Mare doesn't produce enough milk

From: Panos

Hello,

I have a problem with a mare and I would like to have your opinion.

I've got a mare which is now 12 years old and she has had had 5 foals. The problem is that she doesn't have enough milk to feed the foal and I am always on duty to give some more cow's milk to the foals. Is there any way to make her produce more milk? I am now waiting for her 6th foal. She was a good runner and I got good results with her horses despite that they are not so strong up to the time I am separating them from the mare (after 5-6 months).

Please advise me if there is any solution to this or you had any similar problem how you acted.

Thanks from Cyprus Panos

Although there are many ways to ensure that a foal receives good nourishment, the best and most convenient solution would be for the mare to produce more milk. Some mares produce much more milk than others, but there are some things you can do to try to ensure that this mare produces as much milk as possible.

First, be sure that she is getting enough feed - lactation is the single most demanding job a mare can have, and she needs good-quality, energy-dense feed during the last few months of her pregnancy and for the first four months after the foal is born. Keep your mare at a good weight, because if she's too thin, she won't be able to produce enough milk.

Second, be sure that she is getting enough water - lactating mares need a great deal of water, and without sufficient water, they cannot produce enough milk.

Third, ask your veterinarian about yeast culture - there have been some studies indicating that yeast culture increases milk production in mares. Some commercial horse-feed mixtures include yeast cultures. You might also ask your vet about cocoa powder - I'm not aware of any scientific studies on this subject, but a good many old grooms at stud farms still swear by adding a few tablespoons of cocoa powder to the feed of mares to increase their milk supply. If you try this and it works, please let me know!

If your mare can't produce enough milk to feed her foal, you'll have several options - once you've managed to get that all-important colostrum into the foal! Be sure to do this, because there's no substitute and no replacement for colustrum. Since you have other mares, you can milk four ounces of colostrum from another mare that has just foaled, and freeze it - then thaw it (slowly, in a bowl of warm water, don't put it in the microwave!) and use a bottle to feed it to THIS mare's new foal when it arrives. That way, you will know that the foal DID get the vital colostrum in time. If it's too late to do that this year, because your problem mare is scheduled to be the first one to foal, contact another breeder and ask for some colostrum. Most breeders do, as a matter of routine, freeze colostrum so that they will never be caught without it.

Another substance you don't want to be without is mare's milk replacer. Cow's milk can be useful in an emergency, but it isn't really suitable for foals, and your foal will be much healthier and stronger if you keep a supply of mare's milk replacer on hand, in various forms. Milk replacer doesn't last forever - you probably shouldn't keep it for more than a year - but it's a good idea for any horse-breeder to have some on hand, because a young foal will need to consume four or five gallons a day! For you, I should think it would be essential, and it won't go to waste, as you already KNOW that this mare won't have enough milk for her foal.

Cow's milk is wonderful for calves, but not for foals. In an emergency, it can be used, and you can make it more suitable for foals by using reduced-fat (2%) cow's milk and adding a teaspoon of dextrose to each 8 ounces of milk. But this won't provide the foal with all of the vitamins and minerals and protein that it needs, it will just make it less likely that the foal will suffer from diarrhea as a consequence of drinking high-fat cow's milk instead of low-fat mare's milk. You'll definitely want to have a proper mare's milk replacer on hand.

PetAg makes a powdered mare's milk replacer called Foal-Lac Powder, and the same formulation in a pelleted form (ideal for the slightly older foal), called Foal-Lac Pellets. You'll still need to fill nursing bottles and feed the young foal around the clock, but - unlike cow's milk - these products will allow you to raise a very healthy, strong foal! I know that some of the shops that sell Foal-Lac (you might want to try www.animalnetwork.com) will ship outside the country, and it's possible that you might be able to order this product and have it delivered to your home in Cyprus. If not, your veterinarian might be able to procure some through other channels - or he might know of some other, similar product that you COULD procure. The main thing is to buy, and feed, a nutritionally balanced product designed specifically as a substitute for mare's milk.

New foals need to be fed many times every hour. A normal foal may nurse every four or five minutes. Since your mare produces SOME milk, you can probably get away with offering the foal supplemental bottles of milk on the hour for the first few days, and then - depending on how the foal is doing and on what your vet advises - every two hours for the next week. By the end of the first week, you can begin teaching the foal to drink from a bucket, and once it learns to do THAT, your life will be much easier. You'll be able to put a bucket of milk replacer in a creep area, where only the foal can reach it, and replace the milk twice a day. When the foal has been drinking from a bucket for a week, you'll be able to start adding a pan of milk replacer pellets to the creep area, and from then on, between the liquid and the pellets, the foal should be able to nourish itself very well even if its mother's milk is inadequate. By the time the foal is a month old, you'll be able to decrease the liquid milk replacer and increase the milk replacer pellets. And by this time, the foal should also be eating small amounts of its mother's hay and grain, and small amounts of its OWN hay and grain (conveniently placed in the creep area). By the time the foal is old enough to wean, it won't matter at all that it's own mother's milk was inadequate. ;-)

You didn't say exactly where you are, but if you are near Nicosia or Limassol, you should be able to locate some other reeding and racing stables, and the owners or managers of those stables might be able to suggest some good, locally-available mare's milk replacers. Good luck with the new foal, and be sure to discuss all of this with your veterinarian!

Jessica

Back to top.

Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE is a free, subscriber-supported electronic Q&A email newsletter which deals with all aspects of horses, their management, riding, and training. For more information, please visit www.horse-sense.org

Please visit Jessica Jahiel: Holistic Horsemanship® [www.jessicajahiel.com] for more information on Jessica Jahiel's clinics, video lessons, phone consultations, books, articles, columns, and expert witness and litigation consultant services.