Foal E. Coli oral vaccine- any thoughts?

[polkadots]

I have a mare who’s just about to 300 days, so I’m getting my foaling supplies together. This is my first foal.

I ran across a “foal E. coli vaccine” while shopping for supplies- this is something new to me- it’s an oral paste you give shortly after birth, that’s supposed to protect against foal scours.

This is not something my vet has mentioned to me- I was wondering if any of you recommend for or against it and why.

The product reviews I read about it all proclaimed that it prevented the foal scours that usually occur during the mare’s foal heat.

I just wondered, what if any drawbacks are NOT being mentioned?

Thanks,

Melissa

[JB]

Foal scours are much more likely to be caused by intestinal threadworms passed in the milk. For that reason, it’s recommended to use ivermectin (and this time of year you want to get tapeworms too so might as well use Equimax if you haven’t already, otherwise plain ivermectin), right after she foals.

The e.coli paste isn’t a vaccine, but it is out there and can indeed help protect against it
http://www.thehorse.com/articles/14961/diarrhea-in-young-foals

“A number of products are available to prevent foal diarrhea, including a vaccine against rotavirus (for mares). An oral paste can be given to newborn foals to give immunity against Escherichia. coli, and a number of probiotic pastes can help establish (or restore) proper gut flora. The theory behind the latter is that colonizing the gut with “good” flora helps crowd out the bad bacteria.The best prevention is cleanliness, good colostrum (making sure the foal gets adequate colostrum soon enough), and knowing whether or not you have problems on the farm and dealing with those. If a mare drips milk before foaling, she loses the important antibodies. Milk the mare and put the colostrum in the freezer to give to the foal with a bottle as soon as he’s born. A foal can also be given plasma in the first 48 hours if his IgG (one type of antibody) level is not high enough.”