Risk Factors associated with the Incidence of Foal Mortality in a Pregnant Mare Urine Herd
Date
1995
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ORCID
Type
Degree Level
Masters
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine the
incidence of neonatal mortality in a large pregnant mare
urine (PMU) herd and determine what risk factors were
involved in foal mortality. For a 6 week period between
April 18, 1994 and May 31, 1994, 334 foals were born, of
which 74 died before reaching 10 days of age, giving an
overall mortality of 22% for this period. Seventy four
percent of the foal deaths occurred within 48 hours of
parturition. The major causes of foal mortality included
starvation/exposure 27%, septicemia 26%, and dystocia
20%. Weekly incidence varied significantly ranging from
67% for week 1 to 14% for week 5 (p< 0.01). Other risk
factors which were associated with foal death included
failure of passive transfer (p< 0.0001), poor mothering
ability (p< 0.0001), the presence of dystocia (p<
0.0001), low birth weight (p< 0.05), lack of rainfall
(p< 0.01), and low temperatures (p< 0.1). The effect
of sire, mare
age, mare body condition score and foal sex
were not significant risk factors for foal survival (p>
0.1). Further studies are
required to determine if
changing management procedures will be effective in
reducing the incidence of neonatal foal mortality in PMU
herds.
Description
Keywords
Citation
Degree
Master of Science (M.Sc.)
Department
Western College of Veterinary Medicine
Program
Department of Herd Medicine and Theriogenology