The “milk test” – trying to cut down on all nighters during foal watch

As mentioned a couple of entries ago, pregnant mares usually foal at night, and it is best if people are around, just in case something goes awry. Thus typically means many sleepless nights waiting on the mare to foal. Not surprisingly, this is not an activity most people look forward to, and there are lots of hints and tips on how to forecast when the birthing will happen – so you can sleep easily until then.

This year I decided to try a product which you can use to test the mother’s milk. The idea is that, as the mother is closer to foaling, her milk will chemically change from a clear liquid to an opaque white (looking a lot like skimmed milk, in fact). During te change, the calcium content is changing as well. By testing the milk, using certain chemicals, you can get an idea of how long it will be before the baby comes.

We have been using a product called “The Foal Watch Kit”. Here are the steps:

1) Around 4-5pm we milk the mare enough to gather about 5ml of fluid

2) Measure out 1.5ml. Add 9ml distiled water, and one drop of some purple solution (of course it has a name – I just do not remember what)

3) Take a vial that has a small amount of some magic clear fluid in it. Vials provided in the kit, of course. Using a contraption provided, suck up a small amount of the milk solution into the vial. Rock to mix. If the color of the mixture remains purple, suck up more milk solution. Once the color turns bright blue and remains there, read the side of the vial. The more fluid in the vial, the lower the number (who knows why (?)).

4) When you finally have a reading of 200 or more, you are likely (about 85% chance) that you are within 48 hours of having a birthing mare. If below 200, there is a 98% chance she will not give birth that night.

How do I like it? Pretty well so far. If it actually works, one could cut down foal watch to 2-3 nights.

During the last few days Cori has shown 90, 100, 150, 200 and tonight it was 250. Since the reading was 200 last night and she did not have the baby last night, there is supposedly an 85% chance the baby will come tonight. We’ll see.