Deaths of foals

Like in a human flu outbreak, it is the very young and the old that are most susceptible and more likely to die. When we first identified that flu was in Australia, the best information was that up to 10% of foals might die. Abortions in mares were also predicted. We were worried that the foals and their mothers were naive and the foals would have no antibodies. Some foals have died which is very traumatic for people concerned.

Subsequently it appears that the mortality rate is less than 1% which is somewhat of a relief - it could have been a lot worse. Scone Veterinary Clinic has confirmed 4 deaths in foals due to EI in 1,000 foals born. On the database run by the DPI there is information on foal deaths. There are reports on this database of 44 foals and 68 horses dying. Many of these are clearly unrelated to EI and some might be late term abortions due to EI or other causes. There are over 5,000 reports on the database.

People have made accusations that the DPI have been concealing the number of foal deaths. The DPI has no reason to do this - they want to know what is going on.

Owners would like to protect foals with vaccination. Very young foals do not have a good immune system and vaccinating young foals is not effective. The way to protect foals is by vaccinating their mothers 6-8 weeks before parturition so that the foals get protected by their mother's colostrum. The vaccines have only been available for the past 2 weeks so this protection has not been an option. EI could not have come into the country at a worse times for our foals.

Rod Hoare

Industry Liaison