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| Author |
Message |
    
Danielle
| | Posted on Saturday, Apr 3, 1999 - 11:09 am: |   |
Hi. I'm a student in college studying Equine Science. I am currently taking a reproduction class. My prof is a big fan of Foal Predicting Kits, the ones where you test the milk. Anyways I was wondering how good they are and what other people think of them. |
FoalMom
| | Posted on Saturday, Apr 3, 1999 - 11:09 am: | |
They are great for people just learning the ropes. Once you know your mares and have seen alot of them done, you can learn to tell just by looking at the color and texture. These kits are not foolproof though by any means and nothing works like good old babysitting. |
KC
| | Posted on Saturday, Apr 3, 1999 - 11:10 am: | |
This is so true. You can do the *test* yourself just squirt a tiny bit of milk in your hand. It'll start clearish, turn a bit yellow, then go to white. Once it turns white, the mare will foal in 48 hours. Be sure you use the same side each time you test. Good luck! |
The Advisor Vet, RN Oglesby DVM
| | Posted on Saturday, Apr 3, 1999 - 11:13 am: | |
Hi KC,
The tests measure for mineral (calcium and magnesium) content which does not always correspond to clearness. I see a lot of mares that have normal foalings with a thick clear yellow colostrum.
The Advisor Vet, RN Oglesby DVM |
Elizabeth
| | Posted on Saturday, Apr 3, 1999 - 11:20 am: | |
I will probably get alot of arguments to this BUT.....I'll start out by saying that my husband is a breeding manager. Last season we had 11 mares in foal and we learned a new 'trick' from our Repro Vet.
We monitered all our mares temperatures and found them to be around 100-101. Within 24 hours of foaling, 10 out of the 11 mares temps fell to 99 degrees or a little below 99. We have 21 mares in foal this season and are monitoring all the temps again. While the Foal Predicting kits are good, we found them to be not as accurate as the temperature method, and alot less expensive if your dealing with alot of mares. This is by no means a scientific study, but if you have a thermometer, give it a try. |
Danielle
| | Posted on Saturday, Apr 3, 1999 - 11:22 am: | |
My professor had also mentioned this. I think that he said that someone has done research with it. Thanks! |
Danielle
| | Posted on Saturday, Apr 3, 1999 - 11:51 am: | |
Just wanted to let everyone know. That the kit did work with the mare that I was watching. I ended up only spending one night at our farm and she had the baby early that morning. I think though that if you do use them, that you need to be watching for the natural signs as well. Thanks to everyone who replied to my earlier message. |
Karin Fletcher
| | Posted on Sunday, Aug 1, 1999 - 5:09 pm: | |
Well...I had to chuckle after reading about the foal testing kit. I have had 5 foals born on my farm. The first foal made me sleep in the barn for 2 weeks..I had no foal kit. The 2. foal had a kit, it was very accurate. The 3. foal was delivered by my husband because I thought I had at least another day...foal kit was wrong..:-( The 5th foal wasn't supposed to been here for at least another week....but one tuesday morning as I went to the barn to feed I happened to look over my mare's stalldoor....and there was the most gorgeous, huge, orange colored guy looking up at me!!! My heart skipped a few beats as you can imagine...oh my gosh..was he alright? How could she have delivered this foal without me being there?? :-) Of course he was alright...been born sometime during the night. He was totally dry,had no trouble jumping to his feet as I entered the stall...the mare was fine, her placenta was buried in the hay....evidently there was no trauma whatsoever. She just laid down and had her baby! Well, so much for foal kits...LOL
Of course I'll keep using it, but they are not foolproof. Keep an eye on those sneaky mares! |
Pamela2
| | Posted on Sunday, Aug 22, 1999 - 8:57 pm: | |
Those mares are sneaky, but we have managed to be present for all deliveries (5 in total, 2 came in the afternoon) and video them as well. The family takes turns staying up part of each night and we just keep at it until the birth happens. You can't leave them for l0 minutes or you know what will happen. The last delivery was mid-afternoon, I was on the phone looking out the window at the mare when her water broke. Great planning! But she got us back as she was 3 weeks late and we were all exhausted. So, you can be there, it just takes a lot of family support! Pamela2. |
Imogen Bertin
Member
Username: Imogen
Post Number: 304
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, Apr 16, 2003 - 10:08 am: | |
Does anyone have any names/prices for the kits? They seem to be a bit unheard-of in Ireland or at least my bit of Ireland. My mare is due 25th April, has been bagging up at night for about 10 days and stayed bagged up during the day yesterday. I know, I should have thought about getting a kit earlier... I tried lab suppliers asking about standard water hardness kits but they sell them in batches of 100 and there are about 100 different combinations of sensitivity...
All the best
Imogen |
Joy Dunton
Member
Username: Jdunton
Post Number: 31
Registered: 2-2000
| | Posted on Wednesday, Apr 16, 2003 - 12:17 pm: | |
The website for Predict-a-foal is www.ahcpi.com/product2.htm. I have used it 3 times and twice it was very accurate. The third time I used it was on a mare that just foaled 2 weeks ago. She was showing signs that she was getting near to foaling, so I tested her, and it showed that she was going to foal within the next 12 hours. Well, she didnt foal until 3 days later. The third morning I got up to find that she was very waxed up and acting nervous. So then I knew that she was ready. And she had it 3 hours later. So I kind of lost confidence in the test. But maybe I did something wrong. Each time my mares have foaled it has been in the morning or the evening. I have been lucky not to have to be up during the middle of the night.
Good Luck with the testing
Joy |
Joy Dunton
Member
Username: Jdunton
Post Number: 32
Registered: 2-2000
| | Posted on Wednesday, Apr 16, 2003 - 12:21 pm: | |
I just noticed that the price may not be on the website, but it cost me about $30.00 as best I can remember, and you can test quite a few mares with it. I split the cost with my daughter-in-law and we both used it on 3 mares and there were enough left for probably a couple more mares. Depends on how many times you perform the test. You can order it out of quite a few mail order catalogs. If you can't find it I can look and see which one we ordered it from. |
Robert N. Oglesby DVM
Moderator
Username: Dro
Post Number: 8155
Registered: 1-1997
| | Posted on Thursday, Apr 17, 2003 - 5:56 am: | |
There is some information in the article associated with this forum on the kits and also gives you an idea of the sensitivity range you would want in a test kit Imogen. As Joy has found these tests are not 100% and the article explains some of the reasons.
DrO |
Imogen Bertin
Member
Username: Imogen
Post Number: 305
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, Apr 17, 2003 - 11:06 am: | |
Thanks DrO - I read the article on levels, I just got a very confused lady at the lab supplier place and given her confusion and the fact they don't sell small quantities I kind of gave up at that point.
I've established my vet doesn't believe they are accurate enough as they don't stock them and don't know where you can get them...
I think I was just trying to bolster my lack of experience with a bit of technology. I took a little liquid from one udder last night and it's still clear - I think she has another week to go anyway given her covering date.
I decided to send her away to foal but I'm trying to economise on the number of days keep I have to pay for her to be at the foaling place. My farrier who breeds 6-10 valuable mares a year says he usually manages to get them there within 24-48 hours and brings them back 48 hours after foaling. He's coming tomorrow to take her shoes off so I plan to take advantage of his greater experience and get him to look at her.
All the best
Imogen |
