Do you sparate mares when they are close to foaling, or even earlier? I have a mare that is due 24 May and she is in with a another nice mare that she is very attached to. Can they remain together or should they be separated? Thanks a bunch for any thoughts.
I usually take my mares that are close to foaling out, and put them in a seperat enclosure. This is due to the fact we have a foaling barn and a camera so we can watch them from the house. But also because some friends of ours had a mare foal in a pasture with several other mares, and one of the other mares foalnapped the foal as her own, she never produced milk and the real mother would not take the foal back, so they wound up hand raising this youngster. I had never heard of this happening before but it scared me. And they had a hard time with this colt late night feedings and such. Anyhow ever since then I will not let my mares foal in a pasture with the others. I usually take them out about 1-2 months before their estimated foaling date, depends on the signs I start seeing. But absolutly no later than 1 month. that way they can get use to the new enviroment. hope that helps some.
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