MANAGEMENT OF THE BROOD MARE.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2036, 2 September 1880, Page 3

MANAGEMENT OF THE BROOD MARE.

["Live Stock Journal."] The care of brood mares demands a good share of the breeder's attention. If owned by a general farmer, and accustomed to work, it is better to continue to work them moderately almost up to the time of foaling ; but great care should be taken not to worry or overload them, neither should they be required to make any unusual exertion of any kind, as any of these causes are liable to induce abortion or premature labor. If worked they should be shod so as to prevent slipping, otherwise strains or falls may occur which are to be carefully avoided. When the time of foaling approaches, the mare should be turned loose in a large and strongly-made box-stall, or if the weather is mild, in a lot or paddock. Everything should be removed from the stall that would be likely to entangle or injure the colt in its struggles to get on its feet. Ihero should be no openings under the mangers or elsewhere into which, in its struggles, it might chance to force itself —many dead oolts are taken every year from such traps as theso. If the weather is warm, it is decidedly better to give the mare the run of a good-sized lot, for it is noticeable that when parturition approaches they usually have a decided aversion to confinement. If confined in a stall or small paddock, the enclosure should be so secured as to prevent any attempts at breaking out, as these would bo liable to result in injury to the mare, and possibly to the foal. The writer recalls one occasion in his own experience where a favorite mare that was thought to be near the time of foaling was brought from her accustomed pasture and placed in the stable for the night on account of a probable storm. The mare was left, as we supposed, securely fastened in her boxstall, but to our surprise the next morning we found her in her accustomed pasture with a foal by her side. Although usually quiet—never before known to jump a fence—she had broken open tho door of her stall and jumped two good fences to get back to her accustomed haunts before dropping her foal. Tho average period of gestation in the mare is about eleven months, but the time varies considerably, the extreme limit each way being from 300 to 400 days, the average period 330 to 340 days; and for two or three weeks previous to the usual time the maro should be closely watched, as there are certain Bignß of tbe near approach of parturition which rarely fail. The udder frequently beoimes greatly extended, some time before foaling, but the " teats " seldom fill out full and plump to the end more than a day or two before the foal is dropped. Another sign whioh rarely precedes the dropping of the foal more than a week or ten days, is a marked shrinking or falling away of the muscular parts on the top of the buttooks back of the hips. In some cases, however, the foal may be dropped without any of these promonitory signs. When the mare is a valuable one, and the prospective foal is looked for with a good'deal of interest, it is quite well to watch her oloeely, as many valuable animals have been lost, which a little attention at the right moment might have saved.