Pre-Foaling Advice

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!!
"A review of the "biggie" concerns of the last 3-4 months of your mares gestation"

#1 Re-count!!
Re-count when your mare is due to foal! Start the count from the mare's last cover by the stallion. If you know when she ovulated, start on the day after. A mare commonly carries a healthy fetus for @345 days. Give or take 10 days! If she was bred early in the year (Feb - Apr) add ten days to 340. For some reason, the fetus of mares bred early want to hang on for this average. The same applies to your maiden (first foal) mare. Colts are usually born 2-4 days past the norm. If you bred your mare during her traditional breeding season (April - July) expect the foal to be delivered closer and somewhat earlier than 345 days. I also encourage you to note on your calendar the 320th day of her gestation. This is what I call "somewhat out of the fire" day. Foals born before this day usually do not survive. Unlike human babies, "preemies" in horses do not survive and our technology to date can not save them. After day 320 their chances with our technology are much better. Personally I and my wallet let out a sigh of relief after the mare has passed day 330! So make sure that your "Expected Day Of Foaling" is as accurate as you can make it!
#2 Time to up the groceries!
And buy a feed scale!
Your mare's fetus is now beginning to really tap into mom's reserves! Especially her calories and her calcium and phosphorus. If she does not have extra in her to share with this little parasite, the fetus will take it from her! This will lead to a reduction in the mares body condition score (should be a 6 - 7.5) and to a permanent reduction in her overall bone mass. You do not want her wasting at this point! You really would like to see her gaining! The wasting part will come by the time she is lactating! So keep her well fed!

How to?

(A) Buy the best quality grain you can afford!

As she gets bigger she will not want to eat as much. She will run out of room to consume large amounts of roughage or grain. So the better the quality of grain, the less you can feed her. This applies to her roughage too! And break up your feedings into as many small feedings as possible. This will help due to the decreased amount of "internal room" she now has.

(B) It's time to introduce some green leafy legume to her diet of hay.

If you own an "air plant" of a mare (she is already at a body condition score of 7 - 9) continue on the nutrition plan that you are already on, but do supplement her diet with a commercial supplement made for broodmares. She will still need the extra protein, calcium and the supplement will ensure that she and her developing fetus are covered.

If she is tough to keep weight on as it is, you REALLY need to get her body condition score up NOW! You will be backpeddeling later if you don't. Your foal's growth will suffer and your mare will not breed back easily this spring if you don't. How to fix? Add FAT. Add fat by adding corn oil. Or, my favorite is to add the new stabilized rice bran supplements. It is very high in fat and is not so messy as oil. Make sure that you buy the kind that has added extra calcium to it or you will hurt your mare and foal! bran takes calcium AWAY from a horse. You NEVER want to do that especially not now. But specially formulated rice bran covers this and it has stabilized the fat in the rice bran (And wheat bran is not the same). Rice Bran is what you want.

You should already have one of these in your feed room. And you should already use it everyday! Feed is not consistent in it's weight! So each "coffee can" is not always equal! Your brand of feed will have a weight conversion on the bag. On it should be the percentage of grain that should be fed to your late gestating mare whether she is on a grass hay diet or a legume bases diet. Weigh your mare with a tape, pull out the calculator and figure out the amount of feed you should be giving your mare everyday with that particular feed. For instance, my feed says to feed .75 - 1.25% of my mares body weight in feed per day if she is on pasture and grass hay. She weighs about 1200 lbs. Ok, math : It's early in her late gestation and she is in excellent flesh (body score of about a 7 )so I'll go with .75%. I need to put that into decimal form.... .75% divided by 100 = .0075 .... Ok, now .0075 x 1200 lbs = 9 pounds of grain per day. So I need to feed her 4.5 lbs of grain per feeding right now to keep up with her demands. You may have to adjust it up or down, depending on your mare, but it is usually very accurate! (See why you need a scale!? )

#3 Stay Put! No visitors allowed!!!

She needs to be put into the same pasture, stall and be surrounded by the same horses that she will be around when and after she foals!!!! Adhering to this can save your foals life!!!! (and you ALOT of money!!) She is now beginning to make antibodies to put into her "first milk" (colostrum) for her foal. Foals are born WITHOUT any antibodies. They get them from their moms first milk. Germs that are present in great quantities in paddock A may not be present in foaling paddock B. BUT last years foal who had the rota virus WAS in paddock B and now your mare has not built antibodies against it!!! Guess what your foal is going to come down with???? But, if your mare was in paddock B all along, her milk will be FULL of antibodies to the rota virus and your foal will be better protected from it. Same is true for her companions. At this time she should be placed with quiet, gentle pasture mates. And, they should remain the same from month 3 to at least month two after foaling. No new buddies. Not even over the fence or in the stall next door. New germs introduced after the second or third month of before your mare foals and your foal will not be protected form the germ. It will get sick. I can not stress this enough.

#4 Keep in shape!

If you have been riding your mare during her pregnancy GREAT! Keep it up!! But keep it light. Long walks and a bit of trot or jog will help mom through the foaling process. If your mare is well behaved, even a leisurely canter is fun. I know my mare enjoys it! It's a sight though!! ( At my farm, my boarders and I fondly refer to the fuzzy green bareback pad as "Summys maternity saddle"! )

#5 Buy a "delivery predictor" kit

There are several on the market! Just make sure that it is affordable and easy to use. They are a blast to use and will save you many sleepless nights! She can bag up and leak milk for two weeks!!! But the test will tell you to go to bed! It ain’t gonna happen tonight!! ;o) You will thank me for this! My favorite is by a company called Chemetrics. The test is called "Foal Watch". The farm catalog "Nasco" now caries them or you can order them direct. They are under $40.00 and are well worth the money!

#6 Get prepared!

Buy your straw ahead of time to avoid the rush. Inspect the mare's stall for anything that a foal could hurt itself on. Inspect the turnout area. Remind your vet of the mares due date. Make sure your rectal thermometer works and get some k-y jelly for it too. Make a "foaling prep." box. Fill it with very clean towels, lots of them! Tincture of Iodine for the foals stump or use chlorhexadine solution which is even better (it does not sting or stain so bad!). Petroleum jelly in case you need to assist. A small clean bucket to put the placenta into and a cover to keep the pests out of it until your vet can come by to inspect it. A tail wrap for the mare. A disposable camera for your foal's baby pictures!