Feeding help: The Mare and the Weanling

[Custard Cream]

Ok. Foal is 7 months, still currently with the mare and only taking the occasional suck. Made looks a bit poor, like any brood mate at this time of year. Both wormed.

Currently in a paddock with minimal grass, moved there a week or so ago from home where they were in a paddock with minimal grass! I'm feeding adlib haylage (was hay until a couple of days ago). (As an aside foal has a squitty bum today, I think a reaction the the haylage, though has had it before, I'm keeping a close eye).

Mate have been on baileys stud cubes throughout. Foal since around a month old has taken mouthfuls and now actively steals his mothers feed, so he gets a handful in his own bowl so mum can eat.

Foal is sturdy and strong.

I'm aiming to wean in around 2 weeks time and have read that I should be cutting the mares feed down to nothing to aid the drying up process....I'm loathe to do this as she creates at mealtimes and expects a bowl....can I give her a handful of H&P nuts to keep her quiet?

Should I now be feeding the foal anything hard?

They will be moved to a paddock with grass next week.

 

[Escada2004]

its a tough one as i was sort of in the same situation. My mare reacts to something in stud feeds so was fed on D & H safe and sound, calm and condition, Linseed meal and Naf mare and foal supplement. Foal was only having a mouthful a day if my mare would let him! But they were on haylage and he was fine, not much grass. Mare still dropped weight even on 3 feeds a day. We rugged her at the end but kept her feed up until foal was actually weaned. Foal is now on minimal grass paddock (he looked well but just no grass about) small amount of stud balancer, hay, and in at night. He has lost a little weight but to be expected with weaning i guess and getting used to not having the mares milk. Mare has just been on a handful of D & H safe and sound as she likes to have a feed when the others do, haylage and in at night and rugged. Has taken 3 weeks for her to dry up but no problems but the weight has piled back on her quickly which i was worried about not happening as she wasnt getting much hard feed. Hope that helps a little, you may have to just carry on as you are (put them back on hay for the foal) until weaned if only another two weeks. The mare will pick up quickly, i was worried about mine especially as this is my first time breeding, but talking to a lot of my experienced breeding friends its all quite normal

 

[Maesfen]

H & P nuts for the mare with ad lib hay will be fine, just not too many nuts and don't add chaff or sugar beet to the feed and a barish field so she has to keep moving which will help. The sheer fact of the foal not draining her any longer will make a difference. Ideally, to help the process, the mare needs to move away out of total hearing and sight of the foal, the foal needs a companion of some description too that he is used to and friendly with. If they've grazed alone since foaling then ideally, you need to introduce the companion while mare and foal are still together; the mare will protect her foal and the foal still has the mare to hide behind if he's worried but ten to one, he'll very quickly make friends with the stranger and be grazing with them more than the mare; then it is safe to begin weaning. Also, in an ideal world, the foal will be already used to coming in a stable, if not, try to do that while still on the mare, it will make a huge difference and not be so frightening for the foal.

Ideally, the foal should already be eating hard feed and it needs to be something that gives him all the minerals and vitamins he needs to grow properly at a steady rate. For this, I would certainly prefer D & H Suregrow, it fits the bill perfectly for all breeds; read Adorable Alice's thread on here (next equine project) D & H are very helpful if you ring them and they don't just push their own feeds. You don't need to feed anything else with it at all apart from, of course, good forage and grazing and a bag should last you around six weeks; it retails at about £15 - 16 so is not dear compared to other feeds of that type at all. It's the best youngstock feed I've found too which is a bonus and I leave them on it until they are at least three. http://www.dodsonandhorrell.com/product/suregrow

As to the mare, once she has thoroughly dried up (4 - 6 weeks), it is safe to turn her out on better grazing to get back to weight and to recover from the hard work of supplying foal and to add succulents to her feeds. If she's going to come back into work then please give her at least a few months off to recover her strength and begin very slowly, lots of walking only for six weeks as she needs to learn to carry herself very differently with a rider than she did with her foal.

It all sounds a bit of a rigmarole to weaning but far better to do it in a safe way to make it easiest for the foal to accept the new things and companions he'll have. Be prepared for anything and make it safe for them all is always my motto!

 

[serenityjane]

" Ideally, to help the process, the mare needs to move away out of total hearing and sight of the foal"
Read more at http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/foru...The-Mare-and-the-Weanling#pF22fF6tYqh0Ijb6.99

There are two schools of thought on this and I believe that whilst this is one way to wean, it has been shown that the whole process is less traumatic for both parties if the foal is weaned within sight and touch of mum- ie in a (obviously safe and secure) adjoining stable. We weaned our last foal a couple of weeks ago- she is 6 months old, was already having a small bucket and was halter and lead trained and had been brought in for farrier trims etc with mum previously. We put mum in her part of the stable and foal in a small sectioned off stable with open top door and an open window so that she can see and touch mum if need be but high enough to deter jumping out. Mum dripped milk on day one but has now dried up-took a couple of days. I fed mum slightly less but not much as she is in foal and fed the foal twice a day with a small feed -they are both on adlib haylage. Neither mare or foal have dropped weight. After two or three days we took foal on little walks and into the round pen twice a day for 10 mins exercise, she has also been in and out of the trailer several times this last week as she is off to her new home at the weekend. Neither are bothered now if one goes out of sight and have interacted less and less over the stable door.
We did the same last year with the previous foal (now a yearling) which we have kept and is still now with a companion but in sight of mum and his half sister, but has been out and about and away from them too all summer with no issues.

 

[DuckToller]

I have weaned the way serenityjane describes twice - it worked quite well for me. I put the mare and foal in adjoining stables overnight to start with, and then back together in the day. Mare had a fairly large bag of milk every morning but after a few days she had less, and the foal was not as desperate to get to her. Gradually left it longer but as I couldn't turn out separately I did then send the mare away. First foal barely noticed, second foal called a few times and then went off to play with his friends (he was nearly a year by this time!).

 

[Maesfen]

I have tried the way suggested above and it was a mitigated disaster with mare frantic to get back to foal and vice versa, both going through fences and up walls; never again and once weaned 'my way', no more problems or risk of damage from either of them at all so always the safest way for me - and before you say it, foal was well over normal weaning age. I just do what is safest in my circumstances.

 

[serenityjane]

Horses for courses Maesfen! I suppose it very much depends on the individual horses, types and breed of horses, and mare/foal bonds and weaning set-up- In both our weaning experiences the mare was fairly nonchalant about the whole thing which very much helps if the foal is a bit worried, and the first foal was weaned at 5 months which was earlier than I would have liked in an ideal world!