Mare not producing enough milk

[skip_rainy_shi]

I have done a search and can’t find a topic on this.

My 5 day old foal does not seem to be getting enough milk. Watching her she gets frustrated and will take a few sips from each teet. After a few times mare will shift position and foal will stop. Each mammary doesn’t seem very full at all. There is no heat involved.

When I go to milk mare you get a few squirts then nothing. I will be calling the vet in the morning. What do most mare owners do in this type of situation?

I have never had a mare not have enough milk.

Thank you for your input.

[rideagoldenpony]

I had a mare this year that my vet thought did not have enough milk, and we gave her domperidone (purchased from the vet) and she also wanted me to supplement the foal with milk replacer. I was able to get her to swallow it via syringe/modified insemination pipette setup, but she would NOT drink it from a bottle. I disagreed with the vet’s opinion and did not continue supplementing her – and all is well, but you may be dealing with a different scenario.

[skip_rainy_shi]

She was producing a lot of milk the first few days. This filly is extremely active but seems to be very frustrated trying to nurse late this afternoon and tonight.

[tuckawayfarm]

I had excellent results with Progressive’s “Foal’s First Starter and Creep” when I had this problem a few years ago. It is a milk based formula for foals who are under four months old and still nursing off their dam. I had to set up a creep feed because the mare loved it as much as her foal did, but the colt really thrived.

Worked much better for me than the milk replacers I tried.

Good luck with your baby!

[rodawn]

With a newborn, this is a vet emergency. Babies, especially newborns, can get dehydrated REALLY quickly.

Mare needs to be assessed why she suddenly quit producing, and the foal needs to be checked also to ensure it does not get dehydrated and weakened and/or treated for same with IV fluids.

In the meantime, I would get some milk replacer ASAP just to be safe and try to introduce her to either bottle feeding or an igloo. The domperidone may take a while to get things going.

Do you have a neighbor who has goat milk? Or a horse-breeder neighbor with foal replacer that they can share? Or another nursing mare you can steal some milk from?

[skip_rainy_shi]

I will be calling the vet first thing In the morning. No local goat breeders that I know of. But all the feed stores carry milk replacer and I can get to them pretty quickly. With the economy the way it has been the folks I know didn’t breed last year so no foals this years.

[Equine_Reproduction]

[QUOTE=skip_rainy_shi;6400571]
I have done a search and can’t find a topic on this.

My 5 day old foal does not seem to be getting enough milk. Watching her she gets frustrated and will take a few sips from each teet. After a few times mare will shift position and foal will stop. Each mammary doesn’t seem very full at all. There is no heat involved.

When I go to milk mare you get a few squirts then nothing. I will be calling the vet in the morning. What do most mare owners do in this type of situation?

I have never had a mare not have enough milk.

Thank you for your input.[/QUOTE]

Is the foal lethargic? Dehydrated? As part of a mare increasing her milk production, it is directly related to demand, so foals “will” nurse more often in order to encourage the mare to produce more. When I have a foal that is nursing well and regularly, the udder is rarely full! So, is the mare truly not producing enough?

Domperidone is available to assist in increasing milk production if indeed that is the issue.

Good luck!

[Hillside_H_Ranch]

[QUOTE=Equine Reproduction;6400826]
Is the foal lethargic? Dehydrated? As part of a mare increasing her milk production, it is directly related to demand, so foals “will” nurse more often in order to encourage the mare to produce more. When I have a foal that is nursing well and regularly, the udder is rarely full! So, is the mare truly not producing enough?

Domperidone is available to assist in increasing milk production if indeed that is the issue.

Good luck![/QUOTE]

I agree with Kathy. If the foal is active and urinating appropriately then there is probably plenty of millk. The mare’s udder shouldn’t look full if the foal is nursing normally. A healthy foal will keep the udder well nursed down. It isn’t at all uncommon for a foal to look frustrated, bump the udder, etc. when nursing. As Kathy said, frequent, even agressive nursing stimulates more milk production. As far as not being able to express much milk by hand; that can be normal as well. Milk often can’t be freely expressed in great quantities b/c the release of milk from the mammary gland is caused by oxytocin. Your hand expressing may not be stimulating a milk let-down, which would be why you are only getting a small amount. Ive seen mares with obviously adequate milk supplies that are very difficult to hand milk because they don’t have a good letdown without the foal stimulating them.
If the mare isn’t ill it would be unlikely that she would go from having plenty of milk to very little milk at this point, in such a short period of time.

[silanac]

I agree with the last 2 posters. If your foal is urinating frequently and seems bright then she is getting enough milk. she should be nursing 4-7 times per hour suckling for a minimum of 2-3 mins each time. If she is not nursing in this fashion you should call a vet immediately. If the foal is ‘bumping’ the mare or ‘playing’ and not truly latching on for an extended period of time you need to have a vet take a look. They can go downhill so fast and before you know it, it’s too late. this happened to my foal this year. thankfully we caught it in time. he wasnt totally ‘sick’ but almost acted like the milk made his tummy hurt, though not totally colicky. he didnt stay latched for long, ended up getting dehydrated, and it got dangerous. after 5 days in the hospital, it was determined he got an infection somehow. antibiotics fixed him right up.

watch your foals nursing habits like a hawk. there will be very subtle indicators that something is not quite right. If she is not nursing enough, the mare’s milk production will decrease

[skip_rainy_shi]

Vet came out checked both mare and filly. Mare is producing more milk today and baby is much happier then last night. I have vets cell number so if things change again I won’t need to deal with the office.

Thank you for all the advice.

[crosscreeksh]

We got a mare in for breeding some years ago. Mare was in poor condition and not producing well. Colt was po’d at not getting enough to eat. Our vet had us start the mare on alfalfa pellets to up her protein. MO was clueless!!!

[Dalemma]

When we had our foal my told me that it was normal for the mare’s bag to look empty…she said if the bag is full and dripping then you have a problem.

Dalemma

[whitney159]

Agree with those saying to check the urine color, if baby is urinating clear fluid, you are likely ok. Again, don’t worry about a bag not being full, baby is keeping her empty, and agree again about oxytocin and your hand not being enough to stimulate milk let down. And it’s a slippery slope, going in with milk replacer, as the baby trying to nurse is what stimulates milk production, the mare’s body will respond to how often baby nurses, so her production will drop if baby is otherwise satisfied. —and all of this is the same stuff that nursing mom’s have to hear all the time about breastfeeding!

[skip_rainy_shi]

All was good today even with the 90 degree weather. Baby is much happier. Urine is clear, mare just came into heat. Baby is very active.

[KBC]

I love coming late to a story, and getting a happy ending

[Sugarbrook]

Me too. With foals, things can go downhill soooo quickly and then it is an emergency. Glad all is well.