My Mare has been running milk for a while, how can i be sure the foal has received sufficient colostrum levels to build up its natural immunity?
Mares that run milk or are elderly do not have the colostrum reserves necessary to pass immunity onto the foal. Foals that do not suck within the first few hours are also at risk. Either bottle feeding with manufactured colostrum or vet stomach tubing within the first 6 hours is advisable. Foals should also have an IGG bloodtest after 18 hours of age to determine their immunity. This is a simple, low cost bloodtest taken by the vet to ensure the colostrum has been absorbed correctly by the body, if the test results are low the vet will advise a plasma transfusion as although the foal may look healthy to begin with it can rapidly become sick and this is gives it the best chance of survival. We recommend all foals born at End House Stud receive the bloodtest as though a mare may appear to have a lot of milk the foal may not be absorbing it properly or it may be of poor quality.
