Managing The Foaling Season
By Jeff Van Petten, DVM, Meriden Animal Hospital, Meriden, KS
With the beginning of the new year mare owners can look forward to new foals and getting their mares ready for breeding. With the availability of shipped and frozen semen and embryo transfer there are lots of variables to take into account and manage. I will try to cover most of them, but feel free to call me it you have any questions.
If you are looking to breed open mares and want early foals they need to be under lights now and should have been since Nov. 1 to breed in January of February. If your mare failed to breed last year now is the time to be making an appointment with your veterinarian to have her evaluated. The evaluation process may include the use of an ultrasound, culture and/or biopsy. By starting now, you can treat her so she is ready to breed. If your mare is going to foal this spring then you need to start now preparing her for foaling.
Nutrition is of major importance to have a healthy foal and a mare ready to breed back right away. The last three months of gestation and the first three months of lactation can show an energy increase of as much as 70%. The mare should be in good flesh and even gaining a small amount of weight prior to foaling. The mare should also be dewormed regularly and 30 days prior to foaling. The mare should be current on her vaccinations prior to foaling to pass on antibodies in the colostrum. We recommend Eastern and Western Encephalitis, Tetanus, Rhinopneuminitis, and West Nile Virus. West Nile vaccine has not been reported to cause any problems in pregnant mares. Your mare should have or should be receiving Rhinopneuminitis vaccinations at five, seven, and nine months of pregnancy.
When the big day gets closer, you may want to move your mare to a clean, dry stall bedded with straw preferably. Signs to watch for are waxing or a secretion on the ends of her teats resembling wax. Usually the mare is one to four days from foaling. Most mares, no matter how much you watch, will wait for you to leave to have their foal. If you are present, the mare may act colicky or uncomfortable, at first looking back at her side, mild straining, or acting nervous.
The next part of labor should be quick. The foal should be presented feet first and these feet should have the hoof down followed by the head. If the feet are sole up then the colt is probably backwards and you should call for help immediately. From the time the mare starts straining she should deliver the foal in 20-30 minutes.
After the foal is born, the mare needs to pass the placenta and this should be within 30 minutes. If this does not happen the mare needs to be attended to, as the mare can develop endotoxic shock from retained membranes. Veterinarians like to examine the placenta to make sure she has passed all of it. The colt should be up and sucking within an hour and have a bowel movement soon after sucking as well. You can also have the foals' blood checked to make sure they have nursed and received adequate colostrums.
If the foal does not have a bowel movement or is straining hard to do that, then you can give the baby an enema.
Now that we have a foal, it is time to get your mare bred back, if there were no complications at time of foaling. The mare should cycle and breed in eight to twelve days with the most favorable time around ten days. If you plan to breed the mare, you need to take the mare to the stud or have the semen shipped to the mare. We do a lot of mares at my practice with shipped semen every year and started doing some frozen semen last year. If you know when the mare is cycling you can bring them in at the start of the cycle to be ultrasounded and follow their cycle to order the semen when she has a follicle that is ready to breed.
When the mare is inseminated, medication can also be given to stimulate her to ovulate. That helps increase the odds. As we approach the foaling and breeding season we need to remember to do everything we can to keep our mares as healthy as possible. Keep nutrition at as high a level as possible, and do the routine health care needed to produce a healthy foal.
