A colt who lost his mother a few days after he was born has been saved thanks to a nanny goat who stepped in to feed him. Imelda and Jim Kingston, from Co Cork, Ireland, welcomed a foal from their home breed Irish draught mare Carrigbawn Sunset but owing to complications with the placenta, the mare died a few days later. Jim said: “After foaling, the mare got very sick and we had to get the vet.
The vet thinks she may have got poisoning from the placenta a few weeks before foaling. “The colt was with his mum and had been suckling away for two and a half days but later I found the mare dead in the stable.” Jim bought milk replacer for the foal and started bottle feeding.
“A couple of people rang me offering their mares but they’d have gone dry before they could get them to us. I didn’t know what to do at the time but then my neighbor said her sister, Niamh Creagh, had a five-year-old nanny goat who she had reared foals with. She was brought round that day, we put her on a ledge in the stable and the foal started suckling straight away – and hasn’t stopped since,” said Jim.
“I’d heard of goats feeding foals but never seen it done – you’ll try anything when you’re desperate and when the offer came we thought we’d see how things go. I’m giving the colt vitamins and minerals to balance out the goat’s milk.” Jim said the goat saved the colt’s life. “If it wasn’t for the goat he could have died of hunger. I’m very grateful to Niamh.”
