In 18yrs of Veterinary Practice I have had only 1 occurrence of a mare not producing enough colostrum and that mare produced absolutely '0' milk. 2 pulls of milk/colostrum is enough to raise a foal.
Of foals who have problems with neonatal septicemia (bacteria in the blood stream) only some are due to Failure of Passive Transfer or FPT (not getting enough good quality colostrum quickly enough after birth) and most of those are due to a foals inability to stand and nurse (dummy foals).
Short of being an orphan, FPT is rarely the fault of the mare not producing enough quantity (quality is another issue) of colostrum.
I only encourage the acquisition of colostrum from mares who have lost their foals.
Stall side IgG tests are good (they aren't perfect) and if the results are <400ng/dl then supplementation with a commercial product is generally enough (commercial products aren't perfect, but they are never contaminated with bad bacteria like colostrum can be).
Dr. Taylor
