I was out of town for a couple of days. When I got home I noticed mare had milk running down her legs. I squeezed the milk and she didn’t seem to mind but I haven’t seen foal nurse.
He eats her grain (growth pellets). And hay and water and seems fine other then having cow patty poop. Meh is running around and doesn’t seem dull but it’s obviously not good he isn’t nursing.
Any thoughts? I have a call into the vet.
Vet said to cut mares grain and alfalfa to see if he is just eating too much of her rich food. Also to give him some bio sponge and see if it helps his stool.
Anyone had a colt not drink but be fine?
Seems odd. His temp is fine and after his biosponge he walked right back over and munched on hay.
So strange, never seen this happen! Her other foals have loved to nurse!!!
He might be intolerant to her milk. And his bacterial is not established enough to properly digest plant material hence the upset stomach. Or maybe the mare ate some odd food that threw the milk taste off, is this possible?
Hmm. She hasn’t gone anywhere new on the property. I did milk her and it looked and smelled normal.
But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t taste weird to him.
Just concerned because it seems very early for him want to only eat hay and grain.
And his soft poop…
If her bag is that full, and he’s not nursing with diarrhea, He could be starting to get a bug - I would be calling the vet. Did you check the temp? I would also be doing my best to keep him out of her concentrates. Hay should be OK. Good luck, keep us posted.
Get her concentrates out of range of the foal. I agree with sixpound. A full bag and foal with diarrhea is a red flag. Foals that age do not stop nursing unless something is going on with their health.
Try milking her out a couple of times and watch what she eats. If that resolves the issue, then that is a easy fix. I really think that might be the issue.
I some how think that the foal is not the issue as his appetite is still good but chooses not to drink, which is very odd. If he was doing well on her milk before and had no issues then something has changed. Apparently they can be lactose intolerant but you would see the effects already.
I fed my mare black licorice as a treat, the foal when he was less than a week old, would try and eat her treat. I tasted her milk one day just to see and yep, it tasted like black licorice and very strong. He was already a junkie.
If if it were my foal, I would
Call the vet back for bloodwork and exam.
Treat for ulcers ASAP…I would expect foal to start nursing after 2-3 treatments if ulcers were a problem. I also feed yogurt which can be soothing.
At any rate, I too would suspect a medical condition if my foal stopped nursing.
Good luck!
Morning check up…
Temp at 101. Ran around pasture and ate some hay and drank water, seems fine but still has cow patties.
Vet told me to give bio sponge for today to see if there is any change.
Mares milk still looks fine but bag is full and there is milk on her legs like yesterday. She seems fine eating like normal but I did cut her alfalfa and grain to mostly bermuda.
As far as ulcers which I heard can be common in foals, do you treat with a smaller dose of gastro gard? I do have a few syringes here for the horse shows.
I went over his whole body this morning to look for any swelling g or issues and he looks fine.
So strange. I am off today so I will be keeping a close eye on him.
Any other ideas?
Any chance mare is not letting him eat? Maybe her udder is sore or ? Does the foal make any attempt to try to nurse? Just curious. I have heard of mares that wean their own foals but never this early.
I would still have bloodwork done on the foal ASAP as this is not normal. If it is a bug you want to catch it as quickly as you can. He sounds chipper and well but I would just offer hay/water (remove all concentrates) and do the bloodwork. Best of luck!
Many breeders will wean at three months of age and it sounds like your foal is doing this himself. 2.5 months is a little early and I would make sure both the dam and foal are healthy. but. I would not stress too much about it since you can not make make him suckle. You could milk the mare and try to bottle feed him but it sounds like he is well on his way with sold food now.
I have one TB mare that will not keep her foal on her teat past four months and I have done all kinds of things over the past six years to try and extend the nursing time. In the end it is just her make up and the foals all grew up to be healthy athletes.
Gastrogard should have weight measurements on the stem. You need to estimate the weight of the foal and just dial that measurement. When in doubt, ask your vet about the dosage.
Best wishes.
Thank you for all the replies all of it is great advice.
She let me milk her and seemed fine about it and the milk looked and smelled fine.
I have spent quite a bit of time out there today and haven’t seen him try to nurse once. She seems fine with him her normal self. She has had 4 foals and they have all nursed up until 6 to 7 months when I weaned them and she has never pushed the foals away at any point.
He has been drinking water out of the water bucket all day and grazing all day and is his chipper self.
Really strange. I will finish his biosponge up today and see how his stool is tomorrow and start the gastrogard.
Can’t hurt to see if he may have ulcers although wouldn’t he have a symptom? ( uncomfortable or not eating anything?)
Suppose there is always a first for everything! 
I feel bad for the mare because she is so bagged up and it’s 104 today!!!
I will also call vet again tomorrow to update her and see if she wants to take some bloodwork.
Blood work would find what exactly? Infection?
I would do what melhorse suggested. Milk and see if he will bottle feed. And if he does how aggressive is he about it. I generally never clean a mare’s udder but maybe there is a “smell” that is putting him off. I would just use warm water to start. Don’t want to leave any “strange” soap smell.
Do you have another mare you can milk and try bottle feeding to see what he does?
Do you have a lot of “onion grass” in the field? I hated some of the “spring milk” we used to get when I was a kid.
Try milking the mare to almost empty, “flushing out” what’s in there and see how she “rebuilds” and monitor.
I would do a complete blood work up just to make sure nothing is going on. I think ulcers is a stretch but stranger thing can and do happen.
We have bred and raised lots of TB foals over the years. Never had one stop nursing at that age. But there is always a first. If he is not getting enough nourishment from some of the mare’s feed and grass he will start to go down hill in a few days and rapidly after that.
We have cameras in our foaling stalls and if any foal is “suspect” they are kept in a lot more then out and everything is recorded and reviewed.
Pasture is Bermuda so nothing weird I see her eating. I did give her a bath today and sprayed her udder off.
I gave her grain alone tonight and no alfalfa so we will see if he gets hungry tonight.
Mare is pissed she doesn’t get her alfalfa though.
Baby looks fantastic weight wise and like I said is acting normal other then the soft poop.
I am keeping a close eye…
Saw him nursing this morning so that’s a good thing.
Still would rather eat her grain.
Great news!
I would continue on the gastrogard for at least 10 days.
Hope everything continues to improve!
Foals this age cannot digest cereal grains, so it is best to keep the foal from eating mom’s feed. Sharing her hay is not a problem. Very good that the foal is nursing. :yes:
[QUOTE=Home Again Farm;7595646]
Foals this age cannot digest cereal grains, so it is best to keep the foal from eating mom’s feed. Sharing her hay is not a problem. Very good that the foal is nursing. :yes:[/QUOTE]
I suppose that’s what the “book” says but IME with lots and lots of foals we have never had a problem with a foal nibbling on some of her momma’s vittles. We set the feed buckets up as high as possible but still in a “proper” position for a horse to eat out of and not worry about anything.
Other then that and short of having somebody stand there with a shank on the foal I am not sure how you would go about keeping a foal’s head out of the bucket.
To each their own on this.
I agree with Home Again Farm. My young colt was also an “early eater,” trying to eat (not just nibble, but EAT) hay and grain before he was a month old. I tied the mare’s feed bucket pretty high, and gave him his own little bucket of milk pellets. When he was 2 months old I started separating them at meal time. She ate in her stall and I held him out in the barn aisle for a short grooming session. Eventually this progressed to loosely tying him outside her stall with supervision, and as he got older (3-4 months) he went into a separate stall with his own feed (ration balancer).
This worked well: it made him more independent, he learned to tie, and it kept him out of her grain, avoiding developmental and gastrointestinal problems.
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