NEWS
Natural nurse mares are good substitutes
Posted: Saturday, February 03, 1996
Some mares are just crazy about foals, and are even able to produce milk without having a foal of their ownIn almost every species of animal, it seems that some individuals are more motherly than normal. Most females are fiercely protective of their own young and very fond of them, but vehemently reject any babies not their own. A cow will try to kick or butt away any stray youngster that attempts to nurse. A mare will threaten off an inquisitive young intruder with ears pinned back and bared teeth-following it up with a nip or a kick if her pasturemate's child blunders too close.
But sometimes you will find an old cow in the herd that will let any calf nurse, or a mare who loves babies- anyone's baby. If mares are foaling out at pasture (or if your broodmare surprises you and foals before you have her in the barn or segregated from others), this type of mare may try to steal another mare's foal at birth.
There are a few mares who just seem to love babies, whether they gave birth to them or not. Some mares will let any foal nurse, and it does not seem to matter whether the mare has a foal of her own. The amazing thing is that a dry mare can actually start producing milk if a foal starts nursing regularly.
There have been several recorded instances of dry mares beginning to produce milk after being nursed by an orphan foal, or foals of mares in the same pasture. One such case occurred in Nevada in 1992. An Appaloosa mare owned by Gloria Strong gave birth to a filly but died of colic when the foal was only two weeks old. All attempts to get the foal to drink milk replacer were futile; she would not nurse a bottle. A nurse mare could not be located. After two days without milk, the baby was becoming very weak and dehydrated. The Strongs had another mare, a Quarter Horse named Ginger, who previously had two foals but did not have a foal of her own that year. Ginger was a docile mare who loved babies, and she had often stood by the fence for hours watching the Appaloosa and her new filly since she did not have a foal of her own.
Finally, in desperation, the Strongs decided to try to trick the starving orphan into nursing a bottle by using Ginger-holding the bottle up under Ginger's udder on the off side while someone guided the foal to the udder. They thought they might be able to fool the foal into taking the bottle.
The filly would not touch the bottle, but began nursing the dry mare. Ginger licked and nuzzled the filly's little rump and in motherly fashion, comforted the hungry foal. The filly nursed and nursed and appeared to be getting something to drink, so in wonderment and disbelief, the Strongs squeezed one of the mare's teats, squirting out white fluid. They called their veterinarian to ask if it was possible for a dry mare to produce milk and asked to have the fluid checked. The veterinarian collected a sample to analyze it. The mare and filly were left together, but close watch was kept during that night to make sure the mare did not have a change of heart and reject the foal.
By morning the mare was producing milk in more abundance, and the veterinarian confirmed that it was normal, healthy, mare's milk. Ginger had begun producing milk, even though her last foal had been weaned nine months earlier and the mare had been completely dry.
This type of occurrence dispels the often held idea that a nurse mare must have recently lost a foal or just recently dried up in order to come back to her milk. There are a number of instances in which mares such as Ginger immediately began producing milk when suckled, even though they had been dry for some time. Even more amazing are the rare cases in which a mare who has never had a foal will adopt a foal and begin producing milk. The milk production is probably made possible because the mare's maternal attitude and the foal's nursing stimulate the production of hormones and trigger responses in the body that enable the mare to make milk.
Heather Smith Thomas is a free-lance writer based in Salmon, Idaho, specializing in veterinary and breeding topics.
