PDA

View Full Version : help



Starship Captain
10-26-2011, 10:38 PM
We have an old mare with a week old foal at foot, she is not producing enough milk.IMO
Any feed,drugs, etc??? that will help?

Greg Hando
10-27-2011, 12:04 AM
Oats are good and plenty of them

triplev123
10-27-2011, 12:31 PM
Make sure that she's drinking enough too. Fluid's very, very important. If mares get past a certain point of being deyhdrated then kinda strangely they'll sometimes actually stop drinking altogether, then their milk starts to dry up. Easy test, check her skin....get your thumb & forefinger & grab a slab between the shoulder & the neck & pull it out about as far as it can reasonably go...then let it go again and watch how quickly it springs back into place. If, instead of basically snapping back, it kinda slides back slowly like a slug then it's odds on that she's dehydrated. Get your Vet to check her for same & if he/she agrees, you'd then be best to tube her with some electrolytes/glucose to try & get her back on track. Good quality lush pasture never goes astray also, it's a double edged as it = feed +water content. Fluids & feed for the mare. If you're also worried about the foal not getting enough fluid get the Vet to give it a tubing as well. A lack of milk per se won't kill a foal, rather dehyrdation will. They spark up while you're watching them when you give them fluids, mares & foals. Along with all that I think(?) you can also give them injections...can't remember if it's Oxytocin or LH or what. Might not be either. Check with your Vet.

Starship Captain
10-27-2011, 10:39 PM
Thanks Triplev123, Gred Hando,
We had the vet out and he checked for dehydration, all good.
She is hard on her foal when we put her outside. The old dragon walks around alot and never lets the foal rest, so in a stall for now.
The vet has given us placenta extract, domperidone to give the mare and the feed is a mixture of lucerne hay, pasture hay, oats, molases, a protein additive of sorts.