What are you feeding your foals?

[Marigold4]

I have two foals: one is 5 months old and not yet weaned. She's out most of the time with a good supply of grass and supplemented with good quality meadow haylage when she comes in. She shares her mother's feed of Bailey's stud balancer. She will be weaned in a month's time. She looks really well - fluffy shiny coat and well covered but not at all overweight.

Second one is 5.5 months, newly arrived and weaned. She has a pot belly, her coat is rough and flaky and I would say is a little underweight. She gets the same as the other foal roughage-wise but her own feed of Bailey's stud balancer. Do you think she needs more feed/supplements? Does she need something else to make up for loss of mother's milk?

I'd be grateful for your thoughts - don't want to over or under feed. I think the first foal is looking really well, but a little concerned about the weaned/second one.

 

[AmyMay]

If the 5.5 month old is newly arrived I’d carry on as you are. How long have you had her for?

Also, have you worked?

 

[Pink Gorilla]

Do you know when the 5.5 month old was last wormed (if ever)?

 

[Marigold4]

If the 5.5 month old is newly arrived I’d carry on as you are. How long have you had her for?

Also, have you worked?

Thanks for your reply. Yes, she was v wormy when she arrived so I consulted vet and dosed with strongid p. Vets are doing an egg count tomorrow to see if I need to worm again - she still looks wormy to me.

 

[Marigold4]

Do you know when the 5.5 month old was last wormed (if ever)?

THanks for your reply. AmyMay asked same question and I've answered about worming there. I still think she looks wormy but hopefully the worm egg count from vet will tell me more tomorrow.

 

[ihatework]

You have only recently got this foal, its been fairly recently weaned and it potentially has a worm burden.
I'm not surprised it looks a bit ropey and no I wouldn't feed more than grass/hay/balancer, especially given its a native type.
Even foals/weanlings with the ideal start in life go through spurts when they could look better.

Id get the worming under control and then just give time on good fibre

 

[Marigold4]

You have only recently got this foal, its been fairly recently weaned and it potentially has a worm burden.
I'm not surprised it looks a bit ropey and no I wouldn't feed more than grass/hay/balancer, especially given its a native type.
Even foals/weanlings with the ideal start in life go through spurts when they could look better.

Id get the worming under control and then just give time on good fibre

Great. Thanks. Good to know I'm doing the right thing. Hopefully vet will get back to me soon with egg count results and we can sort her out. I'm also treating her with lice powder just in case.

 

[Marigold4]

Worm egg count has come back zero, but foal still has tight pot belly. Any other thoughts anyone? Or is this something that just happens after weaning? should I test for tapeworm?

 

[Clodagh]

I would test for tapeworm, although with foals I’ve always worked rather than tested.
When we got foals from the New Forest sales they used to pass pretty well pure tapeworm for a week.

 

[HappyHackerK8]

Regular worming and baileys stud balancer on top of ad lib haylage/grazing seems to be keeping my 5m old chunky and happy. She has just weaned this week so I’ll be keeping an eye on her weight