# Let's see your new PMU foals



## tmyfrnk (Aug 11, 2009)

Here is my new Clydesdale filly Whisper. I picked her up at a PMU foal auction last week in Missouri. She's a sweetie.


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## farmerjeff (Sep 10, 2010)

Beautiful filly! I have never seen a baby Clydesdale. She's so big already. How old is she? And how much did you give for her?


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## tmyfrnk (Aug 11, 2009)

They went for a lot more money than they did last year. From $600 to $1100. We paid $900 for Whisper, but I really wanted her! They had some training this year and it helped the rancher sell them. She already stands tied, picks up her feet and leads great! I believe she will shed out black next spring.


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## tmyfrnk (Aug 11, 2009)

She is 4 months old.


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## ShutUpJoe (Nov 10, 2009)

She certainly is beautiful. I wonder if there is any PMU auctions in Ohio?


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## farmerjeff (Sep 10, 2010)

tmyfrnk said:


> She is 4 months old.


Omg! My little colt is older than her and is smaller. I know of course it is a Clydesdale. But still! Was it just a horse sale or livestock sale also?


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## farmerjeff (Sep 10, 2010)

ShutUpJoe said:


> She certainly is beautiful. I wonder if there is any PMU auctions in Ohio?


What Does PMU stand for?


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## tmyfrnk (Aug 11, 2009)

PMU Foal Acquisition Network, Inc has the sales listed on their web site every year. I think Michigan and Pennsylvania are the closest ones to Ohio. 
It was a Draft Horse Auction (Heartland Draft). They had a lot of Amish drafts and Oakhaven Ranch in Canada had about 40 PMU foals there.


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## tmyfrnk (Aug 11, 2009)

Pregnant Mare Urine = PMU


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## farmerjeff (Sep 10, 2010)

tmyfrnk said:


> Pregnant Mare Urine = PMU


 
thanks... lol whats the unrine in there for?


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## Shalani (Jul 16, 2009)

farmerjeff said:


> thanks... lol whats the unrine in there for?


They use it in HRT drugs


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## farmerjeff (Sep 10, 2010)

I was wondering if horses had their babies in the fall. It seems like I have seen alot of people getting foals this fall


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## tmyfrnk (Aug 11, 2009)

They are usually born in the spring and weaned and sold in the fall.


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## farmerjeff (Sep 10, 2010)

tmyfrnk said:


> They are usually born in the spring and weaned and sold in the fall.


Thanks, that is what i meant...


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## CecilliaB (Jan 21, 2010)

Lover her! I have wanted a PMU baby for a long time.


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## tmyfrnk (Aug 11, 2009)

PMU foals are usually great horses, but beware of "rescues" selling them for a lot of money. There was a "rescue" there at the auction in Missouri that was outbidding me and my aunt and lots of other good, loving homes and now the foals are on their web site for $2800 to $3000. In my opinion, a true "non-profit rescue" saves the ones that people are not bidding on or the ones that the kill buyer is bidding on. I understand they need to recoup some of their money for transportation and expenses so that they can rescue more next year but they just got the foals on the 16th and they could not have cost them that much since then. The people at PMU Foal Acquisition Network, Inc. are a group of wonderful people that are truely rescuing foals NOT FOR PROFIT!
Sorry I'm venting, but I am mad now after seeing the so called "rescue" in Texas online this morning selling the babies for so much money.


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## franknbeans (Jun 7, 2007)

I thought PMU's had sort of gone away the last few years. I had been looking for one, and was not seeing that any had been available. Just Nurse-mare foals now. I really wanted another draft cross (clydesdales are the BEST! )
But, ended up sort of getting one "thru the back door", so to speak. Bought a new guy this spring, and in lookin into his history, he is a PMU! So, Got one after all! But, he is a QH/TWH cross. I thought they used mostly drafts, some QH, some TB's. but TWH? Anyway-he is my avatar.......very sweet boy indeed.


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## mbender (Jul 22, 2009)

farmerjeff, a pmu foal is a foal that us born in a factory so to say. They have several mares that they breed to get the urine for some reason. The foals are just in the way pretty much. The foals do not stay with the mare, they are taken to a nurse mare to get the milk and care they need until they are weaned and sold. Its almost like a puppy mill. I dont honestly think its right but then again I dont know much about it. I will probably look it up and educate myself. Some one here will let you know more.


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## corinowalk (Apr 26, 2010)

The urine is used for hormone replacement for women entering menopause. While it is a highly controversial drug, it is effective. They do make a synthetic hormone replacement now but I am not sure if it works as well. Here is our PMU foal all grown up...Rosie

And our orphan foal at 3.


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## mbender (Jul 22, 2009)

Looked it up. Here is some information:



To produce Premarin, these mares are impregnated, fitted with a UCD and normally kept throughout their last six months of pregnancy in stalls just 8 feet long, by 3 1/2 feet wide, by 5 feet high! Just before foaling they are taken "off line" and allowed to foal in outside paddocks (90% of the mares will carry a foal full term). In most cases they are impregnated by natural cover (artificial insemination has been tried in the past to "streamline" the operation, but was discarded as too expensive).
Within six months of a successful breeding, they are returned to the PMU production line again (mares that do not become pregnant within a very short time, cannot be returned to the collection barns and will most likely be sent to auction or straight to the slaughterhouse).
Foals removed from the mare are sometimes fattened on feedlots and then sold for slaughter ("The Foals of August"). The ones not sent to feedlots go straight to the meat auctions, or are sold to resale agents. A small number are sold by foal rescue operations to mostly U.S. rescue organizations.
*A filly foal has a less than one in 10 chance of not going to slaughter, a colt foal, less than one in 50!*
As far as the use of catheters are concerned, PMU supporters say that they are no more (and in fact our research shows they were never used industry wide, if used at all) -- now "urine collection devices" (UCD's) are used. The UCD's are not very hygienic for the mares, since they allow the urine to soak the skin of the vulva, sometimes causing severe infections and painful lesions.
As for the actual living space they have, current PMU farm guidelines (strictly "voluntary" guidelines that have no consequences, and are not enforceable in any way) state that for horses weighing under 900 lbs. the width of the stalls should be no less than 3.5 feet in width; for horses over that weight, the width is increased to 5 feet.
This may well be large enough for the horses to lie down -- but so is a coffin for a person. Would you like to sleep in one? While pro-PMU people, PMU farm vets included, say that it's enough room to lie down and sleep, some have contradicted themselves in print by saying that "horses can sleep standing up anyway."
Horses can lock their legs and doze, but they must lie down for their essential 'deep sleep' period (in the wild and in pasture, horses lie down approximately three hours for every twenty-four). As for exercise, the guidelines leave that up to the discretion of the farm manager or farm employees.


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## Spastic_Dove (Oct 4, 2007)

A friend of mine has a PMU colt, I'll have to see if I can find any pictures of him. 
I looked at getting one for awhile but I could rescue 10 quarter horses, appies, or arabs for the price of one PMU colt most of the time. 

I haven't seen any studies on if the synthetic HRT drugs are as effective as premarin but I'd be interested in finding out


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## Goodbye13lueSky (Sep 22, 2009)

I'm not sure about how effective it is, but the synthetic drug is safer to use.


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