| Featured Article - February
2006
In The Shadow of Equus Broodmares, Birthing & Babies
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| Last
year, I was surprised at how many calls I received from breeders with
an urgent need for colostrum. Mares, some of them young first-time
mothers, had either died or rejected their foals, leaving them stranded
without the life-protection of the dam’s first milk. For almost all the
foals, there were happy outcomes, but one or two tragically didn’t make
it. Every birth is unique. Last May, our eight-year-old Thoroughbred mare, Daisy, gave birth for the first time. She’s a really intelligent mare, but also high strung. I have to say, though, when all the hormones associated with eleven months of pregnancy mellowed her out, I was pretty pleased. The pregnancy progressed quietly, unobtrusively, and by late winter she was getting pretty large. Mares generally give birth between 335-345 days of pregnancy and Daisy was due to foal, according to our calculations, around May 14. I expected to see her milk bag begin to expand at the beginning of the month, but it didn’t begin to change until day 337 of her pregnancy as the milk ducts activated and her teats became more pronounced. As each day went by, Daisy continued to look relaxed and huge. But her bag was very slow to get to size and the typical white dots were slow to appear. On day 347, Daisy had a false labour. She was turned out in the 30-acre field with the rest of the horses. I was busy filling the water tub by the gate when I saw her leave the others and walk toward me. She started to paw the ground, then paced back and forth and continually glanced at her flanks. Her neck and shoulders were sweaty even though the morning was cool. I put her into the nursery paddock by the barn where she could be watched. This was her first foal. I didn’t want her panicking or the rest of the horses getting excited around her. For a few hours she paced, picked at grass, and watched her flanks. But then the symptoms of impending birth disappeared as she settled down to graze quietly. I was relieved. Her milk bag, still waxed shut, didn’t show symptoms of impending birth. The false labour may have been a reaction to the foal lying awkwardly as it positioned itself for birth. It would be another six days before Daisy would finally give birth in the early hours of her 353rd day of pregnancy. The evening before, milk had started to drip from her bag that had finally swollen to full size. Then, as all the conditions came together in the early hours, Daisy paced, lay down, flattened out, then broke out in a sweat as powerful contractions delivered her healthy colt, “Sham.” It would be three more hours before he was safely on his feet and figuring out which end was the breakfast table. By now, precious colostrum was streaming from Daisy. To help Sham along, I expressed several ounces of milk into a metal bowl, transferred some of it into a vial and syringed it into Sham’s mouth. I smeared the rest generously over her bag and teats. Within five minutes, the strong scent of the colostrum had guided him to the nearest teat and he had begun nursing. For every breeder, that time from the moment of birth to when the foal takes its first meal is profoundly moving. Almost always things go well. But if they don’t, if a broodmare dies, rejects her foal, or streams her milk before going into labour, a newborn foal can face serious consequences. |
Late
in pregnancy, a mare produces colostrum, milk rich in fat, vitamins,
minerals and protein. It is high in vitamin A, which newborn foals are
deficient in. It has a laxative effect and helps the foal expel the
meconium, the dark coloured substance that accumulated in its
intestinal tract before birth. The foal’s first bowel movements rid the
system of meconium and within a few days the black substance is
replaced by the yellow feces of a healthy foal. Vitally important, though, colostrum contains the mare’s antibodies, which she passes on to the foal. In many species, antibodies and immunoglobulins pass across the placenta into the fetus. But the horse does not kick-start its immune system until it feeds on colostrum during the first 24 hours after birth. After that window of time, colostrum production in the mare decreases and the foal’s digestive tract changes so that antibodies can no longer be absorbed. If a foal cannot get colostrum naturally, it must receive it from another source, ideally from stockpiled colostrum manually milked from a healthy broodmare. In recent years, there has been an alarming lack of stored colostrum, or an absence of a means to communicate between those who need it and those who have it. To meet breeders’ emergency needs, Nurse Mare and Colostrum Registries were established in Alberta and British Columbia as a databank of breeders who have colostrum in storage. Information and contacts are maintained by geographical reference, making it efficient for breeders with an urgent need to connect with those who have a colostrum supply in the same local area. If you would like to help other breeders and foals in difficulty, think about milking your own broodmare. It’s easy, doesn’t deny the foal, and doesn’t hurt the mare. A good plan is to wait eight to ten hours after delivery. By that time, the foal will have bonded and settled with its dam and nursed a number of times. Milk your mare when your foal is resting. After cleaning the udder, push the milk bag upward to trigger the flow. Watch how your foal does it and copy the action. Then draw down in a rhythm on the nipple for the flow to start. Since the milk can sometimes spray from the teat, use a sterilized, reasonably wide stainless steel mixing bowl or plastic container to catch it. Strain the milk through cheesecloth into freezer containers and freeze immediately. Mark the container with the mare’s name, date of collection, how much time had elapsed after birth and the volume stored. In two or three sessions, you should be able to take about a cup or more of milk. Be sure to do all the milking within 24 hours of the foal’s birth. A nursing mare that has lost her foal could also be vitally important to a breeder whose newborn has lost its dam. Please let me know if tragic circumstances leave you with a nursing mare but no foal. We might be able to connect you with someone with an orphaned foal looking for a surrogate dam. Let your vet know that you have colostrum available and notify the BC Nurse Mare and Colostrum Registry, which is operated from my office at telephone 604-824-9394, fax 604-824-9384, or email at earthway@uniserve.com. Alberta breeders contact the Alberta Nurse Mare and Colostrum Registry online: www.cyberfoal.com. The site contains colostrum postings as well as other useful information. Read Margaret Evans' column "In The Shadow Of Equus" each month in The Pacific & Prairie Horse Journal
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