Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1901-04-11
BROOD MARES
HOW THEY SHOULD BE TREATED
Es, WHEN IN FOAL.

oats ana clover hoy In Flenty anu
but Little Corn-Points ON Rearing
the Youngsters. slS$ 7# ..s&$$5
The dam should have good care at all
times, but especially for two or three
months before foaling and at foaling
time, says g. T.. Hardman in Prairie
Farmer. The brood mare should have |
but little corn the last two or three
months she carries the foal, but be fed
plenty Of oats and clover hay. The
foal will then be thin in flesh but
strong in bone and will fill up and
grow rapidly from the start if the dam
is fed and cared for rightly. The dam
is all the better for being worked mod
erately right up to within a few days
Of foaling.' If you have more brood
mares than YOU can work, be sure to
give them proper exercise by turning
them into the field or lot during pleas
ant days, but always stable at night If
the weather is at all cool or wet. I
like a box stall not less than Il feet
square in which to turn the dam loose.
You can tell at least several hours
Beforehand when the dam is going to
foal. When the milk is plentiful in the
bag and begins to drop out, you may
expect the foal soon. I have kept close
watch over my brood mares for several
years, and they have invariably foaled
between 2 o'clock and 6 o'clock D.. m.
or 2 o'clock and G o'clock a. m., and 7
always aim to be on hand, so as to
render assistance If necessary. I have
raised a good many colts and have new
er lost one at foaling time. The dam
will be ravenously hungry and should
have q pail Of water and a wisp Of
bright. hay Immediately after foaling.
She will eat as though starving.
She should not have any corn for
several days and but little oats the first
two or three days. The oats can be in
creased gradually until the dam Is on
her regular feed. Watch the bowels of
both dam and foal. The danger from
this source is much greater than most
men think, for many foals die when 2
or 3 days, old If their bowels do not
move all right. They will refuse to
suck and dwindle along a day or. two
till they die. When you notice the first
symptoms, Of trouble, give an injection
Of n or two quarts Of warm soapsuds.
I use tar soap, which I have always
found satisfactory. If this does not
give immediate relief, give as a drench
one-half pint of raw linseed oil. I have
never known these remedies to fail if
used in time. \, "
If the foal does not come until after
we have grass, turn the dam on grass,
and the danger from bowel trouble will
be greatly lessened. But I much pre-;
fer my colts to come by the first half
Of April than later. I do not work a
mare for ten days after foaling. When
the foal is 10 days old, the mare should
be bred again, or if the tenth day hap
pens On Sunday / breed on the ninth
day. I do not think it advisable to
sooner than that. If you find it will
throw your colts too early to. breed the
mare the tenth day, you will doubtless
find her in season some time between
the tw~enty-eighth and the thirty-sixth
day.
Do not work the mare until dark and
then run her off to townsand breed her
when the horse also has probably had
all he ought to do during the day. Do
not run her four or five miles back
home after breeding her and put her
into the harness next morning, with
but little or no rest, and then wonder
why she does not get with foal. In
such cases I drive the mare slowly and
work her moderately or give her a days
rest, and I seldom have to breed her a
second time. / aim to take my mares
to the horse from the eighteenth to the
twenty-first day to make sure they are
all right. ~ b