I have a Mustang mare 343 days in foal and not showing any milk. Can I have my other mare with a foal nurse?

Question

We have a maiden mare, 343 days and not showing any milk. She is a mustang off the range (from the BLM), and i was concerned for her foal, if she does not have enough milk. We have another mare, who has a 2.5 week old colt by her side, can she nurse this new foal if needed? How do you do that?

Answer 1

Some mares (especially maidens)don't seem ready with their milk supply, but once the baby is born, the milk is there. My mare was like that, too. Tuned out she had plenty, LOL.

Hope this is the case with your mare.

The problem with getting your other mare to possibly be a nurse to the Mustang's baby is that colostrum, or the mare's first milk, is what the baby should receive at first. It contains important anti-bodies that help provide the foal some immunity against disease, until it's older.

If necessary, your vet might know of a mare who has lost a foal, and still has her milk. That way your other mare wouldn't have to pull double duty.

There is a group here on Yahoo you can get all kinds of info from. They were helpful during my foal watch, too:

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/foalw...

Foals are sooooooo cute!  :)

Answer 2

Not sureif you're mare has foaled or not, if she hasn't.  The mare hopefully will wait until she bags up.  If she goes before then and the CBc is under 800 then quickly get some plasma and get ahold of whoever may be in charge of a Colostrum Bank in your area.  If there is no Bank then ask your vet to supplement some so the foal gets the neccessary nutrients, I give every foal born on my farm EPIC as well, it is an egg replacecer and gives the foal something in their bellies so they don't have acids or anything else eating away at their gut before they get any milk.  You can find it anywhere, and it gives you peace of mind until the CBC is done.  I also milk all of the mares that foal from the opposite teat that the foal nurses from first.  Freeze it and you have a very valuable source of colostrum for any foal that needs it, for the next 3 years.  Good luck, maidens can be fishy, hopefully this one is just figuring herself out.