Colostrum: Planning Ahead
As every horse breeder should know, colostrum is one of the keys to any foal's survival. This antibody-rich first milk is critical for preventing early, often fatal infections in foals. Foals that don't get an adequate volume of good quality colostrum within the first 18-24 hours of life (while they can still absorb antibodies through their intestine) are at high risk of dying from any of a number of different infections.
Sometimes colostrum from a newborn's mare may not be available. This is an emergency situation, so every breeder (whether they have one mare or 100 mares) should have a contingency plan for treating the foal or obtaining colostrum from another source, just in case. This may be necessary if:
- The mare does not produce any milk (i.e. she doesn't "bag up") prior to foaling.
- The mare leaks colostrum/milk from her udder prior to foaling.
- The mare dies during delivery.
Finding an alternate source of colostrum after a foal is born, within those critical first 18-24 of life, can be very difficult. Like most things, planning ahead can make finding such a source much easier, and a little proactive effort may save your foal's life. A few potential options are:
- Save extra colostrum from other mares on your farm. Most mares produce more colostrum than their own foal will need. Any extra colostrum can be milked out and frozen for use later in the year, or even in future years (although the quality of the colostrum does decrease somewhat when it is stored for a very long time). Always make sure each mare's own foal gets enough colostrum first.
- Get colostrum from a colostrum bank, if there is one in the area.
- Get together with local breeders and start your own colostrum bank, with different people saving colostrum and/or being on call to collect colostrum from newly foaled mares, if anyone needs some.
Foals can also get the antibodies they need from plasma, which can be given intravenously (as a transfusion) or even orally (within the first 18-24-hours). However, commercial plasma is usually quite expensive, and it doesn't replace many of the other components of colostrum from which newborn foals benefit. Feeding the foal equine colostrum, from one source or another, is still the best recommendation.
More information on colostrum is available on the equIDblog Resources page. More information about colostrum banking is available in this article from the California Thoroughbred magazine.
