NEW for 2021 The Foal Birth Alarm Lite 2.0 - with sleep function
The new Birth Alarm Lite is a highly effective birth alarm, that senses when your mare is in labour and sends a message to your phone so you don't miss the big event!
The alarm works be sensing when your mare moves into a birthing position, with her first contraction. A transmitter is attached to her heard collar or anti-roll girth and when your mare holds the birthing position on her flanks for more than 7.6 seconds, the transmitter sends a message to up to 2 phones (mobile or landline). This technology has been used for years and is highly effective and respected. The new 2.0 model has a special 'sleep' function to accommodate the 15% of pregnant mares who sleep on their flanks.
The Birth Alarm can be used multiple times, which is why it is so popular with professionals as well as with those who are just desperate not to miss the moment!
All you need is to get a 'pay as you go' sim card (it only needs a few pounds on it as it will only call you when your mare is in labour). You can get these from any supermarket. You program in your phone numbers (mobile or landline), attach the transmitter to your mare's head collar...and you wait. It is that simple!
It is important that you have mobile signal where your mare is located.
NEW Birth Alarm Lite 2.0:
- Highly reliable
- Non invasive and no need for a vet to install
- Can fix to halter or anti-rill girth (not included)
- Can connect to up to 2 phones (mobile or landline)
- Now with special function, for those mares who sleep on their flanks (more details about how the the sleep mode works are below)
- Can be used multiple times!
- 2 year warranty
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask: sales@farmcareuk.com
We also have some rental alarms, that are very popular and cost £50/week.
More Info on how the sleep mode works:
You only select this mode if your mare is one of the 15% who sleep on their flanks. If your mare sleeps on her flanks, she adopts a fully lateral position to rest. The alarm does not produce an alert, because it is in sleeping mode, and the transmitter records that the mare is fully sideways. If your mum-to-be is still lying in this position after 3 minutes, the Birth Alarm registers that she is resting and the system is reset. Even if your mare gets up after 30 minutes and then lies down again on her side, the Birth Alarm again records the position for 3 minutes. This three-minute period is not random, as research has demonstrated that a mare's contraction never last more than 2.5 minutes. So, the Birth Alarm system has taken 3 minutes as the starting point, with a safety margin of 0.5 minutes.
If your mare adopts a fully lateral position to rest, but then has contractions - don't worry! Although the alarm does not produce an alert after 7.6 seconds, because it is in sleeping mode, the transmitter does record that the mare is fully sideways. After the contraction (with a maximum contraction duration of 2.5 minutes) the mare will prepare for the next contraction which she does by getting out of the sideways position. As soon as the Birth Alarm records this movement within a time span of 3 minutes since the mare laid down, it sends an alert and you are warned.
With the Birth Alarm, you can feel confident that you will be warned when your mare is in labour. You can be there to witness this special moment, and to ensure she gets any help she may need.
Review of the Birth Alarm Lite 1.0 (the older version, before the launch of the sleep setting) from The Polo Times, August 2020
A Home Breeding Essential
Home breeding is an exciting experience, but it can also be a worrying time, with the due date always being a bit of a question mark. Even if you know the exact date of the covering, equine gestation can be from 320 to 380 days, with 330 days (11 months) as the most commonly cited gestation length. If, as in our case, your mare has been covered naturally and been turned out with the stallion for a period of time, then the due date can be A home breeding essential Birth Alarm even more difficult to guess. This is where the Birth Alarm Lite is an invaluable tool. The alarm attaches to your mare’s headcollar and is motion activated, when your mare begins contractions she will lie down on her flanks (a typical position for birthing) and the alarm responds to this change in position and after the position has been maintained for eight seconds the alarm will send a signal to the pre-programmed mobile phone, which alerts you that your mare is lying down on her side.
The Birth Alarm Lite is a non-invasive way of being notified when your mare is due to foal, based on her position, however one of the down sides is that each time your mare lies down for a rest in the same position as the labour position, the alarm cannot tell the difference. It is also worth noting that if the headcollar that the alarm is attached to is not properly fitted and is too big, then the alarm can shift position and also send off an alarm. This does cause a few false alarms, but when it does call you for the real thing, then you will be pleased you invested in one!
Here at Polo Times, our broodmare Nevada was out with the stallion over the summer of 2019, this meant we only had an approximate due date (5 June – 5 July) based on an early scan and as we did not have a foaling box and she prefers to be out at grass, the birth would likely take place in a small paddock. The Birth Alarm Lite had been recommended and as the due date was only approximate, we thought it would be a useful investment. Once the Birth Alarm Lite arrived, there was a bit of difficulty setting it up, partly due to operator error, but once attached to Nevada’s headcollar it didn’t seem to bother her and we felt more at ease knowing that we would be alerted should she go into the labouring position. It is fair to say we had more than one false alarm, it turns out Nevada not only likes to nap a lot during the night but also likes to scratch her head, which tilts the alarm and sends off a false reading. On Thursday 9 July, we checked her in the afternoon and could see some signs of bagging up (until this point she had shown little sign of this, which is quite common in maiden mares); we checked her again at 10.30pm and again there were signs of bagging up but she did not show any signs of impending labour, such as appearing restless or agitated, sweating, circling, looking at her flanks etc; we nonetheless decided we would check on her again at 1am. However, we did not have time for this, just as we turned in for the night, the alarm went off and we went outside to check, expecting a false alarm as we had just checked on her – but much to our surprise, when we went outside, there were signs that something was happening and we heard her waters breaking, action at last! Less than 30 minutes later, the foal (later named Monkeynut) was safely delivered and the vet had just arrived. With that, the weather turned and the drizzle began; after some time it was clear that Monkeynut was struggling to gain a purchase with his ‘slippers’ (the protective coating foals have on their hooves so as not to damage the birthing canal) on the damp ground and the vet recommended we moved him inside. Once inside, he still struggled to stand and feed, needing assistance with both, but within 24 hours he was healthy and bright eyed. If we had not used the Birth Alarm Lite, then no doubt Nevada would have delivered the foal safely, but in between the 10.30pm and 1am check, Monkeynut would have been lying out on damp ground, unable to stand or feed properly and there could have been serious consequences. So, despite the false alarms and at times frustrating set-up, the Birth Alarm Lite gets our full recommendation!
Birth Alarm Lite The Foal Alarm Lite can be purchased at www.farmcareuk.com The Foal Alarm Lite can be rented for £50 per week, up to a maximum of £200 (so if you need it for 2 months, you will only be charged £200). N.B. The Foal Alarm Lite does not come with a SIM card, you will need to purchase one for yourself in order to use the alarm
Web: www.farmcareuk.com Tel: 01323 406212 Email: sales@farmcareuk.com
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