By the time the foal is 4 months old, he must supplement his nursing with other food sources, such as forage (hay and pasture) and grain. Accustoming him to these nonmilk sources well before weaning time not only will help him maintain consistent growth throughout the transition, it will also help to avoid the “kid-in-the-candy-store” syndrome.
How much should you feed a baby horse?
Check the crude fiber, protein and fat content. Recommended levels for foals are: You should feed foals 20 to 25 percent of their body weight per day (NOT per feeding). Weigh the foal daily and adjust the daily feeding volume respectively as the foal grows.
How often should I Feed my Baby foal?
Here is the deal about foal feeding in the early days: Usually, the foal nurses on mare milk for at least 3-4 times each hour. However, within the first month, the feeding frequency will be reduced to only once an hour.
What do you feed a foal?
An important part of feeding foals is colostrum. Colostrum is the first milk that starts producing and secreting just before the mare starts foaling and continues for the next 24 hours after the foaling is done. This milk is high in antibodies (immunoglobulins), which are large protein molecules immunizing newborns from pathogens and infections.
Do all foals need Creep feeding?
Not all foals need creep feeding. If you think your foal is faring well on the dam’s milk, forage, and concentrates, then there’s absolutely no need for extra nutrition. Don’t start creep feeding before 90 days of age. It is around this time that the mare’s milk starts to wane.
What is the best feed for a foal?
Grass, the most natural of equine foods, should always be available when foals are turned out, and hay should be provided in the stall. Alfalfa (lucerne) or an alfalfa/grass mix will provide both energy and calcium for sound skeletal development. Water and salt should be accessible to mares and foals at all times.
When can a foal start eating grain?
As early as one week of age your foal may start taking some interest in feed by nibbling at hay or grain. This initial interest may be just a way of imitating mom, but the foal soon learns to use these other sources of nutrition and his digestive tract quickly adjusts to solid food.
What do you feed foals when weaning?
FOAL FEEDING GUIDELINESProvide high-quality roughage (hay and pasture) free choice.Supplement with a high-quality, properly-balanced grain concentrate at weaning, or earlier if more rapid rates of gain are desired.More items...
What can I feed my 6 month old foal?
6 months of age, feed up to 1# of foal ration per 100# body weight, plus at least 1# hay/100# weight. It is best to feed more hay, especially quality alfalfa hay. Overfeeding grain can cause a problem with the joints called epiphysitis; this occurs because of the low calcium and high energy in grains.
Can foals eat alfalfa?
She says alfalfa is ideal for horses on high planes of nutrition, such as lactating broodmares, growing horses, thin horses, racehorses, performance horses, or young foals that aren't getting enough milk.
What nutrients does a foal need?
Consequently, by the time the foal is two-three months of age, mare's milk and free-choice hay or pasture will fall short of meeting the growing foal's requirements for important nutrients such as protein, energy, calcium, phosphorus, copper, zinc and other minerals and vitamins.
How much should a 3 month old foal eat?
about three poundsTo support smooth, steady growth, suckling foals should be offered one pound of a properly-formulated foal feed per month of age per day. For example, a 3-month-old would ideally be eating about three pounds of feed per day, in addition to milk and free choice hay or pasture.
What is the best feed for a yearling colt?
Yearlings should be a fed high-quality hay and a grain ration, spread out into smaller meals throughout the day. Since yearlings don't have their adult teeth yet, it is best to feed processed grains or pellets instead of whole grains for proper digestion and utilization.
How long does weaning a foal take?
In free-roaming or feral horses, foals are naturally weaned around eight to nine months of age, while most management systems will wean foals between 4 months and 6 months of age. Foals will spend the first 4 months to 5 months by their dam's side, receiving nutrition from the mare's milk.
Can you wean a foal at 3 months?
Typically, foals are weaned when they reach at least three months of age. However, for many foals, delaying weaning until they are four to six months old is recommended. At three months your foal has its own immune system starting to work. Prior to this age your foal relies on mum for immunity.
Do weanlings Need grain?
The grain portion of a weanling diet is the primary vehicle for delivery of essential nutrients. Depending on the nutrient content of the hay, the grain will provide the majority of the energy (calories), protein, minerals and vitamins.
