|
What do I need in my foaling kit?
Tail wrap, scissors in case of a red bag, alcohol to clean scissors in case I need them, paper towels, palpation sleeves, sterile lube, umbilical clamps in case of a bleeder, enema, small scissors to cut off foalert, dilute chlorhexidine, 6 and 12 cc syringe casings to dip navel, respirator. Nearby in the lab – ob chains, banamine, oxytocin, refractometer for colostrum, mare milker for colostrum banking, semen filter to strain milk, whirl pak bags to store milk, sedation for problem mare. Clock on wall – I never wear my watch foaling.No ob chains are necessary unless you know how to use them. Most supplies can be purchased at breederschoiceoline.com, arssales.com or exodusbreeders.com. We highly recommend the resuscitator and the mare milker even if you only foal one mare per year.
UMBILICAL CLAMPS
The arssales.com foaling kit includes umbilical clamps which you may never use. But we know of two foals at neighboring ranches that bled out and died in the past. If you have a bleeder and do not have an umbilical clamp in your kit, you do not have time to go get one. It had better be within reach because you cannot take your hand off the umbilical.
RETAINED PLACENTAS
We keep bar towels on hand for retained placentas. We poke a hole in a corner of several towels 3 – 4 and put a zip tie through the hole. Then we wet them in a bucket of warm water and attach them to the highest point of the placenta right near the vulva. We will dip it in a bucket again if it dries out. If little of the placenta is outside of the mare post foaling we do this right away. Otherwise we give her a while to clean. We always tie up the placenta so there is a little weight to it. Nothing fancy – just get if off the ground. We throw the towels away after the mare cleans. Don’t even try to wash them…..
The best way to remember is 1-2-3. The foal should stand within an hour, should nurse within two hours and the mare should lose the placenta within three hours. These are only guidelines but if any of these events take longer, you need to call your veterinarian and get his advice on what to do next. Make sure you find all of the placenta. Mares with retained placentas can founder or even die. If your mare has retained her placenta for more than six hours, this is an emergency situation and you need to call your veterinarian immediately. The mare will need some help and some drugs to help her from developing a serious problem.
Do I need to bring you last year’s records for my mare?
Yes! It makes our job easier and saves you a lot of time and money if we do not have to reinvent the wheel. We are surprised at how many mares show up with no reproductive history at all. Any reputable breeding farm will be happy to give you your mare’s records or send them to us. It is professional courtesy and most of us respect each other’s work. We need to know either what worked or what didn’t work so we don’t repeat it. Sometimes we run out of technology and breeding mares turns into an art. We need to see if all the available technology has been used. Sometimes it take a couple of breeding seasons to try all the different things and it really helps to see what was done last year or the last several years.
When do I need to give rhino shots?
Your pregnant mare needs to be vaccinated at the 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th month. She should be given Pneumabort K + 1b, which protects her from EHV 1 infections that can cause abortion. This shot does not give her rhino and does not cause abortion. This is one of the simplest things you can do to protect your pregnant mare and the most often overlooked.
What is a Caslick?
A Caslick is a procedure to prevent aspiration of air into the mare’s reproductive tract (windsucking), which causes irritation and infection. Mares with poor vulvar conformation need to have this procedure to get and stay in foal. The area is numbed and then a small strip of tissue is removed from either side of the vulva. The vulva is then stitched together to prevent air and/or feces from entering the vulva. It is important to sew down far enough but also to allow enough room for urination. Once the two sides are healed together, the stitches can be removed, usually in about 2-3 weeks. The Caslick must be opened prior to foaling so the mare will have enough room to foal without tearing. Usually a mare that needs a Caslick will need one every year. Your veterinarian will recommend this procedure if he or she feels it is needed.
What color is my foal?
A roan must have a roan parent; a gray must have a gray parent; a palomino or buckskin must have a palomino or buckskin parent; and a dun or grullo must have a dun or grullo parent. Most blue roans are born grullo or “taupe” colored. Unless they have a dun or grullo parent, the grullo color will turn either blue roan, brown or black. You should start to see either roan or black underneath the grullo coat at about two months of age. Sometimes you can part the hair and see the roan hairs. Bay roans are usually born bay. Sometimes it is hard to see the white hairs until they are a month or two old. Red roans (sorrel base coat) are usually born with a lot of white hair throughout the body are the easiest roan to see. Palomino roans have a palomino hair coat with white hairs. Sometimes it is very obvious in a newborn and sometimes you cannot tell until start to shed and are very white underneath. Buckskin roans and grulla roans are hard to see at birth, also. They usually start to shed out at about two months and then you can see the roan hairs. Sometimes that will be the only time in their life they look roan. Most roans shed off to be almost white and then turn darker the next time they shed. They do not get lighter with age but change seasonally. Some get lighter in the summer and some get lighter in the winter. Grays usually have white hairs on their eyelids and around their eyes even if there are no other white hairs. They get lighter each year until they turn white or “flea bitten.” It is hard to tell a roan from a gray before they lighten up and sometimes they are both. Palominos can come in several different shades. Some look obviously like a palomino at birth. Some look like a light sorrel or “apricot color” and their mane hair does not turn white until about two months of age. Buckskins are pretty easy to tell; they have a yellow body and black mane and tail. Their legs are usually light and turn black when they shed. Sometimes buckskins are born almost bay and do not look buckskin until they shed.
