Whacky idea? Mares milk for a horse with a virus

F

flyingfeet

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 March 2006
Messages
8,073
Location
South West
Visit site
So from my previous post, my poor boy has a nasty virus and an extremely low white cell count

Now I was doing searches about boosting the immune system and came across immunomodulation and transfer factors from colostrums

So would mares milk be of any value to a fully grown horse? It wouldn't be colostrum so I guess antibodies would be thin on the ground, but milk is very nourishing and still does have a certain protection factor to it. I happen to have a mare still producing as she was too fat to remove the foal.

Obviously I haven't put much thought about how to milk her and whether my boy will touch the stuff!
 
Mine wouldn't let me milk her after weaning - vet advised I took a little off her every other day as she was on box rest and couldn't walk her bag off. She tried to kill me.

GOOD LUCK!! Lol
 
It's colostrum that contains all the immunoglobins, I think actual mare's milk is pretty low in them. Also, a foal's gut is only able to absorb the immunoglobins for a very short amount of time (I think 12 hours, but I would have to check) so they would be no use to an adult horse. I think also, that feeding milk to an adult horse would probably give him the squits.

In foals that have not received sufficient colostrum, but whose guts are no longer able to absorb IgG you can give them hyperimmune plasma i/v, but I'm not sure if that is appropriate in your horse's case, or whether it would do any good.
 
Feeding mares milk would be pointless as it is only the first couple of feeds from a mare that contain the colustrum you are talking about. You can however buy dried milk cows colustrum that you can mix in with feed. I know of it because it is extremely popular with elite athletes for boosting the immune system. Try doing a search for cows colustrum. It should be easily available. As for feeding it to a horse I don't know what effect it would have on their stomach. Hope this helps. Good luck
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top