Ordered an Equipage System- Any advise or tips?

[Sandy B]

After losing 2 of 2 foals our first foaling season (one abortion & one failure to get out of sac) and then already losing one to abortion this year already. I ordered the Equipage system with one additional transmitter (the system came with two in package, a special right now). We are still expecting 5 more mini foals. Two are due mid April, two mid May and one June 1. The two mares in April are just beginning to swell ever so slightly in their udders. When do you guys start putting the halter alarms on your mares and when do you start bringing them in to the barn at night? I plan to bring in two to a stall until one foals. Then I will bring in another to pair the remaining one and so forth as our girls are a tight group and I now separating them would cause too much stress as my stalls are wood and completely enclosed, so they would not be able to see one another.

 

[targetsmom]

Great questions Sandy and I'll bet there are lots of different answers. Our experience has been a lot like yours so my temptation is to put the transmitters on ASAP. But my solution for this year is to put all three pregnant mares on Mare Stare while they are still in a run-in type situation and sharing a big stall. You can see our cam at http://www.marestare.com/fcam.php?alias=ontarget and our thread on the LB Mare Stare board at: http://www.miniaturehorsetalk.com/index.php?showtopic=128153

Just knowing that someone, somewhere might be watching has lowered my stress levels a lot. I am also using that thread to post updates for our 4-H Club and will be posting udder photos later today. The Club helped me test the Equipage at a recent meeting, so we are all set up and ready to put the transmitters on when needed. One mare already wears a breakaway halter so except for waking up to false alarms, no reason not to put the transmitter on. I will post on the thread when I do it. Udders are not showing any real progress yet and only Toffee is past day 300, and barely. Our plan is to give her the stall with the cam when she gets closer and kick the other 2 out. We have 2 other stalls for them but they are not actually ready yet because due dates go from late March to late April. We plan to move the camera and hope the mares cooperate, but we do have a second camera (house use only) and a foal buzzer for the third mare!

Best of luck to you!

 

[Sandy B]

I also have cameras in the stalls as I foal out my quarter horse mares as well. Since we lost the one foal last year(did not get out of sack) during the middle of the day, right after checking on her 30 minutes prior with no hint of labor warnings, is why we ordered the Equipage. Two mares will be 300 days in another 10 days to two weeks so I just want us to be prepared. We are checking udder development daily and noting those changes.

Marestare is a great service, but my cameras are not compatible that way. Maybe one day we can make those changes.

 

[kmh]

We put the Equipage on our mares when they start to show a full udder (no sloppiness in the udder) and swollen in the back end. (We put our pregnant mares in stalls overnight at 300 days of gestation to get them used to it). Unless she is a maiden mare, we pretty well know her foaling pattern from the previous years (I keep records on each mare). On a maiden mare we will place the Equipage on her around 315 days of gestation, since we don't know if she will or will not bag up or show us the normal foaling signs. If she is showing signs of foaling sooner than 315 days, we will place the transmitter on her earlier.

Using the Equipage is great, however if you have a mare that sleeps on her side alot, the pager will go off several times during the night. This never bothered me much, I would rather be woke up and see all is ok vs losing a foal.

Mare Stare has been great for us, I would not foal our mares without it.

 

[targetsmom]

Just wanted to add that I know many people start to watch mares or bring them into the foaling stall at 300 days. And wait even longer to put on the Equipage, as kmh said. We were planning to put the Equipage on our mare Sox last year at 300 days, and she was already on Mare Stare when I found a dead foal in her stall at 299 days. Yes, this haunts me, but I also know it was from Rhino that went through our herd before I realized what it was. And it was too early for Mare Stare to have posted about her on their message board, so I guess no one was watching. Anyway, now we are watching starting at 285 days, and of course, nothing is happening. But don't be surprised if I put the Equipage on soon.

Are you sure you can't use your cameras with Mare Stare? If they work on a regular TV, I would think the same cable could be used with a video capture device to hook to your computer.

 

[Becky]

I generally start stalling my mares when they start developing an udder. I've had some start udder development by 280 days and some that don't start until 330 days! Since my mares live outside in groups otherwise, I want to give them plenty of time to settle in to stall life. I only stall them at night and they are still outside during the day as they progress along. I check udder development twice a day. As in feeling of them. Not all mares get Jersey cow udders. Some have small, flat udders. Some get really big and hanging. You have to feel to know what they are doing! Any slight change can be significant. As they get closer, I monitor udder development 3 X day. Also, as they progress, (as in about a half full or so udder), I move them in a smaller pasture/paddock closer to the barn, so I can observe them more often. As long as I've been breeding and foaling, I've got the Equipage use down to about 3 nights before my mares foal. If I'm lucky. But, then there's always one that makes me keep it on longer or once in a while, one that barely has it on a few hours before foaling!

 

[Sandy B]

We have two mini mares due April 25th & 26th (340 days). That puts them at 300 days March 16 & 17th. We started checking udders about a week ago. We noticed that one of the girls is beginning to develop small changes, the other one is not. I plan to bring them in the evenings starting at about day 300. I also plan to do a belly/flank/udder area clip on them as well at that time since they are starting to shed. I know I will not mind the false alarms as without the monitors I would set my alarm every 1 to 2 hours through the night spending on what the mare was doing and even soon when the mare got closer to their due date. I am hoping I can get a bit more sleep with this system.

We watch our foaling cameras on our TV. The problem is our internet service is a wireless card and we are only allotted so much data usage or we are charge up the ying yang and our service gets interrupted off and on so I do not think we can do the marestare.

 

[Becky]

I have a mare under camera at night now who is at 286 days. She is a maiden and started bagging slightly around 278 days. So, she is being watched at night.

My wired camera system is too old (technology) to put on the internet and my wireless camera, while it works just fine for me to watch a mare, isn't the quality of picture I would want on the internet. So, I watch both of them on a TV in my bedroom.

I have been using a Breeder Alert or Equipage since 1995. I would much rather be awakened at night by a beeper, than wake to find a dead foal. Remember, that not all mares foal at night. Out of 5 foals born here last year, 2 were born in the day. So, you can't let your guard down at anytime.

 

[Sandy B]

I have a mare under camera at night now who is at 286 days. She is a maiden and started bagging slightly around 278 days. So, she is being watched at night.

My wired camera system is too old (technology) to put on the internet and my wireless camera, while it works just fine for me to watch a mare, isn't the quality of picture I would want on the internet. So, I watch both of them on a TV in my bedroom.

I have been using a Breeder Alert or Equipage since 1995. I would much rather be awakened at night by a beeper, than wake to find a dead foal. Remember, that not all mares foal at night. Out of 5 foals born here last year, 2 were born in the day. So, you can't let your guard down at anytime.

The one mini foal we lost last year was a daytime baby. We also had our quarter horse mare foal this year at 3:30 in the afternoon, so yes we are aware that they can do that. Years ago I had all my foals (3 of them) all born in the daytime. I am just so glad that I will have back up to my cameras with the Equipage!