Bad Colostrum

The update last night on Marika's colt was discouraging. His IGA test came back at 175. This is very low, we like to see this number at 800-1000. This means the colostrum he was given while waiting for Marika to wake up must have been bad. The colostrum (first milk) for a foal is the most important thing he needs before ingesting real milk. As long as the foal is getting colostrum the gut is open and allowing transfers of all the antibodies that are critically important for immune protections of a newborn foal.  BUT IF the foal has been given milk BEFORE colostrum none of these life saving antibodies are absorbed, you see once milk has hit the stomach the gut closes.
Marika's colt needed two bags of plasma in order to get the all important antibodies and immune protection. Each one of these bags cost $500.00. UGH...that adds a quick $1000.00 to our bill that was already estimated to be $6000.00. I really hate waste, so not only do we have to pay for the colostrum that was given even though it was bad we also have to pay for them to give the bad colostrum then pay for the plasma since the colostrum was bad and pay them to give the plasma...kind of seems like a racket.
Too bad the seller of the colostrum can't pay some of this bill. It wasn't the fault of U of I, they buy it from a supplier. Too bad it wasn't tested first.
I am very thankful for the staff at U of I. They are calling with regular updates and I know we will have a healthy foal and a LIVE mare once we get them home. The best updates are when they send pictures like the one below of Marika nursing her colt:

Most of the updates that have been coming in are GOOD updates. All of the vets and students are amazed at Marika. The main vet working with them said, "this colt is lucky to have a dam like Marika." She is an amazing tolerant sweet mother.
Yesterday was a hard day trying to get the work done around here on very little sleep. Even before laying down Evan needed to be given a new round bale but after that I was able to catch a few hour long naps but was woken up each time with phone calls. The temperature was 90 but with the humidity feeling like 98 degrees. Evan and a bunch of mares were looking sweaty and uncomfortable so each was taken out and hosed off. Nikki was teased and covered by Evan. Mike came over to help with Eliza's cover by Valiant. When I finally hit the bed and closed my eyes I was out as quickly as a turned off light bulb and didn't wake at all until 5:30 this morning.