The Nurse Mare Industry

From Last Chance Corral (A Nurse Mare Foal Rescue in Ohio):

What are Nurse Mare Foals?

A nurse mare foal is a foal who was born so that its mother might come into milk. The milk that its mother is producing is used to nourish the foal of another mare, a more expensive foal. Primarily these are thoroughbred foals, though certainly are not limited to the thoroughbred industry.

A thoroughbred broodmare's purpose is to produce more racehorses.

A mare can give birth to one foal each year provided she is re-bred immediately after delivering a foal.

Because the Jockey Club requires that mares be bred only by live cover, and not artificially inseminated, the mare must travel to the stallion for breeding and may be shipped as soon as 7 days after giving birth to a foal, but a period of 3-4 weeks is generally allowed.

In general there are a number of reasons why a nurse mare may be called upon.  Traveling is very risky for these newborn racing foals, and insurance costs are prohibitive for the foal to accompany the mother to the stallion farm. Many farms do not want their high dollar foals at a strange farm, and many stud owners do not welcome a foal to come along with the mare.  Separating the TB mother and foal is necessary to get her rebred as soon as possible.

At this point a nurse mare is hired to raise the Thoroughbred foal while the mother goes and gets re-bred. In order to have milk, the nurse mare had to give birth to her own baby. When she is sent to the thoroughbred breeding farm, her own foal is left behind. Historically, these nurse mare foals were simply killed. Orphaned foals are difficult to rise and no one had tried to raise large numbers of them. These foals do have "value", however, their hides can be used as pony skin in the fashion and textile industries, and the meat is considered a delicacy in some foreign markets.  Unless rescued, the vast majority end up starving to death or they "bump their heads" with a hammer.

This is the point where many Nurse Mare Foal Rescues come in. They drive to these "Nurse Mare Farms", which are farms that breed mares for the sole purpose of trashing the foal and leasing out the mare for her milk, and the rescue collects the foals, cares for them, and adopts them out. The Nurse Mare Farms are breeding for milk. This is important to remember. They have no care or desire for the foal or the mare other than means to the profitable end, milk. Often these horses are bred in weird combinations or have birth or confirmation defects. It is important to carefully examine the foal you want to adopt and to ensure that it will meet your needs. 

The rescue that Dakota, Bonfire, and Spartan came from is Eleventh Hour Foal Rescue in Richmond, Virginia. They work with a specific Nurse Mare Farm in Kentucky. She is working with the farm to donate a stud to them with good confirmation and a decent brain. Her philosophy is that she will never be able to end the industry, as much as she wishes she could, but she can help it by making sure that the foals being bred are able to be productive horses and live long, healthy, and athletic lives. I was surprised by her philosophy, but I really appreciated her honesty in how much she could help and in doing everything she could to ensure the best lives for the 100-150 foals born on that farm alone each year.