Predicting foaling - mares milk - 345 days

[SquishTheBunny]

I am new to the breeding world. I have a mare in foal who is at day 345. I have a great mentor, but I am still extremely nervous as this is my first foal and I am foaling here at home.

I am trying to “predict” foaling time based on her milk and pH testing. As my mentor has not done this before, I am looking for additional experiences.

Her “milk” is a fairly clear, very very pale yellow liquid. She milks easily and will drip for a few seconds after milking her. She has not shown any waxing or dripping otherwise. Her pH has been pretty consistent around 7.5 or higher and have been testing 3x per day. I am using straight milk on the strips, however have also been told its necessary to dilute (thought this was for calcium only?).

Do all mares get a change in their pH and milk before foaling? She is not a maiden. All her other signs are textbook for “ready to go” and have been advised to watch closely. I am checking her every 30 minutes. She sleeps laying down and often flat out on her side most nights. There has been zero change in her behaviour and appetite. I guess what I want to know is, without the change in milk - is it safe to sleep? lol

She is not a maiden mare (4 previous foals) and unfortunately I do not know her last gestation time.

[JB]

Testing pH does not require diluting the milk. It’s only if you want to test calcium that you have to dilute.

I wouldn’t bother testing more than once a day for now until she drops below 7.

I don’t know if it’s 100% of mares who change pH before foaling, but I think it’s nearly 100%. The problem is then - how soon before foaling do things change. Some mares are very textbook and progress at a fairly steady rate down to the 6.2 range. It’s the outliers who may stay high until literally a few hours before they foal.

I would pay attention to the shape of her belly (the more V it looks, the closer), the lengthening of her vulva, the softening of the ligaments and musculature around her tailhead, whether she is “nesting”, and use all those things together.

A camera is your friend!

[Laurierace]

pH is very good at predicting when a mare won’t foal so at 7.5 you are probably safe to sleep but I wouldn’t sleep very long with a mare that is that many days. I have never known a mare to not drop her pH pre-foaling but it’s probably possible. More likely is they just dropped very quickly before foaling than not dropping at all however. I have found pH to be a better indicator of foaling than calcium but I test for both because calcium tends to climb before the pH starts to fall so you have a better idea of when things start progressing.
Cameras are a must no matter what type of testing you do or don’t do imo. Best of luck to you both!

[GramV]

http://www.miniatureventures.com/using_milk_test_strips.html

This site explains it the best. It’s been awhile since I had a foal, but it was right on. Someone at our barn had a mare with an unknown breed date and I turned her onto this. It was 100% accurate in letting her know what night it would be.

[clint]

Another milk indicator is the taste. In my experience, if the milk is sweet you are very close.

[MysticOakRanch]

@clint

Another milk indicator is the taste. In my experience, if the milk is sweet you are very close.

That was always my test too. The PH testing was “hit or miss”, but it was pretty much 100% once the milk tastes like MILK, instead of being salty, you were in the 24 to 48 hour window for foaling…

[SquishTheBunny]

Thanks everyone,

I got calcium strips yesterday and up until this am there was < 100. As of this pm it is between 100-200, and her pH has dropped to 7.0. Her udder is extremely full and hard. She is very easy to milk tonight where it comes out in a full stream instead of a few drops at a time. It looks like its more white than before (was a clear/yellow) but is not looking like real milk yet but then again I really have nothing to compare it to.

This mare has been incredible and the perfect girl for a first time breeder. For her sake, I hope we are in the final stretch now! Im thinking 48 hours ish??

[Laurierace]

If I had to guess it is probably closer to 2 weeks than 48 hours but time will tell. My last mare was 6.2 or below, I stopped checking once it hit 6.2 for 80 hours.

[ASBJumper]

Yeah, unfortunately mine also stayed at 6.2 for 5 days straight, LOL. However, the morning and afternoon before she foaled, she only nibbled at her meals and had cow patty poops. She foaled that night at 2 am. This mare was a consistent hoover-er of feed, and so when she went off her feed, both the barn owner and myself were 99% sure she was imminent.

Good luck!

[Virginia_Horse_Mom]

I foaled out a mare at home last spring - the first managing it 100% on my own. I was fortunate to have a few GREAT mentors, and an absolutely wonderful, experienced broodmare. She went to just shy of 360 days… with her prior foals she had gone 340 to 345.

Like you, I started out with the whole testing strip thing. My mare was so sweet and easy about me fumbling with her full udder… regardless of how hard it got. I gave up on testing strips after using them 5 times. I started just squeezing a few drops into a tiny child’s medication cup daily… and tasting it. Older breeders swore by it, and it was no big deal. It was clear-ish and yellow right up until 12 hours before foaling - the last time I checked it at about 10 pm. We had a very cold spring in April of last year… and then all of a sudden, the temp shot up 20 plus degrees the next morning, and a weird low pressure spring rainstorm rolled in (it was almost like a cloudy mist, and very warm and gentle rain). That morning, my mare was agitated and frisky at her AM feed. But no major change of muscles around her tail head, no significant difference in terms of the way she had been carrying for the last 20 days (lower, but not as extreme as other pictures of a deep v). At 10 am, I noticed she was dripping, and the color seemed a bit different… cloudy and no longer so yellow. I skipped collecting the milk, and moved her from the small paddock into her foaling stall under a camera, with a wrapped tail… and watched. She was still munching hay, and just walking a bit right up until she went into labor 2 hours later… my filly came right after 12:30. The mare had always foaled in the wee hours of the am with her prior owner… I think the weird spring (really cold the first half of April) and weather that particular day had something to do with the odd foaling time. But who knows.

[SquishTheBunny]

She actually foaled the night I posted the april 2nd uodate! Huge healthy filly. Her pH was checked at 7 30 pm and was 6.5 down from 7 in the am. Calcium over 250. At 8 30 pm her water broke and at 10 pm she delivered!

The test strips couldn’t have been more accurate! Obviously each strip is a bit different and subjective but the “change” is what clued me in most.

Also bang on for the pony broodmare who foaled the same night her pH dropped below 7.

[Daventry]

As a side note, it is not just the pH that should be relied on. We also keep track of color…and as gross as it sounds, taste! Once the pH drops, the milk goes from clear to white and the taste goes from salty to sweet, you are in that window of foaling within 24 hours. Though, there are a few mares that don’t always read the foaling handbook and wait another day before foaling. We have a mares that always waits 48 hours after her milk drops to a 6.2 pH, white and sweet