What is plasma and why does my foal need it?
All of the major breeding farms throughout the United States have a bacteria in the soil called Rhodoccus equi. While there is some debate about how foals acquire this bacteria, it is thought to be shed by the mare, both by the dust in her coat and in her manure, and the foal can pick up the bacteria within a few days of foaling. This disease can cause gastrointestinal problems but mainly causes respiratory problems that can be deadly. The bacteria can cause golf ball size abscesses in the lungs and can cause abscesses in other parts of the body as well.
Unfortunately, the symptoms can be difficult to recognize until the foal is extremely ill and it is too late. Symptoms include coughing, snotty nose, increase respiratory rate and elevated temperature. The blood work may not reflect the actual severity of the disease until several weeks later but the things we look for in an inflammatory panel are an elevated white count and high fibrinogen. Many, many foals can have pneumonia and still have normal temperatures and normal bloodworm. Some veterinarians will use ultrasound and radiography to diagnose the disease. The bacteria is very resistant to the usual antibiotics and the antibiotic of choice, clarithromycin, is very expensive. Some foals will require banamine to reduce the temperature and the inflammation and Ventipulmin to help the foal breathe. Sometimes another antibiotic, Rifampin, is added if the foal does not improve with clarithromycin alone. And foals usually need Gastro Guard while on antibiotics. Once a foal is 6 months to a year old, they usually develop immunity and the bacteria is not a danger to them. Since the bacteria resides in soil, reducing dust is very important.
We feel prevention is cost effective and definitely better than the heartbreak of a dead foal. To help the foal’s immune system, a liter of R. equip plasma (taken from an older horse that has developed resistance to the disease) is administered intravenously when the foal is 24 to 48 hours old. While the plasma does not reduce the incidence of Rhodococcus 100%, is does reduce the mortality rate and seems to reduce the severity of the disease if they do contract it. We administer plasma to all of our own foals at Oasis Ranch and feel that it gives the immune system an overall boost in addition to helping prevent Rhodoccus equi. We also are very diligent about controlling dust.
We hope these answers helped you. These are only our opinions and are in no way a substitution for veterinary advice. Please contact your equine veterinarian to help you raise a healthy and valuable foal. And check back as we add more questions and answers.
Compliments of Oasis Rhttp://oasisranchinc.com/anch
What else do I need to know about foaling?
Problems than can occur:
Normal Amniotic Sac: Amnion protruding through the vulva
RED BAG
Redbag: Choriallantoic membrane protruding through the vulva
This situation is called " a Red Bag Birth" because that's what it looks like. It's not exactly a dystocia because the foal is almost always presented in a proper birthing position. There are apparently many possible causes for it, which we don't need to go into here. We haven't had this happen often but a friend of ours has had three of these in as many years. Your vet is a good source for those answers. Instead, this is how to deal with the problem!
In a normal birthing process, the foal breaks out of the the placenta inside of the mare with a white birthing sac around it. The mare's water gushes, and soon after one will see a "white bubble" emerging from the mare's vulva. The white bubble is the birthing sac.
(A person's sharp nails and shear strength also work. We've read that some people use tongue depressors cut to a point.) This means grabbing the scissors or a knife from the foaling kit IMMEDIATELY, usually, no water gushes out; instead, the first thing we've seen was a mass of BRIGHT RED poking out. For a Red Bag birth, the mare is down and contracting. . You literally have only minutes when presented with a foaling of this sort. The placenta is no longer attached to the uterus. The foal, who will try to breathe, will breathe in fluid.
to grab hold of, we tear and cut, being careful not to touch the foal with whatever we're using to get through the placenta. Then, we reach in, break the white bag (amniotic sac) and begin pulling the foal out in time with the mare's contractions. As soon as we have enough of the Red "Stuff" We pull downwards towards the mares hind legs.
Interestingly the water that you'd expect to come out FIRST, comes out AFTER the placenta. So, be prepared to be "doused".
The reason for urgency is that when the placenta detaches WITH the foal, as described, it means the foal is no longer receiving vital blood flow and oxygen through its umbilical cord. It is only a matter of a few minutes before it either suffocates or is brain dead.
Once the foal is born, another interesting situation arises. The foal is still directly connected to the Placenta with its ubilicus, and bacteria from the air and barn is hitting the Placenta. It's extremely important to break the cord as quickly as possible.
There is a "weak spot" or narrow area in the umbilical cord which we have taken advantage of by pulling or stepping on one side and moving the foal away, allowing for a natural break. This spot is close to the foal and is usually pretty obvious. However, this isn't always possible. The other method is to tie off the cord an inch or so away from the foal's umbilicus with a disinfected string, and then cut it on the outside, AWAY from the foal. It's vital to douse the foal's navel and stump area immediately after the break occurs and repeat the dousing a few times over the foal's first few hours of life.
