I keep getting posts on Facebook about an American company that supplies nurse mares for orphan foals. The stories are very heartwarming given the tragedy that would have unfolded before the orphan met its new mum. However, not knowing anything about the subject I keep wondering it it’s a bit like bobby calves and that the mares have to have a foal of their own each year to keep the milk supply going. I’ve tried googling the subject but still haven’t worked out how it works in practice; one thing I read said that the mare had to be returned in foal and that teasers were used to enable this. So what happens to their foals?
Nurse mares
- Thread starter moehat
- Start date
I’ve had a reply from a place that supplies foster mares and they said that some mares seem to lactate without having to be pregnant, so it isn’t the same situation that happens with cows always having to be pregnant but not allowed to nurse their calves.
trudij
Senior Jockey
A lady came from the foal bank to talk to us when I was doing my training - she said that their mares are left to foal down but if the mare is needed to foster, her foal gets hand reared - then at the right time it’s sold to go on and be a riding horse or whatever the new owners want for it. I can’t imagine hiring a mare from her would be cheap - that’s one heck of an undertaking for anyone.