July 2017 Articles

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Care of the Broodmare and Newborn Foa

Care of the Broodmare and Newborn Foal Source: Courteney Holland-cem0022@auburn.edu, Auburn University Continued from June Issue Foal Health Problems Diarrhea in the newborn foal is not common and may indicate a serious illness in the foal. A squirting type of diarrhea can result in dehydration and death of a newborn foal in a few hours. Immediately consult your veterinarian if your new- born foal develops diarrhea. However, mild diarrhea is common in older foals (1 to 2 weeks of age). This diarrhea often occurs during the mare’s foal heat (a fertile heat beginning approximately 7 to 9 days after foaling) and is commonly termed “foal heat scours.” In the past, horse breeders thought hormonal changes in the mare’s milk during foal heat caused diarrhea in the foal. Recent re- search has implicated an internal parasite (Strongyloides westeri) as the true cause of foal heat scours. This parasite is transmitted from the dam to the foal through the mammary gland. Foals begin to shed eggs in their feces 10 to 14 days after birth, resulting in scours that coincidentally occur with foal heat in the mare. If the foal is alert and nursing regularly, mild foal heat scours usually do not harm it. However if the foal stops nursing and becomes weak or dehydrated, consult your veterinarian immediately. You should keep the scoured areas around the foal’s buttocks clean to prevent scalding of the skin. Wash the area with mild soap and water and coat it with petroleum jelly to prevent scalding. Many foals have limb weaknesses or angular deformities at birth. These include knuckling over at the fetlock joint, weak pasterns in which the back of the fetlock touches the ground, knock knees, and crooked legs. Many of these conditions correct themselves with exercise. If your foal is born with less than straight legs, your veterinarian can assess the situation and recommend a treatment. Some foals may be born with hernias (defects in the body wall that allow part of the intestines to protrude under the skin). Hernias occur most frequently at the naval and scrotal areas. Small hernias often correct themselves with time, and larger hernias may require surgical correction. Again, this is a situation that your veterinarian should assess and treat. Occasionally the newborn foal’s eyelids and lashes are turned in toward the eye rather than turned out as normal. This is a condition called “entropion” and causes tearing and irritation of the eye. If your foal has entropion, gently roll the eye- lid out and consult your veterinarian for the proper eye ointment or treatment that you can perform. Another infrequent problem in newborn foals is caused by an incompatibility between blood groups of the mare and foal. This condition is known as “neonatal isoerythrolysis” or “jaundice foal.” Antibodies to the foal’s red blood cells are formed by the mare and secreted in her colostrum. When the foal nurses and absorbs these antibodies, its red blood cells are destroyed. Without prompt veterinary treatment, the foal becomes anemic and dies. If you suspect neonatal isoerythrolysis, prevent the foal from consuming colostrum until you can get a veterinarian to test for the condition. Care of the Mare After foaling, allow the mare to lie quietly as long as possible. This allows the mare a rest period after birth and prevents premature breaking of the umbilical cord. Most mares will stand within 15 minutes after birth. After standing, the mare begins licking the foal vigorously. The mare is attracted to the birth fluids on the foal and she bonds to the foal when licking off these fluids. You should not interrupt the mare or dry the foal (unless it is cold enough to threaten the foal’s health), because it might interfere with the bonding process. Most mares expel the afterbirth within 1 hour after delivery. If the afterbirth has not been expelled after 3 hours, get your veterinarian to treat the mare. Retained afterbirths can cause colic, founder (laminitis), or septicemia in the mare. You should never pull on the afterbirth, because this can tear it and leave small pieces in the mare. Never cut off the expelled portion of the afterbirth or tie it up to the mare’s tail, because its weight helps gradually to pull it away from the mare’s uterus. If the mare is bothered by the afterbirth swinging around her hind legs, tie the afterbirth in a ball with a piece of twine until she delivers it. Spread the afterbirth on the ground after delivery and examine it carefully to make sure no small pieces have been retained. A normal afterbirth consists of a large sack (allantochorion) that is a shiny grey-white color on the outside and a velvety red color in the inside, a sack that immediately surrounds the foal (amnion), and the remains of the umbilical cord. Piece together any broken pieces to make sure the complete afterbirth was expelled. Then, weigh the afterbirth. A normal afterbirth should weigh about 11 percent of the foal’s birth weight (about 10 to 14 pounds for most riding horse breeds). A heavy placenta (around 20 pounds) or one that is bloody in appearance may indicate a uterine infection, and the mare should be checked by your veterinarian
