Weaning info

We are weaning our little Summer. have started weaning from mom for 5 days now only together at night time and once during the day. they are sepatatd by a wire fence. she still cries for mom. so sad. tonight she will be in stall by herself for the first time. any suggestions to make this easy as possible for her. Mom doesnt seem to care either way at this point. also we have a great family waiting for her. how long should we wait during this weaning process to let her go to her new home? Sad to see her go but will love all the attention she will get at her new home.

Hi Joann She needs to be content and eating well on her own before she is relocated. Each foal is different so it's hard to say but maybe a couple weeks at least. Will she have a companion at her new home? If so then I think that once she's eating well on her own, and is not stressing about her Mom, you could send her on - but if she'll be alone there then I'd keep her with me just a little longer. Have you got some type of creep feeder set up for her? She's almost 6 months old now right? You usually won't put the foal back in with the dam at all when you wean, it's very stressful for the foal to be taken from it is mom several times like that..when it's time you just separate them. Good luck with your little one! Sagittarius is one of the best signs to wean under so you have that going for you. If you have some photos we'd love to see her.

Perfectly said Debby

I agree that she shouldn't be going back in with mum at all now. Its not weaning when the foal is returning to its mum for short periods.

Good luck

Generally once you start the weaning process, you do not put them back together until the dam fully dries up. Allowing the foal to nurse will make the dam continue to lactate, and not letting the foal nurse at will while she is still producing milk can cause more stress and discomfort for both mare and foal because Momma's bag will be uncomfortably full for long periods of time since she will still produce milk as long as the foal nurses, this runs a higher risk of mastitis for the mare and the foal runs the risk of colic episodes due to frequent increased stress and anxiety and a disrupted diet. Weaning through wire fence is hard, as they can see each other and in some cases, baby finds a way to suckle, the risk of injury is greater when foals can see/smell/hear their dam, but cannot get to her not only because it creates high anxiety but because they may panic and attempt to scale the fence or injure themselves trying to squeeze through it. Momma may hurt herself trying to get to her distressed foal and it is possible for mares to get downright nasty when trying to protect their foal, that poses the potential risk of you getting injured in the process. It is best to keep thwm as far apart as possible for a few weeks until the process is complete. As Debby mentioned, a buddy is very important for her companionship, as horses so not do well alone being herd animals and they need to learn how to socialize and behave within a herd environment. Weaning is stressful, moving to a new home is very stressful but being alone is incredibly stressful for a herd animal who instinctively seeks companionship for safety and security. As long as she is growing and developing properly, eating hay and grain consistently and appears healthy (no respitory issues, stress induced upsets, colicky behavior or diarrhea) then I would say she is ready to go to her new home, especially if they have a buddy for her. Even though going to a new home is stressful, it may be less stressful then being right next to mom during weaning. It's like ripping off a bandaid, better to do it quick and get it done rather than agonizingly peeling it off a bit at a time. Good luck with her. They grow up so fast.

I've been raising horses for over 40 years. I wean cold turkey. Babies are in a paddock on one side of the barn - mares are way out in the woods where they cannot see the babies. As soon as I separate them I make sure there is plenty of feed and water to occupy their brains. Very little bellering this way, and they get over it much quicker.

now i feel terrible!!! i read that it is easier for them if can go back together at night and for mom a few times during the day to help her not become hard and full of milk. yesterday and last night totally separated but now i need to find somewhere to put mom where they cant see each other. that will not be easy though. where we usually have a round pen on other side of yard needs to be kept clear for snow plow for the winter. . they will still be able to hear each other no matter where we put them. maybe i can find someone who woud board mom for a few weeks till Summer moves to new home. thanks for all your replies.

We raised Thoroughbreds for years and we never put them back together once the weaning process started and we would actually put them in a field on the opposite side of the farm. Usually after a week I would say they would calm down and not really worry about their moms. The most stressful days for them was of course the initial day and then maybe a day or two after but most would be content after about a week.

I'm sorry Joann, I didn't mean to make you feel bad. I know there are articles out there that recommend letting the foal nurse occasionally and I'm sure it works for those who want to do it that way. You have not hurt either of them. That said the only gradual weaning I would and do recommend is placing mare and foal in adjoining or adjacent paddocks prior to complete separation, paddocks set up so the foal cannot touch the mare, but can still smell and hear her. After a few days then the mare is moved to another location. This I would recommend to someone with only one mare or just a couple horses.

