I was asked to help a lovely little lady this morning. She arrived at 05:00 but hadn’t suckled from her mother despite everyone’s (mare and owner) best efforts.
So I went over at 10.00 to see if I could help.
The foal’s spirit was willing but the brain was not in gear at all.
Bless her, the foal was very easy and instantly tame but she just could not get the plot with this sucking thing, despite all our efforts. Everywhere and anything, just not her mother’s teat.
The lights were on ……. (and Mum was certainly in the house, trying to help).
So we had to interfere and milk out the colostrum, give it to the foal in a bottle before she went downhill and then afterwards try to get her to latch on to her mother.
Once she had the bottle of colostrum and a little sleep, the foal tried to suck her mother’s armpits….
Then her own knees…..
And then she went under her mum, where we had been showing her for hours….. (note, she is missing the teat and sucking her mother’s fur, skin, anything…..)
It is so frustrating when they are like this because half of you does not want to interfere but the other half knows that foals must suck and fairly quickly too.
Et voilà!
Once the filly foal had suckled, we breathed a collective sigh of relief and left them to it. I checked on them both a few hours later and everything still seemed fine.
Meanwhile, back to my life, little Lambie-Borghini is doing well. He is walking, if oddly, and I am taking him out when the weather is nice for little walks. He just runs back to the house like a heat seeking wind-up toy but, still, he walks.
He reminds me of a Star Wars AT-AT – All Terrain Armoured Transport
Well, he does!
Great title for this post! Thank goodness for a happy ending…
Is it possible Lambie-borghini is moving FASTER? Look at that little guy go! And I do believe he’s gotten cuter!
Frances had a little lamb, its’ fleece was black and white
And everywhere that Frances went, the lamb did surely follow…with all of its’ might.
Ok; I need my cup of tea, clearly I’m getting a bit fuddled
Maybe this filly foal is “missing a chip,” as they say — does this happen often in animal husbandry/wifery?
Lambie-B is so darling (I’ve said this a million times, sorry) — look at that little fella go! Glad things are looking up — each new day seems to bring a new livestock challenge.
It seems the animal life on your island really needs your “just get it done” motto!
Have you ever heard of treating dummy foals with the “Madigan Foal Squeeze”?
Check out:
http://www.equineneonatalmanual.com/#!foalsqueezing/c1r2z
It is harmless, easy and has had amazing results.