Rejected Foal!

[Clarks Ltd Edition]

I had a beautiful filly born at 3:30am this morning. This baby was the mare's first baby. She rejected it - and tried to kick it seveeral times in the stall. I got some colustrum and gave it to the foal with a seringe. I have since been trying to feed it canned Goat's Milk with a teaspoon of Karo in it. The baby is alert and seems to be doing O.K. I have read about bucket babies on this forum in the past - how do you do it - and how old do they have to be?

Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks, Molly

 

[SHANA]

I raised a arabian filly on mares milk replacer. You can buy it from your local vet. You wouldn't know now she was hand raised on foal lac.

 

[Hosscrazy]

Here's a link on how to make a feeding syringe in case this helps:

http://www.lilbeginnings.com/info/breeding2/

I believe MaryAnn (Miniv) has a lot of experience with this and hopefully she will be on shortly to post a reply.

Liz R.

 

[sedeh]

I don't know what you've tried with the mare but sometimes it takes some work to get a maiden mare to accept her foal. They're not used to "something" trying to get under their flank, their udder hurts and they're just not very receptive at first. I'd milk the mare out to make her less painful(of course you can feed the filly.....congratulations by the way!.....with it). Try graining the mare while the filly tries to nurse. Sometimes you have to tie the mare and hobble a back leg so she won't kick. Once the filly starts nursing the mares usually get the idea. I hope you can resolve this so you don't have an "orphan" foal to raise. You can get foal milk replacement at most feed stores. Good luck with your new girl! Post pics when you can!

 

[MiLo Minis]

I have gone through this with 3 foals all from the same mare. If the foal was just born early this morning I wouldn't give up on the mare yet. You will have a long tough job ahead of you and the mare is your best bet. Try tying the mare beside a wall. Use a cotton lead rope to tie up her one back leg opposite the wall. Take some warm cloths and massage her udder. Use the feeding syringe mentioned an another reply to pump some milk out of her. Its entirely possible that it is a painful udder that is making nursing uncomfortable for her. While one person holds the mares leg back another should put the foal in nursing position. You can smear some milk on the outside of the nipple and on the foals mouth to get the idea across to the foal. Check the foals sucking response with a finger in its mouth. If you can get the foal to nurse let it suck the momma dry. You may have to hold her for a few times before she gets over it and accepts him. She may never accept him. If that happens then you will be nursing a foal. They nurse in very small amounts many times per day and the closer you can keep it to normal the better. For now and the next couple days use the syringe feeder to pump the mare and feed the foal - her milk is best. Be careful not to lift the foals head straight up while using the syringe - you can get milk into his lungs and drown him or give him pneumonia. You will need to have the vet in to tell you how good the foals immunities are and perhaps give him a booster. Once he is nursing well off the syringe you can switch him over to a pail with a sheep nipple attached. I have used both goats milk and foal lac - both worked about the same. Hang the pail so that it is about the same height as the mom's udder would be. Again smear milk on the nipple and the foals mouth and put him to the nipple. Good luck! I really hope you can get the foal onto the mare because it is a lot better for the foal and easier for you.

 

[Charlotte]

I would suggest following Sedeh and Milo's recommendations. We don'[t tie up a leg as I worry about hurting the stifle joint and freaking the mare worse, but we put a big person at the mare's side just in front of the hind leg and that person pushes the mare against the wall to keep her still

Also, please give the mare some Banamine to ease her after foaling pain and udder pain.

We try to stress the mare as little as possible as she is already freaked out from pain and trauma, but by working quietly at it you can usually get her to accept baby.

Much luck with this new little one and her poor mom.

Oh yes, please have the IGG level checked on baby tomorrow morning for sure. (easy blood test done right there at the farm and takes just a few minutes for results) If she didn't get enough colostrum she won't survive without an antibody transfusion.

Charlotte

 

[Mona]

You have gotten some great advice here and nothing really more that I can add, but want to say I am hoping that you can get this all sorted out and you can get your little one nursing, and get the mare to accept it. COngratulations on your new filly. GOOD LUCK!

 

[Genie]

Do you have any other mares due, or already with a baby?

We had an foal orphaned at a few days old a few years ago.

We stalled him next to a mare with a baby and every little while I supplemented the "foal lac by the bottle feeding" with an actual nurse on the other mare.

I took a large bath towel and went in to the mares stall and covered her head.

I then pushed her baby to the side and let the orphan thru to sneak a few good drags.

Mum never knew the difference and the foal enjoyed the treat.

He was always ready and "on his mark" by the gate when I appeared with the towel.

We had a dummy foal last year who could not figure out nursing and Mum was a maiden with teeny faucets.

The little syringe milk machine is really slick as shown on a previous post. We milked the mare every two hours and fed the foal a few cc's every 20 minutes.

