PREDICTING FOALING WITH TESTING PH. This is what I do every year and it helps so much. Please read this: By Michaela Wake Predicting foaling by testing the pH of the mares milk. Hi everyone, I decided to write this document to share with members of the foal club old and new, how to predict when your mare will foal by testing her milk with pH pool strips. I have been using these strips now since 1995 and they havent let me down yet. I have used different brands over the years, both from overseas and here in Australia and I have found the Aquachek Pool Strips in a bottle of 50 bought from chains like Big W, Woolies, Bunnings or KMart to be the best, easiest to use and most accurate so far. I used to milk a wee bit of milk from the mare once she let a bit down and dilute it with distilled water in a ratio of 1 part milk to 6 parts water (1:6) but I was worried about taking too much milk over the testing time (which could be a couple of weeks on a daily basis) and I also had mares who werent so happy with me getting milk, so I experimented with just squeezing the barest little droplet on the end of the teat and putting the pH square of the stick up to the droplet. It gave me exactly the same reading as if I had diluted it with a greater quantity. So from then on (last 8 years) I have used just a drop. I might say here too that I have also bought and tried the digital pool testers but they need to be calibrated with buffer solution and also have to have their bulb submerged into the milk/water solution to get a reading and for this to happen you need to take about 2cc of milk and dilute with distilled water and I felt this was just too much to be taking from the mare, so I have stuck with the drop on the end of the teat. It is very easy to do and puts your mind to rest on when to expect the baby. I have it down to a fine art now and when I get the low reading I only have to put the alarm on the mare and stable her on the actual night she foals. No more sleepless nights and no more alarms going off every time they lay their heads down for a much-needed sleep. The mares pH level in her milk will decrease slowly until she foals, why it works on pH I dont know and why it works on the pool strips I dont know either - I am no scientist but I do know it works! You need to be diligent in reading the colour changes and it may take you a bottle of 50 for just one mare until you get the hang of it, but persevere because it will pay off for you. Ensure you read the result after 15-30 seconds of dropping the milk onto the strip. Results after a longer time frame are invalid and will lead you astray! I usually only have to use one bottle of 50 now for nearly all my mares in one season. (some of our Foal Club members have used more than one bottle!!! LOL) The reading colours are on the back of the bottle and are so: Top of the scale is 8.4 which when put to the mares milk will give you a pink. The next on the scale is 7.8, which is a pinkish/orange; next is 7.2, which is orange; next is 6.8, which is orange/yellow; and finally is 6.2, which is a dark yellow. When the mare is not close to foaling you will get the pink 8.4 reading. Whether it is her due date or not, whether she is showing you all the signs from the text book - she will not foal at this level. You are free to go shopping or leave the alarm off, she will not foal. At this level I only test every 2nd day in the mornings. As she progresses down the levels you begin to check more often. When my mares get to 6.8 I check every day in the mornings and when she gets to about 6.5 I check every AM and PM, this level you need to gauge yourselves as the colour isn’t noted on the bottle, but it is somewhere just below 6.8 orange, you will see what I mean when you hold the strip up to compare. When the milk gets down to 6.2 the mare will be getting ready to foal very soon usually 24-48 hours. 6.2 can be a bit confusing to some as if it has a hint of orange in it, then you are more likely nearer the 48 hours. If the 6.2 reading is yellow with no hint of orange then you will have a baby in approximately 12-24 hours (give or take). When it gets to the palest yellow below 6.2 (without ANY hint of orange) she will be in labour and you can expect your foal within 24 hours usually 12 hours or less. There must be no hint of orange at all, not even a wee corner tinge, and it is a very pale yellow, if this is the case, then this means she is very close and when this level is reached - I am not willing to leave the house at all. This is what I have stuck to over these many years and all has gone as planned, but having said that there is always an exception to the rule and I found this out just recently… A maiden mare of mine tested 8.4 on the Tuesday morning and I knew she was not ready to foal, she had no other signs at all, ½ a bag and her rump was soft but not soft enough. She was eating normally and everything appeared as expected. The next day she got really sooky to me (she is normally a standoffish mare) and followed me around while I fed the others. While I was standing talking to hubby she stood with her head into the small of my back. Normally at 8.4 I would only be checking every 2nd day but her demeanor made me check again… it had gone from 8.4 (pink) to 6.0 (pale yellow) in only 1.5... days. I brought her in, put the alarm on her and turned the stable cameras on. She foaled at 2.14am Thursday morning. It is the fastest I have ever had in all the years of using the strips. If it hadn’t been for the strips she would have foaled in the paddock and lost the baby because he was stuck with one leg back and head sideways – she needed my assistance to free him up. Mares are strange beasts and can change quickly, or can sit on 6.5 for over a week, so go with what signs she gives you that you know she is getting closer, then use the strips to help you pinpoint a time to stay at home and welcome the new baby!
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 06:57:15 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015