How much hay does a foal need?
Make certain that the foal is consuming at least 1 pound of a feed per month of age of a feed designed for foals and weanlings. If a foal is 4 months of age, it should be consuming at least 4 pounds of feed per day. If a foal is 6 months of age, it should be consuming at least 6 pounds of feed per day.
How much foal feed should a 3-month-old eat?
For example, a 3-month-old would ideally be eating about three pounds of feed per day, in addition to milk and free choice hay or pasture.
What is needed for a horse to grow?
Young, growing horses have different requirements for protein, vitamins and minerals than adult horses. A proper balance of high-quality proteins, calories, calcium and phosphorus is needed for correct muscle, bone and tendon development.
How much should a horse's weight be by 6 months?
As a general rule, foals should reach approximately 50 percent of their mature weight and 80 percent of their mature height by six months old. Plotting your weanling horse’s height and weight over time should show a smooth, steady growth curve with no obvious peaks or valleys.
How much does a horse grow before weaning?
Prior to weaning, the foal is growing at a rapid rate of about 2-2.5 pounds per day. This growth gradually slows after the foal becomes a weanling horse—to about one pound per day as they approach 12 months of age.
When do horses start showing interest in feeds?
Foals will start to show interest in feeds very early on and, by around two months of age, their mother’s milk will no longer supply all the nutrients needed for optimum growth.
Does weaning affect forage intake?
The ability of the weanling’s digestive system to digest forages also increases post-weaning, as does their daily forage intake. Therefore, the proportion of the diet as feed may not continue to increase, and may actually decrease, if forage quality is excellent.
Can a weanling horse eat dry feed?
A weanling horse already accustomed to eating an adequate amount of dry feed will transition to life without mom much easier and will be ready to maintain nutrient intake at a level that can sustain optimum growth.
How long do foals eat?
What Foals Eat When: The First Days, Weeks, Months. “The foal appears to make feeding the second priority after breathing,” is a common quote among veterinarians and equine nutritionists. Indeed, a foal is driven to stand within an hour of birth and nurse within two hours. “A foal’s most important meal is that first milk, colostrum, ...
How much milk does a mare need?
The mare’s colostrum will be replaced by milk within about 24–36 hours. Generally, a foal weighing 110 lb (50 kg) will consume approximately 15 liters of milk daily.
What is a healthy mare's milk?
A healthy mare’s milk provides all of the energy and nutrients a foal needs to support rapid, but steady, growth. Foals often nibble at grass or the mare’s rations, and they can even be seen eating the feces of adult horses. Both behaviors are normal.
How long does it take for a foal to nurse?
Indeed, a foal is driven to stand within an hour of birth and nurse within two hours.
Do foals eat hay?
Foals learn to eat hay and concentrates. If foals are on pasture, it might take them longer than if they spend part of every day in a stall observing the dam. This might involve creep feeding.
Can foals be weaned?
Many foals are weaned during this period, although timing of weaning is variable. The large intestines of foals have been developing over the past few months and now contain the appropriate microorganisms needed to ferment forage. Weaning can be stressful.
How much milk should I feed my foal?
Weigh the foal daily and adjust the daily feeding volume respectively as the foal grows. You can gradually increase the milk volume you feed and decrease how often you feed. The average foal should gain about 2 pounds daily.
How much should a foal gain?
The average foal should gain about 2 pounds daily. If the foal doesn’t gain weight, increase the volume of feed or how often you feed. A general rule for feeding healthy foals is to feed every 2 hours during the day and every 3 hours through the night for the first two weeks.
How long does it take for a foal to absorb colostrum?
The foals gut best absorbs the colostrum within 6 to 12 hours after birth. By 18 to 24 hours of age, it absorbs much less. In general, a 100-pound foal needs 2 to 3 quarts of colostrum within 6 to 8 hours of age.
How long does it take for a mare to absorb milk?
Colostrum is the first milk a mare produces. It’s rich in antibodies that protect the foal from infection until their immune system fully develops. Foals don’t receive any antibodies prior to birth and thus, depend on colostrum. The foals gut best absorbs the colostrum within 6 to 12 hours after birth. By 18 to 24 hours of age, it absorbs much less.
