Stopping the Flow

I have a mare that is still lactating heavily months after weaning her foal. What is the cause of this?
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

  I have a mare that is still lactating heavily months after weaning her foal. What is the cause of this? And how can it be cured or prevented?

AI have no information on specific disorders of the mare that would explain this. That leaves us with a concern for management failure as an explanation for this situation.

Milk production is linked closely with mare nutrition. As feed intake is reduced, lactation slows. As lactation slows, foals seek nutrition on their own (such as additional nutrition via a creep feeder). Reduced nursing also slows the response of the mare, who essentially dries up. That’s the way Nature intends this to happen.

Good managers make this happen prior to weaning by slowly reducing the energy-generating feeds from the mare’s ration, and after weaning by not milking the mare after the foal is weaned. High-energy feeds such as grain and/or rich legume hay should be reduced or eliminated from the mare’s diet after weaning if possible

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

A. C. (Woody) Asbury received his DVM from Michigan State University in 1956, then spent 21 years in California in breeding farm practice and at UC Davis. He joined the faculty at the University of Florida in 1977 and was involved in teaching, research, and administration until 1996. Asbury was a long-time member of The Horse’s advisory board. He died in 2011 after a lengthy illness.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
308 votes · 308 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!