Breeders Try To Avoid Foal Loss

[Guest guest]

WLWT ChannelCincinnati.com

Wednesday January 30 07:56 PM EST

Breeders Try To Avoid Foal Loss

Breeders and veterinarians are taking precautions when foals are born this

year in Kentucky, after about 20 percent of mares lost their foals in 2001,

WLWT Eyewitness News 5's on reported.

Kentucky breeders like Steve Cauthen, owner of Dream Fields, blamed mare

reproductive syndrome for the loss of about 500 late-term pregnancies, and

nearly 2,000 early fetal losses from April to June last year, on

said.

Scientists have narrowed the possibilities for the disorder to two potential

causes.

The tent caterpillar, which builds up cyanide from feeding off cherry trees,

is one suspected causes of the disease. As a result, hundreds of cherry

trees have been destroyed on Kentucky horse farms, on said.

Last year's weather is also suspected for mare reproductive syndrome. Last

April there were two severe frosts followed by warm weather, which could

have resulted in chemicals like cyanide or a deadly fungus to grow on the

grass in the fields.

Since something similar happened after a late frost in 1980, Cauthen thinks

the real cause may be the weather, on reported.

" I'll focus very much on the weather. I'll watch it very closely, " Cauthen

said.

He said that he has to be very cautious, since a colt can be worth as much

as $200,000.

Scientists from the University of Kentucky are asking breeders to take

precautions against mare reproductive syndrome by controlling the

caterpillar population and watching the weather, on said.