Usually, a mare will foal within 48 hours of getting colostrum. So, the idea is to know when there is colostrum to get a better idea the mare s foaling timetable. Please note that when testing the milk you must keep in mind all of the other factors that let you know when your mare is close to foaling, such as the waxing over of the nipple, sunken croup, restlessness, irritability, etc. The Color will be from a dark yellow to a skim milk white, and the Consistency will fluctuate from thin and runny like milk to sticky and tacky. A mare's milk will bounce around and fluctuate between all of these ranges from hour to hour and day to day.
Colostrum is sticky.
It is very tacky and very sweet and has a white color. You may get every combination of Taste, Color and Consistency in what seems to be a random order. We have found that most of the time when a mare is at the end of her gestation, the milk can go in any order with colostrum being the end result. The changes in the mare's milk may happen in a matter of hours or days, or over several weeks. The Mare Make sure that the mare is comfortable with you handling her udder.