So keeping a watchful eye on the foal over its first 24 to 48 hours is extremely important. This is when bacteria managed to enter the foal through the umbilicus prior to either disinfecting it and/or prior to the foal receiving its colostrum (first milk). A major concern with a foal that was a result of a "Red Bag" birth is Septicemia.
Below 3 images are of a normal birth.
Simple Dystocials
Remember, if you need to do this, you are invading a space which is sterile and anything you bring inside the mare on your hand/glove could become a problem for the mare.
One of us will disinfect a hand and forearm, lubricate well and go up inside the mare for further investigation. If the white bubble (the birth sac) does NOT emerge within five minutes, we step in and put a hand up just inside the mare. If the feet and nose are not felt, we become proactive.
It is at this point, if there are two of us OR if the one person has time, we make a quick phone call to the veterinarian to let him know there may be a problem. There have been a couple of occasions in the past where he has actually been able to give us verbal instructions by phone.
The most common dystocias and corrections easily made are what we call "hook-ups". In other words, either the foal's nose or a hoof is hung up on the mare's pelvic rim. The mare will continue pushing instinctively and the foal may or may not unhook from the shear force. If the foal unhooks on its own, there is the risk of internal tearing to the mare, so it is vital to assist quickly. With a bit of manipulation up inside, and sometimes this requires us to push the foal back up to make room to maneuver, the nose or hoof will "pop" free and the birth will continue normally. We find we have to do this type of correction once or twice a year during foaling season.
Another slightly more complicated correction, but still relatively easily done is when the foal's legs are tucked under itself instead of extending straight out under its head. Fortunately, this is a more rare situation than the one described above. It requires a bit more manipulation and also means pushing the foal back up from where it came from. Once the foal is pushed back enough, it is easier to take hold of a leg, one at a time, and bring each of them forward so they are in the proper "diving" position. What makes it difficult is trying to maneuver as much as possible BETWEEN the mare's contractions. Once this is accomplished, the birth will proceed quickly.
Both these situations are relatively simple to fix and the result is a miraculous birth. The malposition of the foal has more to do with its placement in the birth canal than anything else. Study the diagram below and see how many places close to the vulva where a hoof or a nose can get "hooked-up".
A mare's contraction are extremely strong and remember, if your hand or wrist are in the mare during one, it will be painful to you. The mare will hardly notice you are there.
There are many other problem birthing positions or dystocias which are statistically rare, but we urge people to read up on and discuss them with their vet . They DO happen and by being proactive with an early check of the presentation of the foal's nose and feet as described above, a person can have their veterinarian on the way OR have their mare loaded on a trailer to the Clinic before serious damage has occurred to the mare.
The Septic Foal
As soon as a foal is born it is exposed to bacteria and the horse is one of the few mammals not born with protective antibodies. Two of the most vulnerable areas for bacteria to enter a newborn's system is through it's umbilicus (open navel area) and through its mouth. This is why it is vital for (hopefully) two things to occur shortly after birth:
The navel is disinfected with a gentle iodine or Nolvasan solution.
The newborn receives the mare's "first milk" (colostrum). This is something we usually begin introducing to the foal ourselves by milking the mom and hand feeding with a syringe even before it finds her nipple.
It is from the mare's colostrum that the newborn receives vital protection from the bacteria that it's been born into as that first milk contains all the same antibodies that its mother holds.
Unfortunately, even with precautions, those sneaky germs can occasionally find their way in through the two moist entries into a foal. The result is what is termed: SEPTICEMIA. A brief and thoroughly inadequate definition of septicemia is that toxins or bacteria are in the blood of the newborn.
It is extremely important to observe our newborn foal during the first 24 hours of its life, as this is when symptoms of Septicemia will most often show up. You spent eleven months waiting for this foal to be born, another day of watching isn't too much price to pay. We like to keep the mare and new baby under camera in a stall (This also is good for the mare and foal bonding.). We constantly check on the mare and foal to be sure the foal is vigorous and and doing what it is supposed to do -- eating, sleeping, peeing, pooping, and exploring. A newborn foal WILL sleep a fair amount. It takes a lot of energy to be born but it will wake up to feed and generally drive its mother crazy.
A Septic Foal (or an unhealthy one in general) will go downhill very quickly and either way, it means responding immediately with a veterinarian's care.
A Septic Foal will lose interest in nursing and not be as vital as one would expect. They may act much like a "Sleepy Foal" (one which has had a slow start because of lack of oxygen during birth.) Another health problem this is similar to is a "RH Factor" Foal -- Both will be covered on a separate page.
A healthy foal will be exploring its surroundings, not be shy about trying out its legs around the foaling stall, take a nap, but be up and alert again after that. The Septic Foal will just slowly decline and want to sleep, become less responsive to outside stimulation. The foal may also pass a light yellow to cream colored pastey poop after it's first meconium.
We urge people to be aggressive in reacting to any questionable behavior they observe with a newborn. Without a veterinaria's care, the foal can die in a matter of hours.
|
