Weaning (boobie) question!!

charliesarmy

charliesarmy

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MY mare has been seperated from her foal today...and seems really chilled :)(promply came into season for her gelding field mate) so question her udder is very very full and dripping when would you expect this to reduce?? and are there any classic signs of *not the norm* I should be looking for??
 
I tend to go for a "gradual" weaning i.e. mare and foal are in separate stables next to each other at night and get turned out together during the day, so that the mare gradually accustoms to having to produce less milk. Then in separate paddocks next to each other, then paddocks a field apart etc... With complete separation, you can "milk the mare a little to relieve the pressure (but not too much otherwise she will produce more milk to replace what is lost as if the foal were still suckling) and make sure the udders don't get too hard/hot as she might be getting mastitis. The advantage of doing a little "milking" is that you can see whether blood is appearing in the milk, which is a definite sign of mastitis and she will be needing antibiotics. 24 hour turnout is good, the more she moves, the less the milk will settle in the udders and create problems.
Good luck, and remember that in most cases it all goes within a couple of weeks x
 
Just check her udders to make sure they don't become 'hot' and/or rock hard.

I tend to observe mine and don't milk them as it can encourage more milk production - prolonging the drying up process.

They should start to go down in a week or so and be 'gone' in a couple of weeks.
 
mines is partially weaned - I've seperated them at night. not been able to seperate them during the day as yet as they are in pens during the winter. unfortunately she's a year old this month! my stomach is in knots at the thot of youngsters behaviour wen they r apart
 
Like Ginnie I do mine gradually too to avoid mastitis and anxiety, the 11 month old I have just weaned is happily with her friends right next door to Mum, there was a little nickering between them but as they can touch each other they can still have physical contact. As I separated gradually over a few weeks, I only had 2 occasions when I had to let the foal feed a little as the udder was hard and a week later there is virtually nothing left.

When I let them feed it is only enough just to take the swelling down, literally a couple of sucks on each side. The Udder production naturally falls in response to the fall in feeding particularly the length of time between feeds, so providing when you strip it manually you don't do it too much or more importantly too often. If you do decide to strip any off wear gloves or wash your hands thoroughly, it's easy to forget otherwise you may cause an infection.

I have found this method excellent for stress and mastitis and have observed in all the mares I have done it with that milk production falls very quickly in response to the control in feeding times. With this mare it has taken less than 2 days until the mare is comfortable and the bag is not filling excessively and a week till the bag is nearly gone.
 
KK and Ginnie my plan was to try and do a natural weaning :( (he is 10 months old) but mare was getting more and more narky when he tried to feed and was worried that there might be trouble...so when a friend offered me grazing for a few months I took her up on her offer..mares bags were huge last night not as big today and when I touched them they were heavy cool but fluidy..shes moving about fine so will keep a check o her...just looking at a drying out timescale....also mare promply came into a very heavy season as soon as she landed with her new gelding fieldmate is this a bad thing or really insignificant??
 
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