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Glad you said that about foals needing to be on forage, Heidi--- I was 
feeling a little nervous because this is the first time I haven't 
supplemented my foals with alfalfa-- but the forage is just sooo good! 
With only 2 rainy days all season---- yes 2!!!--- the forage mix only 
yielded one-third what it did last year and is shorter but much more 
grain. The farmer warned me not to overfeed-- I don't and still my herd 
all looks pregnant--- and only 2 out of 15 are! Sooo I stuck with the 
forage this year which is a mixture of wheat, beardless barley and 2 
kinds of oat-- and my horses lick it up--- no stems are left behind 
because he cut when the sugar was at the top of the stalk-- just prior 
to its descent.
Now with all this in mind-- do I need to supplement with the alfalfa to 
make sure the foals and lactating mares have enough calcium in their 
diet? My vets had always recommended that in the past, but would this 
rich forage mix provide enough? I have hesitated on Mare and Foal 
pellets, worried that their diet would be too rich.
Advice from anyone's past experience or current trends is greatly 
appreciated.
Bette

heidi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> >  My question
> > (finally) is does anyone have any history of foals having diarrhea
> > from feeds with molasses in them?  I really like Eq. Sr. and would
> > like to use it if possible.
> >    
>
>
> Yes, yes, yes--as well as ANY hi-carb concentrates.  Even in programs that
> grain their mares, so-called "foal heat" scours are greatly reduced if the
> mares get NO grain at all from foaling time until after the foal heat. 
> Personally, I don't grain mares OR foals at all--we have 7 babies right
> now, and all are healthy, growing great, and have mammas in good weight on
> good pasture supplemented by a bit of good alfalfa hay.
>
> One reason for no grain (in addition to the prevention of diarrhea) is
> that foals NEED to be on a full forage diet, IMO, to fully develop their
> hindguts.  May not be important for horses that never work--but many of
> mine are expected to do stuff like endurance later in life, so that is a
> biggie to me.  Also, grained mares milk more heavily and sometimes milk
> more than young foals can handle (which is why even my grain-pushing
> clients in years past learned to take the grain away for a couple of
> weeks), and tend to be in poorer flesh as lactation progresses than mares
> on QUALITY free-choice forage diets.
>
> Several posters have also mentioned the other REALLY big factor in
> preventing foal diarrhea--that is deworming the mare with ivermectin just
> after foaling.  The suggested window for doing this is within 12 hours of
> foaling--I have the ivermectin right in my foaling kit and usually just do
> it the same time I treat the foal's navel right after birth.  I didn't see
> a single loose stool at foal heat time this year, and rarely see much more
> than a bit of loose stool--nothing I'd even class as diarrhea, and
> certainly nothing that requires medicating scalded bottoms.  (Yeah, used
> to go through that drill with Vaseline, and in later years with Desitin.)
>
> But all this (other than taking away the concentrates, which would still
> help) is preventative.  For treatment, you are on the right track--some
> sort of kaolin/pectin, monitor for fever (add an antibiotic if necessary),
> medicate the scalded bottom, etc.  I'd add probiotics, consider using
> paregoric (it slows down intestinal motility), monitor hydration closely
> and give additional fluids (oral in mild cases, IV in severe cases) if
> necessary, and ADD AN ULCER MED!!  Ranitidine would be my drug of choice
> for a foal--you can get it over the counter (I think Zantac is the popular
> brand name--read the fine print to make sure--I just get the generic next
> to it) and give it a human dose 3 times per day.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Heidi
>
>
>
>
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--
Bette Lamore
Whispering Oaks Arabians
Home of Bunny and 16.2h TLA Halynov
who lives on through his legacy Hal's Riverdance!
http://www.arabiansporthorse.com

Always remember: "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." (George Carlin)




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