After the foal "clicked" on getting milk from the bottle we fed the bottle thru between the back legs and the foal would get in there searching for the bottle nipple and eventually "glommed" onto the right faucet.

I know your case is different in the the foal wants to nurse and Mum won't allow. Hopefully you can persevere until she realizes that the nursing is a better feeling for her than a full udder.

I wonder if milking her isn't too bad, then maybe the towel over her head will work, so she thinks she is being hand milked and then let the foal sneak in for a nurse?

 

[Miniv]

I highly recommend that you and another person keep milking the mare and feeding it to the foal. Your little one needs as much colostrum as possible over these first hours........ A regular syringe works in a pinch, but we prefer using a human rubber baby ear syringe for feeding initially. Right now, feed your filly every hour for the first day and then scale back to every 2 hours.

I would also recommend that your vet run an IGg test on your baby, just in case. We bottle fed an orphan from age 2 weeks until he was four months old, although by then he'd been weaned onto pellets too. I really hope, for everyone's sakes you will eventually get your maiden mare to mellow out and accept her baby.

Once you've learned from your vet that the filly has enough antibodies in her system, and it looks like you DO have to continue bottle feeding......you are looking at every 2 hours around the clock! You will also probably find yourself experimenting with different types of bottles (and nipples) until your foal tells you which one she prefers..........But I hope you won't have to worry about that.

Wishing you all the best........

PS: I forgot to mention......if you do end up continuing with the bottle feeding after she's received her colostrum, we had good luck with Foal Lac Powder mixed with warm water, according the instructions. Most feed stores or ranch supply stores carry it.

 

[Joanne]

I agree with the advise to help the mare accept her foal.

I just want to add one thing. We use Udder Balm on the mare to make nursing more comfortable.

You might try putting some on her udders after you milk her out to take away the pain. This does not hurt the foal if it eats it.

Best of luck to you.

 

[Jill]

I do not know anything about foal rejection, and don't know if this is a good idea but in case want to throw it out. I have put orajel on mare's udders to make them more comfortable for weaning. I don't know if this plus banamine might help her now, and the foal could maybe nurse?

 

[Jill]

Also, what about twitching her? I know it helps me for clipping (releases endorphins).

 

[Just Us N Texas]

Tie your mare's head kitty corner in a stall. Use a piece of plywood to make her a small stall. Cut a hole in the plywood at the foal's level, and where her bag is. Keep the mare in tight. Put the foal up to the hole in the plywood, (or gate if you can make a hole large enough for the baby's head). The mare cannot get away, and can not kick the baby, and after about the second or third time the baby has nursed, the mare will accept it. This is an old trick a person who leases nurse mares told us and a friend used it successfully last year to put an orphan foal onto a mare whose foal had just been weaned. If you keep trying, I think she will eventually take it, and it is much easier for Mom to take care of that baby's needs than you! Sounds like a typical maiden mare with sore bag to me.

 

[mini1]

Definately keep trying to get the mare to accept the baby but if it looks like she just won't take it, get yourself a nanny goat that has just kidded and let the foal nurse the goat. Takes A LOT of pressure off of you. I have seen nannies raise calves to weaning.

 

[Jill]

How are things this morning? I'm really hoping your mare has accepted her filly!!!

 

[qtrmoonfarm]

Good luck Molly, hope things are better this morning! We've had good luck being persistant with a stubborn maiden mom using padded breeding hobbles and too, using goats milk versus commercial milk replacers {in the case of an orphan} ..higher fat, protein and better sugars,. We keep 3-4 gallons frozen for emergencies as well as some goat colostrum. Keep us posted! ~HUGS~

 

[Katiean]

A friend of mine has a mare that foaled last week. I went over to see the new addition. I stood outside the stall and was looking at the foal and talking to my friend. The foal had been walking around the stall and nursing a bit all was fine. Then all of a sudden she was squeling (sp) and Striking the foal. When she started that I told my friend that I should go because the mare was getting stressed. I guess my point is maybe there is just too much excitement around your mare. She may calm down if maybe just one person goes in and handles her and the foal. Too bad that my nurse mare has finally dried up. She would take on any foal.

 

[barefoot]

bump

How is she?

Emma

 

[Miniv]

Bumping again..........

Thinking of that little filly.......

 

[Clarks Ltd Edition]

Thanks everyone for your help. My filly is doing fine. I made the mini breast pump that was suggested, and it worked fine to get the Colustrum from the Mom. The mare never did accept the foal. I am feeding her goat's milk every 2 hours. She will now nurse a bottle, with a sheep nipple. She is taking one-half cup of the goat's milk every 2 hours. The only problem so far is that she had alot of hay in her mouth. I have to pull the hay out. Has anyone else had the "hay problem"?