Animal Science Students and Dr. Burk Assist With Late-Night Birth of Foal
Over UMD's Spring Break, first-time mom Bailey gave birth to a little filly, Charm, with the help of students and Professor Amy Burk of the "Equine Reproductive Management" class.
Image Credit: Dylan Singleton
Instead of digging her toes into the sand during sunset over Spring Break, Katie Sakai ’27 was knee-deep in hay at 2 a.m. to welcome a new foal at the Campus Farm.
Awoken by a call from University of Maryland animal and avian sciences Professor Amy Burk, who teaches the “Equine Reproductive Management” class, Sakai rushed to the barn and arrived just a minute after the filly, called Charm for now, was born on Sunday. The teaching assistant sprang into action to assist Burk, cleaning the foal’s nasal passages, taking her temperature and cleaning out the stall.
“I’m really glad I stayed and was able to help out,” said Sakai, a San Francisco native who decided to forgo her trip home this year. “It worked out really nicely.”
The class provides foaling services for two mares from local farms every spring, usually in April. This year, the broodmares’ due dates fell a little earlier, possibly colliding with Spring Break. Assessing milk calcium and pH usually gives students an idea of how close a horse is to giving birth, but Charm’s mom, thoroughbred Backside Bourbon (nicknamed Bailey), showed none of the typical signs.
She was still more than a week out from her due date when Bailey suddenly started showing signs of agitation, pacing in her stall late last Saturday night. When Burk saw that on the security cameras, she drove to campus as a precaution, thinking there might still be hours to go—but around 1:50 a.m., she sent out an urgent text to the class, telling them a foal was on its way and seeing who could come help.
