Please help!!! feeding weanling..

SpottyTB

SpottyTB

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Hi all, i really need your help PLEASE!!!!

I've just bought a warmblood foal, he'll be 6 months when he comes to me - fresh of his mother. He currently isn't having any feed at all but is on better grass then i have (more of it)...

I'm paranoid about OCD (as i've heard its more prone in warmnbloods??).. what can i feed him that's not going to cost a bomb but won't put the weight on to quickly and to much so he'll be at risk of OCD?

Please help - i keep swapping and changing my mind and i just do not know what to feed him - i'd like to decide before he comes.


**He'll be stabled at night (from late november time) and be on 2 slices of hay a day..


Thank you
 
Fom an OCD perspective you would be better letting him live out for the winter (I kept mine rugged) as standing in for long periods isn't good for growing joints.

I used Dodson and Horrell performance vitamins and minerals, with some fibre nuts. My weanling refused to eat for two weeks because he missed his mum!
 
Give the feed firms a ring for advice.
My preferred feed for weanlings up until they're three is Suregrow as you don't need to add anything else to it which tots up the calories. You'd only feed a cupful twice a day, it's a small pellet, a 20kg bag is about £15 so would likely last you nearly a month. You'd only need to add hay and I would make sure he has as much hay as he'll take; he'll be a big growing boy but needs to take things slowly which is why fibre is far better than things like stud mixes/cubes. If you ring D & H they are very helpful.
 
It might be worth asking the breeder to give them both, mare and foal, a bit of feed for a week before he is weaned. I'm sure they would be willing to do it if you asked as it would make weaning and moving to a new home less traumatic for the foal. If they say they don't want to go to the expense then offer to pay for a bag or if they are close enough to you drop over a bag of what you are going to use when he/she comes to you. A mare is the very best "person" to teach a foal to eat. As others have said Suregrow is a proven feed for foals and the nutritionists at the feed companies (in this case D and H) are usually only too happy to give advice.
 
I wouldn't dream of selling a weaned foal without it being used to hard feed, its stressful enough changing homes anyway. Mine all go to their new homes with several portions of the feed that they are used to, so they (hopefully) settle in.
 
I fed my big WB foal http://www.spillers-feeds.com/products/stud-feeds/youngstock-pellets/ from at-foot until she turned 2. She's now 5 and a strapping huge lump without any growth problems along the way. I cannot rate them highly enough. They were reasonably priced, economical to use, palatable and best of all allowed my filly to grow steadily without any spurts or necessary changes of feed (unlike when you use 'creep feeds', then yearling cubes, then whatever else later on.) I just fed mine the recommended amount, along with grass/hay.

Previously, with the faster growing TB youngsters I'd used Sure Grow pellets (http://www.dodsonandhorrell.com/our-feeds/breeding/thoroughbred/dod/suregrow.html) but I did have a couple of very slight DOD problems in different yearlings using that. Nothing too serious and it may just have been co-incidence. Bear in mind though, that a lot of 'youngstock' feed products are designed towards the faster growing TB and aren't ideal for your average warm or cold blooded breed of horse.

For a WB I'd definitely recommend the Spiller's Youngstock Pellets or something specifically designed for slower developing but generally larger maturing youngsters.
 
I can't imagine he isn't pinching some of his mum's hard feed at this stage? Mine is and he was born in June. I feed mine D&H mare and youngstock, it is very palatable and has all they need. Don't limit his forage at all, especially if in at night for long periods he will need to keep feeding. I always provide a mineral block too, or a copper block. I have one of my older ones on D&H Yearling nuts which is doing him very well indeed, it is the first feed I have found which really suits him. Don't be tempted to feed lots of hard feed when he starts looking like a puny yearling, hay is much better. Good advice to ask a nutritionist to come along. I had Baileys along, but have to say I prefer the D&H feeds for youngsters. I have to say I am a fan of youngsters staying out 24/7.
 
I agree with the previous post. Dont panic if he goes through ribby stages during the first 3 years. Mine would look fine then seemingly turn lanky and ribby almost overnight. Invariably this would coincide with a growth spurt in height, followed by her returning to looking fine again. This is normal. Dont up the hard feed! It's tempting but there's no need. Better for a youngster to look a little on the lean side, than the other way around.

