Milk Test Strips - EL CHEAPO

[foothillsequine]

Hey Griff,

I totally respect where you are coming from, I've pulled many a calf myself. However, I have also had to "pull a foal". Last year we had a malpresentation out of our More Than Ready mare, and not only did we have to reposition, but then pull. The foal (colt) is almost a year old now, and we would have lost both mum and baby if we had not been there and knew what to do. I too believe, that you should always be "on watch" and able to step in whenever possible. This colt is absolutely stunning and we are anticipating that he will also be a good runner. While we are not delusional about his race career, we do believe that he will do just fine in his race career.

Nature culls the herd accordingly, but we cannot compare apples to oranges.

Respectfully submitted...............

[ireneinwa]

Did not take that into account and do not remeber seeing any dead horses.. I'm sure they are out there but these feral mares are not fed like we feed and probably do not have large foals..

I've had to pull a lot of calves but I've never had to pull a foal.

griff

Talking about large foals, one of my mares has large foals and the biggest placenta in weight my vets ever seen. She puts everything into her foals doesnt even look like shes infoal until about the last 30 days.
She's a 1991 model, the best producer of healthy foals my vets seen. She has them before you can blink an eye.

[griff]

Yea, mine are watched also and I don't always have a 100% foal crop but I still think the industry avearge of a 75% live foal to covered mare is pretty poor, especially with most people watching their mares.. And a 50% live foal average for mares not watched is down right scary.

And especially when it's a stallion with a $100k fee that is producing a 75% foal crop, as I believe anyone that is going to pay $100k for a stud fee is going to take very good care of that mare and certainly have it watched during foaling.

I don't know what the answer is as I vaccinate my mares for Rotovirus, or what ever it is, and I give all foals a bag of plasma right out of the gate and still lost one to diarrhia last year. The best I can come up with on that one is he may have had a bad case of Threadworms.

I usually give my mares a dose of Equimax about 6 weeks from their foaling date and I thought that would take care of most parasites including Threadworms but I'm going to give them another wormer, maybe Anthelcide, several days befor they foal this year and give the foal a very small does of Panacur in suspension about a week after it arrives.

I still marvel at those bands of feral horses that seem to have the ability to multiply like rats w/o any of the stuff or care I give my horses. And I sometimes wonder if all of this intervention is not causing as many problems as it's preventing.

griff

[madelyn]

Did not take that into account and do not remeber seeing any dead horses.. griff

You don't honestly think a dead or dying mare will be "there" even TWO DAYS LATER in the wild, do you? You remind me of that old saw, "if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?" Just because the spot where you saw a feral herd grazing was not littered with dead bodies from mares who died foaling does not mean it didn't happen. Ditto the aborted fetuses.

Regarding the live foal crops vs. covers, bear in mind that there are a LOT of factors. First of all, you have differences in stallion management between farms. Some of the stud farms just want SO MANY MARES they will take anything -- including unsuitable mares with not enough family, old mares with bad reproduction history -- in the stallion's book. They are selling seasons, not potential for racehorses. Some of them will take the money regardless of whether or not the mare is good enough for the horse. Those seem to be the horses you see with enormous crops and low race-winners to live foal ratios. Go back and look at the pedigrees of the mares in that crop.

The stallions that shuttle and cover simply massive books do not, generally speaking, have the highest live foal-to-cover ratio. It is not just the care the mare "receives when she gets home" - more it is the whole PROCESS. When you have a mare booked to a stallion who is covering two mares a day, seven days a week, it is hard just to get a breeding appointment, let alone one that will coincide with the mare's natural ovulation. Enter all the hormones and manipulation.. and short-cycling, etc.

You cannot compare stud fees in any other state with stud fees in KY. Your $2500 PA stallion is comparable here to our $10K stallion. Here we have horses who stand for six figures because they have earned their way up that ladder, and we have some who started there, due to hype and greed, and have hit a snake and slid down the slippery slope to $10-15K - or a regional or foreign program. I was at an open house yesterday at a stud farm who has one such "climber" - a horse who started at $15K and worked his way up. The stallion manager confided that the horse got much more fertile as his fee went up - higher fee = more discriminating book, better mares, better mare management.