I touched on why it's not a good idea to let the foal nurse occasionally and am glad to see above that amysue explained that in more detail and included how it's also detrimental to the mare. I don't know how many horses you have but I would think weaning to be more stressful to all involved (including you) when you don't have more horses. In that respect the way you did it may have been the right way for you.

When I had to wean I started with gradually decreasing the mares feed about 2 weeks before so her milk would begin to decrease then I'd remove the mare. I never moved the foal, I'd always leave the foal where it was used to being and removed the mare. I did have one colt who spent a few hours running the fence line and calling his Mom but other than that in all my years of breeding I never had a problem at all when it came to weaning. No screaming no bad behavior so I've never understood the stories about hating weaning time and the problems people have. All mine always had creep feed available from one month of age onward so they were used to eating without Mom, and by the time I decided to wean - never earlier than 5 1/2 to 6 months of age, they were already nutritionally and socially independent - buddies with other horses or foals.

Above where I said "When I have to wean" I said that because if it was a foal I was not selling then I never went through with a formal weaning.

I was a little reluctant to put in my 2 cents because some folks would think it was horrible to wean "cold turkey". But that's what we do. Of course, we also wait to make sure the foal is independent enough, which means they are usually 5 or 6 months old. Once the foal and mare are separated we do NOT grain the mare to help dry her up.

Another thing we do is move the mare out to a different paddock and leave the foal in its familiar surroundings. Usually we have more than one foal that are close to the same age, so try to do the "buddy system" with weaning......which means waiting until the youngest is ready. And feeding the newly "independent" foal extra hay and grain is a good idea to keep him focused on other stuff. We tend to have the mares calling more than the foals by this time......It's not a fun time of year. The calling tends to last about 2 or 3 days.

Lastly, if you're worried about the mare's bag getting too hard and hot, check it and if necessary, just squirt a little bit of milk from each teat. But only A LITTLE squirt to relieve the pressure. If you take too much, it will encourage her to keep making more. We rarely have needed to do it because by the time foals are 6 months old they aren't nursing very much........just going for a snack. And when we've had to do it, it was only after the first day.....

i only have 3 minis. my stud, the mare and foal. i did gradually decrease maare grain for 2 weeks until she was no longer getting ant. then i put the mare in an area right next to where she and the foal have been since the birth. they can see, hear but no touching each other. i really dont have much room to separate them so they can not see each other. the foal is in the same area and stall that she was born it. we are trying to find a place to move the mare so cant see each other. but that is on my lawn by my pool!!!! we could move her further down from the foal and put our stud next to foal. but she could still see and her each other.

Sometimes circumstance dictates how we do things.

One year, I left a filly with her mom all winter, due to snow and shortage of corrals; mare was fat and sassy the whole time so I wasn't worried about her.

Last time, due to snow, the colts were only across a single fenceline from their dams, but I was able to put up safe mesh so they couldn't nurse.

This time, lack of space means the mares are just one paddock away from their babies; I pulled the mares to a separate pen and left the foals with mares they had been with all summer. Mares also had to stay on feed, as these foals pulled them down quite a bit, so it took a bit longer for them to dry up; but with winter coming, I need to do what I can to get weight back on the mares before it really hits.

Chanda basically took the words out of my mouth........You do what you can do with the set up you have......

Miniv said:

I was a little reluctant to put in my 2 cents because some folks would think it was horrible to wean "cold turkey". But that's what we do. Of course, we also wait to make sure the foal is independent enough, which means they are usually 5 or 6 months old. Once the foal and mare are separated we do NOT grain the mare to help dry her up.

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I'm kind of surprised but kind of not, that people would frown upon weaning "cold turkey." We weaned "cold turkey" long after it should have been done. I had read some crap on the internet that the mare would wean the foal herself when it was time. (Some day I may feel brave enough to tell you all when Baby actually was weaned.) The mare throttled Baby back but never completed weaning. We ended up with health problems, so Baby got the "cold turkey" treatment. We stuck her in a separate stall which was situated between her dam and her sire. There was never any "yelling." Nobody seemed very upset. At that late date, it only took a few days, but I kept them separated for a couple weeks.

My advice is that if you feel it's time to wean, just do it; hog-tie 'em if you have to. The single, biggest mistake I've made with ours is to cave in to kindness, which usually means feeing them too much.