AmyMay
Situation normal
Good luck with him. Is mum going too?
Thank you Paddy555,I will add micronised linseed although he already gets linseed oil,I have tried giving alfalfa pellets,but none of my horses like them.For the time being he enjoys Cavalor's Podolac or foal creep pellets ,probably because they contain milk pellets!I live in Belgium and Copra is difficult to find.He has a salt lick but a bit E oil will do him a world of good,once weaned I will add some sure grow to his feed and see how we go from there.
what about E Coli, I lost a horse 2 years ago with E coli caused by a trauma to the gut from eating hawthorn.I did think salmonella but he has no diahorrea (sp)
Please don't give a chaff of any kind to a foal as until about seven months old they do not have the chewing apparatus to be able to masticate and digest it; it can then get stuck in the throat which can cause choke. Alfalfa is very bitter and coarse anyway, not a good feed for youngsters; if you want to bulk up a feed (though youngsters do not need bulk other than decent hay or haylage - plus adequate grazing of course - then you could try unmolassed sugar beet. Make sure it's unmolassed as again, a foal's digestive system is not developed well enough to digest sugar until about 8 months. I have always fed the Suregrow pellets on their own, nothing else needed other than hay etc.
Can you get something like Dodson & Horrell Suregrow over there which is specifically made for growing youngsters of all types and gives them the vitamins and minerals they need in a small pellet form so no over topping from feeding it? http://www.dodsonandhorrell.com/our-feeds/breeding
I know some foreign breeders feed something called Pavo with excellent results, http://www.pavohorses.co.uk/breeding/products.
I'm sure you must have other horse feed firms that specialize in feeds for breeding stock.
99% of NZ foals would have chaff - usually Lucerne chaff - in their feeds - All mine dis and had no problem with it - if they can eat hay they can eat chaff!
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