[Skipitgirl]

I invested $300 in a video monitoring system 4 years ago. One camera in my foaling stall and one tv monitor in my living room next to my recliner. Havent missed one foaling in those 4 years and and havent lost one mare or foal. The mares are very comfortable and I am convinced that the reason 90% of my foals the last 4 years have been born BEFORE 11pm is because I leave after evening feeding and never bother them again til I see action. Best $300 Ive ever spent.

[griff]

Madelyn

I not especially picking on Giant's Causeway, he just happens to the number one stallion on both Blood Horse's Live Foal List and Blood Horses Top Stallion List by total earnings..

75% of covered mares reported a live foal

More interesting is only 50% of his get that race ever win a race.. And his average eranings per starter is around $35,000. And I suspect the mares he gets are far far better that the mares a stallion like Bop gets.. And Bop gest the sane earnings per runner for $2,500 while Giant's Causeway has earned a $100k fee with the same $35k earnings per starter.

griff

[ireneinwa]

Important to make sure they receive proper care while infoal, ultrasounds, Pneumabort 5,7,9 vacs 30 days before foaling, rectal exam make sure foals postioned. Worm the mare 30 days before foaling and day after.

To help prevent diarrhea we take the mare off the grain first few days after foaling.

So far 100% live foal
All to track all winners except 1 that had 3 seconds. Not bad for letting the mare do what she does best without being distressed w/ our presence.
Within hour or so we make sure to help the foal stand to get the
colostrum. Enema, selenium & tetanus shot their good to go.

[griff]

inwa

100% foal crop is hard to argtue with and every foal a winner except one is also very impressive..

Do you vaccinate your mares for rotovirus [sic]??

griff

[ireneinwa]

Vet actually administers all our vacs Rotavirus thats one of them. I don't trust the over the counter. It's not like I have a big crop. I've only got two mares

[griff]

When you buy Fort Dodge Rotavirus vaccine you are buying the same stuff your Vet buys and it cost approximately $20.00 per dose; i.e, Ft Dodge is Ft Dodge..

I do have the stallion station Vet administer a bag of plasma w/i the first week and that stuff is expensive but have not had a case of Rodocacus [sic] since I started doing that.

griff

[ireneinwa]

Vet charges $29.95 plus $25.95 so we pay double. Then when we dont bred then back they get that shot in the uterus to keep them in good health cant think of the name?????

[Joie]

I like to cover all the bases. I use chemetrics for calcium and the spa strips for pH. I have found the two of them combined to be the most accurate.

Me too. I use Chemetrics for calcium and the Spa Strips for pH. I haven't missed a foaling since I started testing milk in 2006. Thank God, too, because in 2007 I have a colt malpositioned, and had we not been there to get the mare up and get him turned right, and help pull him out, I doubt either mare or colt would have made it.

He's now a strapping 16.2hh coming 3 YO. His barn name is "Lucky".

[griff]

Ireneeinwa

By the way, the mare needs three shots of Rotavirus vaccine in order to make sure she passes on an immunity to her foal.. One at the 8th ,9th and 10th month. So my three shots run me around $60 per mare.

griff

[ireneinwa]

Ireneeinwa

By the way, the mare needs three shots of Rotavirus vaccine in order to make sure she passes on an immunity to her foal.. One at the 8th ,9th and 10th month. So my three shots run me around $60 per mare.

griff

series of 3 I know??? Didnt know you wanted exact break down of everything there giving.

[ireneinwa]

Griff-
Cant remember name of vac for foals since were on the subject of vacs, they get it like everyday for 30days or so to prevent pneumonia when weaned. Its expensive used on previous foals



Please excuse previous posted typos as Ive been on a 32 hr shift...Where's the yawning smiley face.