What is the best alternative to mare milk?
The best alternative to colostrum is antibodies from equine plasma, which is given by your veterinarian. The best alternative to mare’s milk is an equine milk replacer.
How much dextrose should I add to cow's milk?
There are a couple ways to add dextrose to cow’s milk. You can add 40 milliliters of 50 percent dextrose solution to each quart of milk. You can add a 2-ounce package of jam/jelly pectin to every 3 quarts of milk.
Is goat milk better than mare milk?
Goat's milk is the second best alternative to mare's milk. The fat content of goat milk is higher than mare’s milk but is easier for the foal to digest than cow’s milk. There are disadvantages to goat’s milk including: Comes in a small packaged volume. It’s costly.
When do foals start feeding?
Foals will meet their nutritional requirements in their first 2-3 months of age from the mare’s milk and pasture. If a foal and mare are in good condition, the foal does not need to start creep feeding until it is at least 2 months old. However, some may need to start creep feeding by 30 days of age.
What are the nutrients needed for a foal to grow?
The critical nutrients for growth are protein (amino acids), minerals and vitamins. Nutrition imbalances have been recognized as one potential cause of growth disorders in young growing horses.
What happens to a mare in the third month of lactation?
In the third month of lactation the mare’s milk production drops while the foal’s nutritional needs keep increasing. Therefore, foals have a nutrient gap. Creep feeding (that is, using feed that the mare cannot get to) can provide the foal with extra nutrients to fill this gap.
How much protein should a yearling horse have?
Even though yearlings require only 12% crude protein in the total ration, a 14% crude protein concentrate ration gives you more flexibility. With this level, even if you use different types of hays with protein variations, the horse will still get enough protein.
Why is it important to manage foal growth?
Managing growth during this time is very important because excessive weight gain may cause bone abnormalities and long-lasting skeletal problems. Feed weaned foals on a combination diet. Firstly, they should be fed good quality forage.
How much weight can a horse put on a day?
From birth to age two, a young horse can achieve 90 percent or more of its full adult size, sometimes putting on as much as 1.5kg per day.
Why is it important to feed young horses?
Therefore, it is important that the diets of young horses be properly balanced with nutrients known to be vital for optimum development. When you plan a feeding program for your young horses, several important factors need to be considered: Body changes involved in growth, Nutrient requirements of that particular breed of horse,
How long can you milk a foal?
You can milk colostrum every two hours from a mare which has had a stillborn foal, until six to 12 hours after foaling. A mare which is supporting a foal usually can afford to donate about 250 ml (a half pint), after her foal nurses.
What to do if your foal drinks goat milk?
If digestive upsets do occur when your foal drinks goat’s milk, try the same doctoring you would use on cow’s milk—adding lime water and pectin. Impaction can happen when feeding goat’s milk, so some breeders recommend adding 30 ml of mineral oil daily to the liquid.
How long does it take for an orphan to be weaned off milk?
By the time the orphan is eating four to six pounds (2-2.5 kg) of milk replacer pellets or creep feed a day, he can be weaned off the milk—sometimes as early as nine weeks or so. Most orphans can be completely weaned by the age of four months, after which they can be treated like any other weanling.
What is an orphan foal?
Orphan foals raised with a correct balance of nutrients and monitored for growth, food consumption, and weight gain can be every bit as tall, strong, and athletic as foals raised by their dams. Every breeder dreads finding himself or herself with an orphan foal—a baby left alone when his dam dies of foaling complications or from a later, ...
How long does it take for a foal to absorb colostrum?
A foal can only absorb and utilize colostrum effectively in the first 12 hours of his life, so time is of the essence.
Why do farms hand raise orphan foals?
Because nurse mares are relatively scarce, and can be expensive to lease, a great many farms hand-raise their orphan foals. While this is a valid approach, it often can result in a foal which is more socialized toward humans than to horses. But as he grows, his lack of equine social skills can make him dangerous.
What to do if your foal isn't doing well?
