Has anyone ever worked as a broodmare nightwatch at any of the big farms? What is it like? (Asking in this forum and not breeding as I want to know what it is like specifically at tb or stb farms.) What kind of background are they looking for in those they hire. Thanks.
I have done night watch , but it was for a private breeder not a large operation.
I would expect the qualifications to be stiff at the big racing operations.
What kind of night watch are you thinking of? Actually foaling out the mares, or assisting after waking your boss?
So, not exactly what you are asking, but there is a cool mystery centered at a TB brood mare farm. The descriptions of the operation are pretty vivid, and I suspect the authors worked at such a farm: http://www.amazon.com/COLD-BURN-Steve-Cline-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B00332EWI8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424466109&sr=8-1&keywords=mystery+thoroughbred+breeding+farm
I did night watch at a large stb breeding farm as part of the equine studies program I was in at college. I thought it was a really cool job.
Experience with foaling is obviously needed, but the way this farm did it was you assisted someone who was very good, and after 10 (?) assists, you could do it on your own. Vet and barn managers were always on call when you needed them, but as long as foal was up and nursing, and met the checklist requirement throughout the rest of the night, you just left a report.
Biggest responsibilities was checking the mares every 20 minutes without fail, you clocked in every time so that the manager could check up on it. It was great for studying time, not so great for morning classes, and I learned a lot in a very short amount of time. The environment was neat; a big giant horse farm completely dark and quiet at night, really cool.
I imagine vet tech courses would be the best starting point as that is what we were taking, but I imagine anyone with good solid horse knowledge that is also really dependable would be a good hire.
You need to have foaling experience. You need to be able to do injections. You need to be able to wrap a tail by yourself with the mare jigging around the stall; and, mostly, you need to have enough sense and experience to know when to get more help.
Beyond that, it differs some from farm to farm. You may be a full time, year round employee. Maybe nightwatch, more likely part of the broodmare crew. The people who do only foal watch will often be hired by the same farm year after year. They have to be very good-and very reliable.
Some farms will expect you to also muck stalls. Some will want you to do nightwatch, as well as foalwatch. That’s usually farms with a smaller number of mares.
Big (I’m talking TB. I don’t know SB at all) farms may have a separate foaling barn, or several special large foaling stalls in the main broodmare barn. When you come in to work at 5-6-7, the broodmare manager, or assistant will brief you on which mares look like they might foal that night. You may be the only one there. There may be two of you. There may be a nightwatch person who is checking mares in another barn as they make rounds. The foaling stalls may have monitors that you watch from an office, or lounge; but you have to walk the barn and keep checking the other mares. You will need to do hay and water for whole barn, and keep the stalls picked out.
When a mare starts to foal you may have to call the broodmare manager or assistant (they usually live on the farm.) When you first start this would be standard. Later you may call them only if there is a problem, or a special mare is foaling. Usually, they will make the decision to call the vet. What paperwork , or foaling log you fill out also varies by farm.
You may feed in the morning. You will give a report on what’s happened overnight to whoever comes on to relieve you.
No you don’t, I was hired as nightwatch at a large TB farm, (did not accept the job), based on the fact that I was a successful racehorse groom for several years. You will be working with seasoned professionals at first. Having some veterinary experience would help as I also had that. I just did not trust this situation overnight since I knew some of the other help on the farm had been in legal trouble. I would suggest you do some background searches on the farm too.
If the farm is looking just for nightwatch then they usually have foaling people. Foaling experience is good to have and you can ask to learn. The big farm I nightwatched for had foaling people who only worked during foaling season. Nightwatch isn’t that hard. Depending on the farm you might have to pick/clean stalls, but usually you just water, give hay/feed, check the horses for injuries/illnesses, sometimes go on breeding runs, and give meds if needed. Each farm is different with how they want things done. Some farms will have you check the fields from your truck, others you have to get out and walk around to find the horses. The hours and shifts vary, some have 2nd & 3rd shifts (4-12/11-7), some are 12+ hr shifts, some are 6/7 days a week, and others rotate 3 days on 4 off then 4 on 3 off. Talk to them about how they operate and see if it would work for you.
I foal watched off and on at places. For smaller places, you need to know horses, and have some basic foaling knowledge. The larger places expect you to know your job and only call for help in emergencies
At the farms I did it at years ago, they didn’t even care about horse experience. Your main jobs were to stay awake, be observant, and know how to use the phone.
I thought about that, Calamber.
Did you all feel like you learned much? Is the pay bad? Any benefits (yes, I known using that in the same sentence as equine job does not go together). Do you freeze to death in the winter? Thanks.
Our numbers are down now but we used to foal 30+ mares a year. It’s not like when I was a kid and people sat outside the stall and or in the warm tack room checking every 15-20 minutes.
Any breeding farm big or small can afford stall cams these days. THANK GOD!
We have 4 cams with wireless relay to the house which is not far from the barn and in the tack room. We have a quad-splitter that divides the monitor/TV into 4 sections so as to watch all 4 stalls if needed. Push a button on the remote to go to full screen on any one camera. On the big commercial farms they have a “video room” for the night-watch to sit in. Where they will have banks of monitors. IMO the most important requirement other than staying awake is knowing when to “cry wolf”. The whole point of paying someone is so I can get some sleep and only be called on as a mare is preparing to break water. If I have to get up, throw on winter clothing and go down only to find the mare is up and eating hay because the person thought she was getting ready but was only taking a pee defeats the whole purpose of why I am writing a check. Every mare can be a bit different in showing “tell tail” signs of what she is up to or not. Some drag it out and some spit it out before I can get my underwear on.
IMO and experience foaling is one of the few things that the majority of horses do quick and easy. With very few complications. I don’t wrap tails never saw a need for it. Don’t do a lot things by the “book”. I don’t “check” mare other than by video. Maidens came be “put off” by the constant intrusion even old veterans. The most important thing to check after they have broken water and you can see the process of foaling begin. Is to check for presentation. This pretty much tell you how things are going to go from there. Pretty easy to learn for anyone with some horse sense and is comfortable with the whole thing. If something needs to be corrected time is of the essences at this point. If everything looks good I will go back and watch/monitor the rest of the process on the “foaling channel”. I don’t interfere unless necessary based on my experience. If the foals head is clear of the sac, its hind legs where they should be I let the mare take her “resting period” before going back into the stall and start on the “check list”. IMO pretty straight forward and a pretty easy learning curve by and large.
[QUOTE=sonomacounty;8020751]
I thought about that, Calamber.
Did you all feel like you learned much? Is the pay bad? Any benefits (yes, I known using that in the same sentence as equine job does not go together). Do you freeze to death in the winter? Thanks.[/QUOTE]
We charge a $400 foaling fee. Some people complain and I have to point out how many hours someone is watching them and given the fact we rarely have to call in a vet so they are also saving a lot. They are paying little money for valuable expertise like a lot of things in the horse business.
Our re-pro vets are put on notice when I think it will be any day. For PITA clients I make them pay for the vet to be there. I don’t need them bad mouthing me if something goes wrong and we lose the foal. Our vets, New Bolton, so we have a top surgeon also available, are 15-20 minutes away.
“Do you freeze to death in the winter?” If the farm does not have stall cams and a warm room to sit in these days I wouldn’t bother. If a farm can’t afford them IMO they can’t afford to be breeding. We’re talking a few hundred dollars at best.
Mr. Gumtree, I went to send you a p.m. but you are full.
[QUOTE=sonomacounty;8021174]
Mr. Gumtree, I went to send you a p.m. but you are full.[/QUOTE]
I think I deleted enough. Try again. Or my email is larryensor@gumtreestables.com
Thanks!