And this is the feed suggested above. http://www.dodsonandhorrell.com/our...loodpart-bred/youngstock/mare-youngstock.html. I used it for my very good doer TB mare during the last stages of her gestation and first 3 months lactating. She enjoyed it and looked well. It can also be used for non-TB youngstock.
 
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Thank you for all your replies - very helpful.

As i'm sure you can imagine, when you have limited grass (as on a 2 acre field between 2 and a half - shetland being half-) 24/7 turnout is not always possible. I chose to have him here as he'd be out with another foal of a simular age (about a year between them)... rather than going to my gran's where he could stay out 24/7 - but i couldn't get to him every day - so she'd have to do him - and he'd have company of a 23 year old laminitic - not ideal as you can imagine..

I'd rather he came in at night (we also have them on top of a hill, by the sea so the weather is horrendous when it comes in rough) and had the company he needed and where i could get to him every day to monitor weight/handling then him go to somewhere with no company and potentially have something bad not noticed.. hopefully you can see where i'm coming from (trust me; i've never stabled ANY of my horses before - TB's and all.. so this is a new thing for me but there isn't enough turn out or shelter).

Not entirely sure if his mother is having hard feed - i don't think so as they have stacks of grass and usually keep the mare's/foals of this.. he is nicely covered atm - so doing ok.

I am hoping he'll learn how to eat out of a bucket by watching Prince (the yearling) - as i doubt they'd be happy to feed foal/mare due to him being in with 3 other mares and foal's.

:-) thank you all for your advice - i feel much better about him coming now (almost back to being excited!)
 
I went through exactly the same dilemma and spent hours upon upon hours researching OCD and weanling feeds.

Have a look at the Winergy Equilibrium 'Growth' feed. It is the only growth feed I was happy to feed due to its low protein and starch levels- a lot of feed companies don't disclose the starch levels because they are so high!

I have to order this feed online, but it is well worth it IMO- my filly has done incredibly well on it and has grown very level, never bum high.
 
I would give him a rubber feed skip instead of a bucket - though that may be what you meant - he will pick up feeding really quickly, just introduce it very gradually - or if it was me I would ask the breeder to start giving him some of the feed you intend to give him when with you. Just a small handfull is fine.
 
My boy was weaned at 5 months and he hadn't had hard feed. I collected him the same day of weaning.
He lived in over night at my yard. He had ad lib hay all night and grass in the day. I feed him stud cubes just for something to eat when the yard fed breakfast.
My problem was trying to stop him jumping out his stable!
 
I'm another Sure Grow fan.

Yes, it's high protein but it's so packed full of vits and mins that you feed so little, just a cup full twice a day, going up to a mug full when he is bigger. You need so little that the amount of protein in is is almost irrelevant.
 
Does anyone know the starch level?

DosyMare- we have been discussing this problem as breeder said this isn't un common (jumping out of stable) and we've installed a roll down cover (covers top half of stable) which is fixed by wood slatts. :-)

HBM1- yes sorry I meant rubber skip :)
 
I've recently decided to change all my herd (including 15 month old, brood mare with foal at foot and 2 riding horses) onto Thunderbrook feeds after receiving significantly unsuitable feeding advice (feed far too much quantity of not one but multiple feeds) from two of the large commercial feed companies for a foal/yearling with genetic & growth spurt related epiphysitis; plus being attracted by a feed range which doesn't use any by-products (oat feed, wheat feed) or soya in their products - but is easy to feed, doesn't need a lot of soaking or high volume of feed to being fed; and is very much focused on a forage based ration supplemented only with what is required. Finally the feedback on the H&H forums from a lot of others about this feed range seemed to be overall positive; and they have been very easy to deal with for online order and delivery.

It is very clear that many people have great success using feeds from the well known large feed companies and I absolutely would not dispute this. I was just attracted by the philosophy of this particular feed company (although the way they "message" as the Americans would say ;) their information is not to everybody's taste) and all my horses have taken to it enthusiastically and are doing very well on it.

Whatever you end up using, I would echo other people's suggestions - absolutely don't be tempted to overfeed (I definitely haven't and have still had months of worry with the foal/yearling epiphysitis issue although luckily it is now improving) do not worry at all if a youngster looks too thin/ribby; and a simple forage ration based supplemented with necessary vitamins and minerals seems to work well.

Good luck :D
 
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