Mare was killed by lightning yesterday, but her foal survived. Need advice on increasing a foster mare's milk

My sister boards her mare at a breeder's ranch. Because she foaled later in the season, she was held back with another mare that had a premature foal. Two weeks ago all 4 were turned out in the big pasture with the rest of the mares.


She was fine in the morning and found in the afternoon next to a metal round bale feeder after a bad thunderstorm. Her filly was with the other mare so we put the 3 of them in a seperate pen. The foster mare is accepting the second foal, but we know it will be a strain on her. We set up a creep feeder for the foals last night. Is there something to help the foster mare keep up, or would it be better to bottle feed the orphan filly?


The breeder is going to increase the foster mare's grain, but I was just want to make sure we are doing all we can for them.


The orphan filly is 7 weeks old. Any advice would be great!Mare was killed by lightning yesterday, but her foal survived. Need advice on increasing a foster mare's milk
The best thing to do (speaking from experience with several orphans), if you can't get a nurse mare for the foal, get her on a bucket. You get mare's milk replacement which you mix up and put in a bucket and teach the foal to drink from that. DO NOT bottle feed at that age, you are setting yourself up for all kinds of issues, it's time consuming and they get aggressive after a while plus you won't be able to get enough food into her that way. A bucket fed foal will do better. If you use a black bucket, it needs to hang from a lighter colored background like a white wall or fence, and vice versa, white bucket from dark fence. This helps the foal to visually locate and identify the source of food. You can then monitor how much the foal is drinking, increase if needed and it has all the vitamins needed. With the feed in the creep, you can add some milk pellets too which both foals will benefit from.


Sorry about your loss and hope this helps a bit. I have a friend and her sole line of business is taking orphans and bucket feeding milk replacement works great, we have sent quite a few of our own over to her.Mare was killed by lightning yesterday, but her foal survived. Need advice on increasing a foster mare's milk
Wow, that really sucks. A lot is going to depend on the mare...we have a couple that bag up and milk like a Holstein...could probably feed three...and others, not so much.





I used Buckeye's Mare's Milk plus when I bottle raised George. I was VERY satisfied, it is a good product.





If you go the bottle supplement route...get the sheep nipples that fit over 20 oz soda bottles. That way you can mix up several bottles, cap them, and pull them as needed. Huge time saver!





Try offering the babies a pail of supplement while mom's eating her grain...another way to make sure they get what they need. If they are interested in the bucket, they can both drink.





But, one thing to remember...the mare's milk production is supply/demand. The more they get elsewhere, the less they will nurse. The less they nurse, the less she will produce.





I'm a mother hen, so I'd probably give the orphan a few bottles a day and monitor their progress...adjust it as needed. Having her with the foster is good for behavior/development as well as feeding.
get a milk cow to adopt her... or just get milk that has no steroids in them. sorry for you loss.
There r plentty of books to buy, my mare died wen she gave birth to a skewbald filly the filly was orphand and i fed her milk from my other mare who had a foal on the same night. it was expensive, i fed her 3pints 6 times a day every 4 hours then after she was 1 weeks old i started feedin her on foal milk not on my other mares milk. I have now broken her in her name is Sky she is 7 and i have started competeing her.


sorry for your loss it is hard work!
I would leave her with the mare and foal. Best thing is for her to be raised in a horsey environment, not with humans. You set up a creep feeder, that is great. I would leave unlimited feed for the foals, and I would feed Calf Manna Milk Replacer Pellets to them if they are eating. If not, mix up a liquid milk replacer and feed it in a bucket 3 times a day for both foals.





The mare should have unlimited access to good quality hay. I like a good alfalfa/grass mix. If you have green pasture turn out, that is best for them all.





Try to keep the foal on the mare until it is at least 12 weeks old. If the mare really starts going downhill you can wean it. But I would not bottle feed it at all. Ever. It is old enough to eat solid foods and drink from a bucket. Nothing wrong with that. It really does need to be with other horses though, including a mare that will teach it how to be a horse.





Good luck.
mares can produce enought milk for 2 foal since twins happen and survive but you'll def. need to get them eating grain earlier. def. talk to the vet they might have other ideas for you but i wouldn't ONLY bottle feed her because she needs that bonding with her new ';mom';. sorry about your loss. since the filly is at a breeders farm maybe you could milk or use a mare who has a foal that's being weaned.. just an idea check out the ask the pro section at allabouthorses.com i think i've read about how to deal with an orphan on there.
I would try to bottle feed the orhpan fial because it's going to take a toll on the mare if she already has her own baby.





Check with your vet and see what he says! Sorry about your loss!
Oh man, I'm so sorry.





I would call the vet to see what supplements they have for this. You might have to get some additional supplement from them.





Others will have more ideas that have been through this though! Good luck!!
o well firstly im sorry to haer about the mare. but i once read an article about a mare that gave birth to twins and the owners thought that it was just going to be 1 baby so they didnt give her enough supplement s for both babies so 1 was much stronger and biggger than the other.but anyways. the biggest thing to worry about would firstly be getting the foster mare to accept the other baby. but u say that she already has.also i read in that magize that they had the vet come and give the mare a shot. idk remember wat the name of it was but im sure the vet would kno but it helped the mare to produce more milk. that would probably help this mare. also just watch them really closely.if u knotice one foal isnt getting quite enough than start bottle fedding it once in a while and then also let it nurse the mare. and yes once in a while u may need to give the mare a little break and play with the foal and feed it. but the mare sounds strong enough to care for 2 foals. but i would definatley get her that shot other wise theres not gona be enough milk for her to feed both. and she mite completely run dry and then your gona be stuck with 2 foals to bottle feed. good luck
The basis of all horse feed is roughage. The mare needs to be on a good grass or mixed hay, and all of it she wants. You mentioned feeding her 'more grain', but what kind. Some are just starches and sugar (sweet feed/oats). You need to supplement her with a high fat feed, such as ADM's Moorglo with Moorman's minerals or Nutrena Empower. It is very important that the mare get the correct amounts of protein, minerals and fats during pregnancy and nursing to ensure that your foals don't develop DOD (Developmental Osteo Disease).





Definitely talk to an equine vet. and remember the principles of good equine nutrition are:


Roughage (grass/hay)


Protein


Minerals/vitamins


Fat


Starch





In that order.





Good luck and remember to talk to your vet.
There is medication that you can get from a vet to give the mare to increase her milk production...We have done it several times, I can't remember what it's called, but it starts working within 24 hours...it's kind of like a hormone supplement, you can either put it in her feed or inject it from a shot...But for right now I would bottle feed her for a few days.
I have to ask why were the horses in the pasture during a thunderstorm? It seems quite obvious that they should have been put in the barn, as the results of not.
go ask the vet what milk you could use and bottle feed the foal thats the best i could think of im soooo sorry bout your mares death. i hope the foal survives