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2007 SPRING NEWSLETTER |
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SEVS News Welcome to the spring newsletter from Sunrise Equine. After the cold weather we have had this February, we are all looking forward to the warm weather of spring. Several events are coming up both here & elsewhere. At our practice, we are having our annual Coggins clinic on April 21st and a seminar on breeding on March 17th. I am speaking at the University of MN Extension “Horse Owner Education Day” in Foley on March 10th and Dr. Emily Steele will be giving a presentation at the Federated Coop’s “Purina Horse Owners Workshop” in Chisago City on March 27th. We hope to see you at one of these events. We are enjoying working on horses here in our barn. It saves you money and makes us more efficient. We are certainly more than happy to come to your farm especially for emergencies but consider bringing your horse here. For mares being bred artificially, we now have a breeding package which makes the whole process easier for you. Call us for the details. We are approaching our busy season. Please call to schedule your appointments in advance so your horse is protected with current vaccinations and your Coggins results are up-to-date before you start showing or trail riding. Coggins tests that are in our lab by Wednesday afternoon are done by Friday at noon. Other routine spring things we do besides the vaccinations and Coggins are sheath cleaning, deworming, and floating teeth either with hand floats or the power equipment. Let us know what your horses need when you schedule the appointment so enough time is allotted for the call. If you have a Doctor preference, feel free to request one of us. We will have several extra people helping Sue, Tina, and Julie in the barn and office this summer. They are Nicki, Meghan and Lisa. Dr. Emily Decker Steele, Dr. Kirsten Voigt and I are all looking forward to helping you keep your horses healthy. Thank you for your continued support and for recommending us to your friends. Also, thank you for all your concern, my health is good again; I even have a full head of hair.
Spring Turn out -Do it Slowly The starches and sugars found in lush, spring grass are well-known to cause colic and laminitis. In addition, horses have adapted to eating only hay and grain all winter long. The sudden change in diet may increase the chance of horses developing these diseases. The solution is to let horses adapt slowly to eating spring grass. Before turning horses out, feed them their current hay. By filling their stomachs with hay first, horses are less likely to gorge themselves on the new grass. Then, horses should be turned out for only short periods at first to limit their intake of spring grass. Nutritionists recommend turning horses out for only 30 minutes 1-2x/day, and then increasing turnout time by ten minutes each day. When horses reach a turnout time of 6 hours, they should be well adapted to the spring grass and can be turned out for longer periods. If you don't have a place to separate your horses from their pasture, equine muzzles are available that allow horses to drink and only eat small amounts of grass. While this turnout plan works well for normal horses, horses with a history of laminitis or metabolic issues should follow an even more conservative turnout regime. It is important to remember that some of these horses may never be able to handle green grass and may need to spend their summers in a dry lot with hay only. Finally, we need to remember that spring is not the only time when levels of sugar are high in grasses. Any grass that is stressed due to drought, cold weather, or frequent cuttings may also be high in sugar and needs to be treated like spring grass. Researchers have even found that levels of sugar are lower in the morning as opposed to the evening. So be careful with turnout.
Dates to Remember March 10th - Horse Owner Education Day Foley Intermediate School Call 763-767-3837 for more information
March 17th - Reproduction Seminar @ Sunrise Equine Jeske Noordergraaf, VMD and Steve Nelson of Innovative Reproductive Services
March 27th - Purina Horse Owner Workshop @ Chisago City Federated Coop 6:30 p.m. - Emily Steele, DVM
April 21st - Sunrise Equine Coggins & Vaccination Clinic 1 to 3pm Call for more information.
