Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1906-03-08
\ I We
STOCK.
Cause of Weak Foals.

bad luck In raising foals from their
pure-bred or high-grade mares that We
are asked to give some reasons for the
weakness which characterizes the
young animals at birth and leads to
their immediate and speedy death.
This Is vexed question. II would
seem certain that the general use OF
pampered, fat. sluggish and even
drugged stations may have good
deal to do with the trouble. It Is SEN
sible to believe that the progeny Of
worked. muscular, perfectly healthy
stallion should be stronger at birth
than those from the pampered beasts
We have described. But many hold
that the mare decides entirely the con-
dition and constitution of the foal at
birth. a claim that can scarcely be
proved from the facts. At the same
time we are OF the opinion that the
mare has more to do with the condi,
ton OF the foal than has the sire, says
A. S. Alexander in Farmers Review.
He has merely the influence Inn
parted in his vital fluid. and the char
acter of that fluid or its vital element
depends to certain degree at least
upon his bodily condition. But the
mare nourishes her fetus from her
blood, and her blood Is built from her
food and the air she is given chance
to breathe. If her food is deficient in
quantity and quality and she has not
the opportunity to perfectly exercise
her body each day during pregnancy,
1t should be clear that her blood will
suffer in quality and condition. II will
become impure through stagnation or
starvation, and the foal in her womb
must of necessity suffer in proportion
to the degree Of imperfection Of nutri-
ment afforded by the dam.
While II Is important, highly so, to
have the sire in the best possible con-
clifton to insure virile secretions, and
both factors to the breeding operation
should be as nearly equal in condi-
ton as possible, seeing that like pro.
duces like, 1t is of even greater i'm
portance that the brood mare should
be at all times, prior to conception,
at time of breeding and during the
entire period of CESSATION, in the best
possible condition of bodily health. If
such be her condition the foal should
be born healthy, If there are no
hereditary influences to the contrary,
and such Is indeed the case In ma.
jority of instances; for there Is al
ways some fairly apparent cause for
weakness In foals as prevailing
trouble in the breeding operations of
the farm.
The weak foal may be the product
OF incomplete nutrition of the dam.
That Is, she may have an abundance
of food of kind, but 1t lacks some
element Of nutrition necessary to her
complete nutrition or to that of her
fetus, as an extra effort over and above
her own maintenance. Or the food
may be Of such character that 1t will
scarcely maintain the mare, and for
that reason she lacks surplus nutri-
ment from which to form a healthy,
full-sized, robust foal. AS complaints
of weak foals are already coming in,
there is another apparent cause which
should be mentioned. That is breed
ing mares in the winter season of the
year. Nature evidently intended mares
to breed after they have shed their
winter coats and been got into proper
condition of body by the action of
green grass upon the system.
The natural breeding season COM
mences about April 1st and continues
till the end of July. Where mares
bring forth in May or June they have
got over the troubles of coat casting
and weaving from winter to summer
diet, and the foal comes into the world
when green grass induces full flow
OF milk of the proper quality for best
results. The May and June foal are
far stronger as rule than these COM
ing in the winter or very early in the
spring, and the weather favors the
former and is against the latter. The
lesson is that Nature should be copied
when we artiHcially conduct opera
lions with living organisms. To offend
Natures laws may mean disaster. In
breeding too early, from pampered.
over-fed, under-exercised parents, we
should expect weak foals and all the
ailments to which such weaklings
are heir. But whether we expect them
or not we get them and preventive
measures should be adopted in our
future work.