I have a mare that foaled 4 hours ago

[Skittlebittie]

My mare foaled this morning at 5:30am. Normal delivery, etc. Her bag had been gradually getting bigger, and I checked her milk last night and it tested 5 on the calcium scale, and was starting to get thicker, but not syrupy. She had a bag after delivery, but not a full bag, so I gave her a shot of Oxytocin at 6:00. I just checked her at 9:30 and her bag is the same. When I expressed the milk out of it, it was ssssooooooo syrupy, it hardly came out.

I mean, it was like squeezing a bottle of molasses. I turned my hand over and it didn't even run out. It is amber colored and syrupy. The baby is trying to nurse, but if I am having such a hard time expressing milk, I dont know how much he is getting. I gave her another shot of oxytocin at 9:30.

I have never had a mare go this long without having white milk. Normally, it is streaming out after delivery. I'm assuming that she just hasn't gotten to the whitish milk stage yet, but I dont know.

What do you think?

Lori

 

[Ms THE]

I have a mare that gets thick milk like that. My vet said that it is really rich colostrum. Her last foal was a red bag and a little weak at birth and could not nurse. We milked the mare and tubed the foal. If the baby doesn't seem to be getting much, maybe milk the mare and try to give the foal some from a bottle so you can see how much the foal is getting (I would also allow the foal to nurse from mare in between). My mares milk like this usually lasts about 12 hours.

 

[CharmedMinis]

I have one mare that gets thick syrupy colostrum like that, and she continues to do so for at least the first 24 hours. Then it starts turning white.

My vet has tested her colostrum and says it is super rich and good and full of antibodies.

The foal has more suck strength than what you can get with your hand. As long as the foal is thriving and energetic I wouldn't worry about it.

If you keep giving oxytocin your going to cause more harm than good. Try some warm compresses if you really want her to let down.

But at this point I wouldn't worry, just sounds like your mare has very good colostrum

:

 

[Skittlebittie]

Wow, thanks guys! This was not the response I had expected. This mare lost her foal 2 years ago, and last year a friend of mine foaled her out for me while I was on vacation, so I have never seen her milk this early in the game. Good to know that it is just very rich. As I said, I have never had a mare do this, so it was worriesome. The foal seems to be doing fine so far. I am watching him on the camera. He is nursing, but just not as long as I am used to. This could be because the colostrum is so rich that he doesn't need as much.

As always, you guys are the best. I am sitting here frantically reading my foaling books, but it mentions NOTHING about what I described. You always come through for me in my time of need. I dont know what I'd do without this board and everyone's help :aktion033: :aktion033: :aktion033:

Lori