!
 
We deal with all foals on there own merits.
If we have a weak one then we will try and bottle feed it some as they then get the energy to get up and feed.
some are slow and are best left alone as they start to get stroppy if you interfere like the hypoxic ones.
Depends how bad they are , we have only ever had to tube one and honestly didnt think that one would make it but it was fine once it had something in its stomach and its suck reflex returned.
In all cases though we like our foals to have had something within the first hour.
So yes we help whether with a bottle or just assistance.
There is nothing worse than a tired cold foal struggling to suckle.
That can be just as stressy for them.
 
Mine wouldnt let baby near her udder as she was so full it must have been painful as she wouldnt let me near it in the end - so all I did was got a friend to guide baby whilst I got through 4 packs of polos with mum!!!!! Once he was on & suckling correctly she realised he was helping & stood there looking relieved
 
A way to relieve this would have been to warm/hot towel her udder - make some milk come out naturally, with the heat it sprays out, then when the bag is less tight, the mare is more comfortable.
 
i left my mare and filly to it for 2 hours but the filly was starting to tire(mum kept spinning her bum away from the foal)-hence i helped position her by the udder and my mate tried to hold the mare against the wall!she wouldnt stand and if she was put into a corner she reared up.hence she was sedated.foal then found the udder unaided(mare still had to have a front leg picked up and eye covered though!!!)
mum wasnt hjaving any of it, but she didnt mind me feeling her udder just didnt want foal near it!she was confused by the whole thing.she was talking and licking the foal the whole time though.
 
That's not unusual with maidens tbh - they can be so pleased with their new baby, that they don't want it out of their sight. I've never had to sedate a mare, but certainly tough restraint has been needed in the past.
 
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