If your foal isn’t doing well, consider trying a different brand of milk replacer, offering goat’s milk, or mixing the two in different concentrations. Each time you make a change, give it a few days before you decide to try something else. Your foal might well adapt to the offering.
When should I feed my foal grass?
If you plan to feed your weanling grain, introduce it to him when he's about 1-2 months old. Your foal will taste-test grass and hay as early as a few days old. But because the microorganism populations in newborns' hindguts need several months to develop fully, he will have trouble digesting this forage initially.
How to introduce nursing foals to grain?
One good way to introduce nursing foals to grain is with a creep feeder: a four-sided, single-railed enclosure built either in the corner of the fence line or standing alone in the center of the pasture ( the latter is preferable for group feeding, as it allows escape on all four sides).
How long do horses wean?
Most foals are weaned at about 4 to 6 months, just when their nutritional needs begin to outpace their mothers' milk supply. Designed to provide all of a foal's nutritional needs at birth, a mare's milk yield naturally starts to decline after the first month or two. By the time the foal is 4 months old, he must supplement his nursing with other food sources, such as forage (hay and pasture) and grain. Accustoming him to these nonmilk sources well before weaning time not only will help him maintain consistent growth throughout the transition, it will also help to avoid the "kid-in-the-candy-store" syndrome. In this situation, weanlings with no previous exposure to grain overeat, either ?because of the novelty of it or to compensate for previously inadequate nutrition.
How much should a 4-month-old eat?
(A 4-month-old weanling should eat enough daily forage to equal between 0.5 and 1 percent of his body weight.) Think of him as a fussy toddler who won't eat his vegetables unless they're really tasty.
How to regulate grain intake after weaning?
After weaning, it's easiest to regulate your foal's grain ration by feeding him individually. However, if it's more convenient to continue feeding him in a group, monitor his grain intake carefully. Without the option of his mother's milk, he may be tempted to eat more grain than he needs.
How much concentrate should I give my foal?
A good rule of thumb is about 1 pound of concentrate per 100 pounds of your foal's body weight per day or 1 pound for each month of his age (for example, 4 pounds of grain per day for a 4-month-old), not exceeding about 7-9 pounds daily.
When should I feed my horse after weaning?
If you plan to feed your weanling grain, introduce him to it when he's about 1 or 2 months old , starting with just a handful at a time and increasing the amount incrementally.
What is the most important meal for a foal?
Colostrum: The Foal’s Most Important Meal. Colostrum is the first milk secreted by the mare immediately before foaling and up to 24 hours after foaling. It contains extremely high levels of antibodies, which are large protein molecules capable of transmitting immunity against disease. Colostrum is nature’s way of allowing ...
What is the second half of feeding a foal?
The second half is the foal’s consumption of colostrum, the dam’s first milk.
How much colostrum should a mare eat?
Colostrum should be collected only from heavily producing mares or mares who have lost their foals. Generally, foals consume 4 to 6 ounces of colostrum per feeding. Heavily milking mares produce higher levels of colostrum than the foal is capable of consuming during these early meals.
How long after birth can a foal take colostrum?
Because of the decreased antibody absorption by the foal and decreased antibody presence in the milk, colostrum must be consumed within 15 hours after birth (Figure 1). Foals failing to receive colostrum within this time limit will be more susceptible to infectious diseases. Ideally, the foal should stand and nurse within 30 minutes ...
How long should a foal be nuzzled?
Foals should not be expected to hit the ground running. To the contrary, the foal should be permitted to lie, rest and be nuzzled by the mare for at least 30 minutes after foaling. Under normal conditions, a newborn foal attempts to stand under its own power within 45 minutes following birth.
What is the recommended immunoglobulin level for horses?
Immunoglobulin levels of 800 to 1,000 mg/dl are required for foals in particularly stressful situations. Foals subjected to unsanitary conditions or to many horses entering and leaving the premises will require higher immunoglobulin levels to maintain adequate protection.
How to wash a mare before milking?
Thoroughly wash and rinse the mare’s teat area with soap and warm water before hand milking. The washing process will disinfect the teats, limit the possibility of introducing disease to the foal and have a massaging effect on the mare’s udder.