Horses’ digestive systems are designed to digest forages such as hay and grass. The majority of non-pregnant, healthy horses don't need grain. In addition, we now know that grain diets can predispose horses to obesity, colic, gastric ulcers, and laminitis. A portion of the hay in equine diets has traditionally been replaced with grain. Why do we feed grain? Often, we do it out of tradition or because we simply enjoy giving our horses a snack! New diets are now available that are designed to supplement a forage based diet and reduce the risk of problems associated with traditional grain diets. Senior feeds have been a wonderful development for our older horses that have difficulty digesting hay. It is important to remember that these feeds have been developed to be the sole source of nutrition for our older horses. The correct amount of an equine senior feed for a 1000lb horse is 20+ lbs per day. Many older horses are able to digest some hay and are only fed a portion of the intended amount of senior feed. This practice works for maintaining weight on our older friends, but these horses are then not receiving a balanced diet. We recommend reading the label of your particular feed and then calling us with any questions you may have about your horse's diet.
Spring Safety Now that spring is almost here, we would like to recommend a few tips to keep your barnyard safe for your horses. Here is a brief list of things to double check around your farm.
Equine Viral Arteritis (EVA) Update Equine Viral Arteritis (EVA) is a viral disease of horses and donkeys. In the average adult horse, EVA may cause mild respiratory signs such as a cough and/or nasal discharge. Typically the virus is cleared from the body within 60 days. The virus causes abortions in pregnant mares and has been responsible for abortion storms at breeding farms. Stallions can carry the virus in their semen and pass it on to mares they have been bred with. These recently bred mares can then expose other pregnant mares to EVA. If the exposed mares are more than two months pregnant, 10-60% of them will abort. Stallions will generally show no signs of carrying the virus and their fertility is actually normal. The only way to diagnose a carrier stallion is by testing blood and semen. Broodmare owners are encouraged to find out the EVA status of stallions they plan to breed to because the virus is found in fresh, cooled and frozen semen. By knowing the EVA status of stallions, owners of breeding stock can take appropriate steps to avoid transmitting the virus. This may include further testing, vaccinating with Arvac from Fort Dodge Animal Health and quarantining of all those in a breeding program who may introduce the virus to a pregnant mare, putting her at risk for abortion. A
proactive approach can save a lot of time and money down the road by
preventing abortions and working to eliminate the disease altogether.
Please contact us for further information about EVA, its transmission
and prevention.
Thank you Fort Dodge For Sponsoring our Newsletter!!
Suggested Deworming Schedule April - Ivermectin/ Praziquantel (Equimax) June - Ivermectin (Equell) August - Pyrantel Pamoate (Strongid) October - Ivermectin/ Praziquantel (Equimax) December - Ivermectin (Equell) February - Pyrantel Pamoate (Strongid) We recommend deworming foals at 30 days of age with a double dose of Panacur by weight each day for 5 days in a row to kill parasite larvae. Then deworm every month for the 1st year of life with an alternating deworming product. New horses with no deworming history - deworm with Strongid first, redose in 2 weeks with Ivermectin, then again 2 weeks later with Equimax. We carry all these dewormers at our office along with Strongid C2X, the daily dewormer. We recommend a fecal test annually to check your deworming program.
EIA Clinic When: Saturday April 21, 2007 Where: Sunrise Equine Veterinary Services 39318 Poor Farm Road, North Branch Time: 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Have your horse Coggins tested at a reduced rate. Vaccinations also available at a reduced rate. Directions: From North Branch - 7 miles East on Highway 95 to Poor Farm Road. (1/2 mile east of County Road 9). Turn left (north) on Poor Farm Road. Sunrise Equine is the 3rd place on the left and is the staging area for the incoming trailers. Please bring your last EIA form along to assist us with the paperwork! Thanks!
Reproduction Seminar When: Saturday March 17, 2007 Where: Sunrise Equine Veterinary Services 39318 Poor Farm Road, North Branch Time: 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Do you have a mare that you are considering breeding? Are you thinking about standing a stallion? Join us for this informative session that will help answer your questions! Dr. Jeske Noordergraaf will be leading the discussion with everything you need to know about breeding your mare followed by our guest speaker. Steve Nelson of Innovative Reproductive Services will be speaking about stallion training, collection and shipping semen. We will wrap up the seminar with an overview of health care topics for your expectant mare and upcoming newborn foal. Dress Warmly! |
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