Page 99 - June 2016

The hardest part in the whole process, according to the people who did the trial, is convincing the barren mare to accept the foal after inducing her to create milk.
says Tracy. He’d been nursing her that way ever since he was born and wasn’t used to nursing a standing mare.
Tracy put the barren gray mare on the drugs - oral Regumate (44 mg per day), estradiol-ben- zoate in oil (10 mg/ml peanut oil) given intra muscular once per day, and the domperidone twice a day (1.1 mg per kg of body weight). These drugs were to be given for 14 days, with the start of the adoption of the foal onto the mare after day seven.
“After we started her on the drugs, the barren mare started to make a little bag. She was 18 or 19 years old. After the seven days had elapsed, we set up a stall where we could put her next to the foal that was about to be orphaned. We had a little 2-stall barn with the stalls separated by a heavy mesh wire. We used it for buddying up new mares before putting them out in a paddock or pasture together. We liked every mare to have a pal and keep them in herd situations, rather than turn
one out alone. If we bought a new mare, we selected one out of our pasture and put her in one side of this stall and the new mare in the other side until they buddied up,” he explains. Then, the two mares could be turned out in a pasture together.
“So, we put the gray mare in one side of this stall and slipped a 2x4 through to make it narrower - like a tie stall - so she’d have to be right next to the mesh divider. Then, we led the foundered mare out of her pasture, put her down, and captured her foal. We walked the foal out (he was well halter broke by this time, since he’d been handled a lot) and led him away. He never looked back,” says Tracy.
“We led him down to the barn where
the grey mare was and walked him into the adjoining stall. She took one look at him, he nickered at her, and she nickered back. So,
we led him around to her stall and up to her so they could get a closer look at one another. While my wife was holding the foal up near the mare’s head and shoulder, I put on a sleeve and did a vaginal entry and manipulated her cervix. The researchers said this is part of the process to get the adoption going, because it makes the mare think she’s foaled. She stood there looking at the baby, and I rubbed on the foal with the sleeve I’d just used to palpate her,” Tracy recalls.
“The foal wiggled back toward her flank like he wanted to nurse, but he’s already a
big guy, three weeks old, and used to nursing the way he wants to. So he walked up and slammed this mare in the side with his head, as foals will do, and she squalled and kicked. He backed away.”
“We fiddled around for another 15 minutes, and by that time he was interested in nurs-
ing again, so we put a twitch on the mare.
He walked back there, took hold of a teat and nursed. When he finished, we took the twitch off the mare. The foal checked out the stall for another half hour, then went back to the mare.
We put the twitch on her again and he rooted around at her udder. Then he started nursing, and she just stood there, so we took the twitch off while he was nursing,” says Tracy.
“After about three hours, she was convinced that he was her foal. It was absolutely perfect! We had the two of them together in the stall, and after awhile took them to a small pad- dock. I led that foal away and the mare was worried about him and tried to keep up. We turned them loose and she put her head around him (like mares will do with a newborn), just
Procedure For Inducing Lactation In Barren Mares
The late Dr. Dee Cross, Professor of Animal and Veterinary Sciences at Clemson University, South Carolina, is the researcher who came up with this protocol for inducing lactation. He recommended that during day one through 14, the barren mare should be given Regumate (44 mg/day, orally), plus
10 mg per day (intramuscular injection) of estradiol-benzoate in oil (10 mg/ml peanut oil) and an oral dose of Equidone (domperi- done) twice daily at a dose of 1.1 mg per kg of body weight.
After day seven, the mare should be producing enough milk to start the adoption of a foal onto her. Dr. Cross recommended placing the mare in a stall behind a padded
bar at chest height, and holding the foal close to her head while she receives vaginal/ clitoral stimulation to encourage her to have an interest in the foal. For mares that show extreme aggression toward the foal, Dr. Cross suggested using a tranquilizer until the foal has nursed a few times. Nursing stimulates milk letdown and maternal hor- mones, making the mare feel more motherly.
From day 14 through 21, only domperi- done is given once a day. During this time, the Regumate and estradiol-benzoate can be discontinued. After 21 days the mare may not need any more drugs, but domperidone may be continued once a day, if needed, to boost milk production.
It may difficult to get some nurse mares to accept an orphaned foal, but nursing will stimulate milk letdown as well as maternal hormones, and the mare should eventually feel more motherly toward the foal.
SPEEDHORSE, June 2016 97
equine health