Horse Breeder and Vet Urgent Appeal for Horse Owners to Provide Colostrum for Orphan Foals
Friday, April 04, 2008
Great Waltham-based horse breeder Mitzi Stillebroer and vet Marc Auerbach of Ongar-based Oak Equine Veterinary Surgery have appealed to horse breeders across the country to join the National Foaling Bank run by Johanna Vardon MBE. They’ve launched the appeal after successfully saving a foal born to one of Mitzi’s Stillebroer’s mares, whose blood proved to be incompatible with the foal she gave birth to in late February.
Happily the foal, Laura Lee, survived thanks to dedicated veterinary care and a tiny amount of colostrum, supplemented with powdered foal milk and intravenous infusions of plasma. But the experience, described by Mitzi, as ‘terrifying’ highlighted the value of a national ‘bank’ of colostrums, held by breeders across the UK, which can be used to help the hundreds of foals each year which are either orphaned or unable to drink their mother’s milk.
“The mare had lost a foal last year while with another owner,” explained Mitzi, “It turned out this was because she’d developed antibodies against the stallion’s blood. This is a relatively rare condition, though actually not as rare as you might think with thoroughbreds.
“When she came to me she was pregnant by a different stallion, but Marc did a blood test which confirmed the same problem, so we knew we could not let the foal suckle from her mother for the first 36 hours while the colostrum was in her milk. This meant we had to muzzle her from birth and bottle-feed her with powdered foal milk during this critical period. At the same time, the mare was being milked to get the colostrums containing the antibodies out of her system. Once we’d successfully done this, she was able to suckle from her mother.”
“Laura Lee has done really well, but easier access to a supply of colostrum would have made her first few hours much less difficult and also removed the need for expensive plasma treatments.”
Marc Auerbach of Oak Equine Veterinary Surgery comments: “Every breeder should milk their mares once their own foal has suckled for three to four hours, then strip half a pint of colostrum into a clear container and freeze it immediately, clearly labelled and dated. You never know when you may be able to save the life of another foal. We also ask all breeders to support the work of Johanna Vardon at the National Foaling Bank – at least by joining as members. The organisation is struggling financially at the moment, but carries out vital work to support all horse breeders and their horses. One of its activities is the maintenance of a national register of colostrum, enabling member owners or vets to find the closest supply.
“Proximity is important given the timescales we are talking about, so the more breeders who keep stocks of colostrum across the country, the better it will be for all of us.”
