My maiden Andalusian cross mare is at day 341. I took a photo but I can't see how to upload to this site. (I'd love someone who has seen this before to comment) Her udder is not filled at all...the nipples point inward toward each other...there is no milk whatsoever. However...In front of her udder there are two distinct swellings (one on either side of the center line just on front of the udder) They are fairly soft. When she was born she had this same swelling (almost looks like two testicles....but not as hard) I figured it was just a response to her mother's hormone level and they went away in her second month of life.
Now that she is in foal they are back with a vengeance. I am accustomed to assessing milk texture and color to determine probable foaling time...but this maiden has me wondering.
She is a big mare. Except for looking a bit heavy and having a bit of the typical V shaped belly...she shows no other symptoms.
By comparison...my other mare at day 318 has watery milk and doesn't look like she can hang on for another three weeks.
Has anyone run across this forward swelling in the absence of any milk or udder development??? ...and don't tell me to call a vet because we are in the middle of nowhere and vets don't come up here. I don't have a sense that anything is wrong...I just haven't seen a mare look like this before. I have delivered a few hundred foals and this mare is just a bit odd. Thanks in advance.
Hi Lynne, My maiden mare looked EXACTLY like your mare does. She foaled on day 341, showed no wax or other normal signs of foaling. When she foaled all she had in her bag was the thick, sticky colostrum, no signs of milk at all. The vet told us to keep the foal nursing on her and gave her 2 oxytocin shots 4 hours apart, and started the foal on a milk replacer. It took 3 days for her milk to finally come in, but we had the foal tested and he did get a complete transfer from just the sticky colostrum. The foal weaned himself from the bottle and his is doing great other than a bit spoiled. I hope your mares milk drops, it was really tiring after sleepless nights of mare watching to getting up to bottle feed. Good Luck!!
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