Extra calcium for lactating mares

[targetsmom]

Do you give your mares extra calcium when they are nursing foals? If so, in what form and how much? After Mira's bout with "thumps" (hypocalcemia), the hospital had her on 8 1,025 mg tablets of calcium carbonate a day, which is lowered now to 6. It is only 40% CA so she is getting about 2.5 grams of calcium a day, plus what she gets in beet pulp and soaked alfalfa cubes, grain, etc. I would love to find something a bit easier to give because these don't dissolve but form a suspension that is hard to give in a dosing syringe. By the way, calcium carbonate is the same as Tums, so when I gave her the Tums that first day, I was on the right track!

I have some CMPK from Tractor Supply which is a Calcium/magnesium (paste) supplement for cows which would be easier to give. I think someone mentioned 5 cc for a minis mare??? I also just realized that the U-Gard I give for ulcer prevention is touted as a Calcium supplement. Anyone use that - and how much??

 

[Riverrose28]

Several years ago I had a mare with thumps, so the next time she was in foal this is what the vet advised me to do: One month before foaling I hung two water buckets in her stall, she has a small paddock to go out in for exercise during the day that also has a tub. One bucket was just regular water the other had electolites with calcium added. If the mare felt the need for the supplement she drank from that bucket. I kept the two buckets with her until the foal was weaned, and she never had a thumps problem with that foal.

 

[targetsmom]

Hmm.. that would be pretty easy - she already has 2 buckets in her stall. Of course Bunny likes to spill one of them.

 

[Riverrose28]

I can so sypathize with you, as I was so scared to breed this mare back after her thumps episode, I thought I was going to lose her during this time, and she is hubby's favorite mare that his MOm bought him before she passed. She has since had two more foals and no more thumps thanks to the electrolites with calcium.

 

[cretahillsgal]

I wouldn't routinelly give calcium to a lactating mare. Because adding one mineral might throw off th balance of another one. I would reccomend however adding alfalfa to their diet and it is high in calcium.

When I had one that developed thumps, I DID continue to give her the CMPK gel till she finished nursing that foal. And it was 5cc each day. That was 3 years ago, and she has never had another problem.

 

[targetsmom]

Thanks Julie- since I already have the CMPK I might just use it. I like the fact it isn't JUST calcium but is already balanced, albeit for cows!

 

[Minimor]

Remember that a mare can develop hypocalcemia and thumps a couple of weeks prior to foaling. If she is going to have a problem it won't necessarily be after foaling and it could even be after weaning.

Our mare that had thumps/calcium deficiency the one time never had problems during future pregnancies. We didn't give her calcium after that one time but she did get a mineral supplement that was higher in calcium and she did get more alfalfa after that. Just as a side note, I have talked to people since who said that they had mares have a calcium deficiency even on supplements and/or alfalfa. It's not necessarily the intake, it depends on how the mare processes the calcium she takes in.