Check the mare for several days after the delivery for any signs of reproductive tract infections. A slight, watery, blood-tinged discharge is fairly common, but a thick, whitish discharge usually indicates a problem that may require veterinary care. Care of Orphan Foals Orphan foals can result from death of the mare, inability of the mare to produce milk, or maternal rejection of the foal. Orphan foals can be raised successfully with some extra care. As with mothered foals, you should make sure the orphan receives colostrum soon after birth. If the foal cannot receive its mother’s colostrum, try to locate frozen colostrum (large breeding farms and your veterinarian are good sources). Thaw the frozen colostrum at room temperature. Microwaving or heating the colostrum can destroy the protective antibodies in it. In the absence of any colostrum, your veterinarian can give the foal a plasma trans- fusion or an oral colostrum replacer to get anti- bodies into its system. The best and easiest solution for an orphan is to transfer it to a nurse mare. To transfer the foal, dis- guise its odor by rubbing whiskey, linseed oil, the foster mother’s milk, urine or feces, or any other liquid with a strong odor on the foal. Rub the same odor around the mare’s nose. The nurse mare usually must be restrained or tranquilized for several days until she willingly lets the orphan nurse. Another solution is to let the foal nurse a milk goat. This is a good temporary solution, but most goats cannot produce enough milk daily to meet an older foal’s nutritional needs. You will need an elevated area for the goat to stand on during nursing (a few bales of hay make a good temporary platform), and you should pad the goat’s horns to prevent it from hurting the foal. If these options do not work you will have to bottle-feed or bucket-feed the foal with a mare’s milk replacer. There are several recipes for mare’s milk replacer; however, the commercially available formulas are nutritionally balanced for the foal and easy to mix and use. Whenever possible, teach the foal to drink from a bucket. This will save you many hours of lost sleep and time away from work. To teach the foal to drink from a bucket, coat your finger with milk and allow the foal to suck your finger. Gradually immerse your finger in the buck- et of milk. Waiting several hours between feedings so the foal is hungry often speeds up the learning process. If the foal does have to be bottle-fed, hold the bottle at the approximate height of a mare’s udder so that the foal nurses in a natural position. If possible, use a bottle holder so that the foal does not assume you are its mother. You want the foal to learn it is a horse and to respect humans. You should quickly and consistently discipline the foal for inappropriate behavior (biting, kicking, shoving, rearing) directed toward you. Orphans that are bucket-fed or bottle-fed and those nursing a milk goat should be introduced to other horses as soon as possible so they will develop normal equine social behavior. Putting an old, quiet mare or gelding in the pen or stall next to the orphan promotes normal social behavior. If your older horse can be trusted not to hurt the foal, turn them out together as soon as possible. A healthy foal nurses from its mother up to seven times an hour for 60 to 90 seconds each time. A newborn orphan should be fed at least every 1 to 2 hours during their first week of life. Free-choice milk intake is recommended for healthy foals. During the first 2 days of life, a foal should drink about 10 to 15 percent of its body weight daily. For the next 5 days the foal’s intake should increase to 25 percent of its body weight daily. When either bottlefeeding or bucket feeding foals, make sure that your feeding equipment is clean and that milk does not sour between feedings. Orphan foals always should have access to water and salt. Orphans should be offered grain, milk replacer pellets, and hay after a few days of life. However, the foal may not consume much solid food until it is about 1 month old. A New Foal Checklist Several simple post-foaling management practices will help ensure the health of your mare and foal. A checklist follows.  Make sure the foal is breathing.  Put iodine on the foal’s umbilical stump.  Make sure the foal (including orphan foals) receives colostrum soon after birth.  Make sure the foal is protected against tetanus, either through the colostrum or by a tetanus antitoxin injection.  Make sure the foal passes the meconium and treat constipation or diarrhea promptly.  Check the umbilical stump for several days for the presence of urine.  Check that the foal’s eyelids and lashes are turned outward.  Follow your veterinarian’s advice about any limb deformities and hernias.  Make sure the mare expels the afterbirth and check it for completeness.  Check the mare for several days after foaling for any sign of reproductive tract infection. To horse owners unfamiliar with raising foals, this post-foaling checklist may seem like a large amount of work. However, it only takes a few minutes to perform these management procedures, and then you can relax and enjoy your new foal knowing that you have done your best to ensure its well-being.