Carolyn R
Well-Known Member
Just wanted to bump this up and see how your foal was doing.
Carolyn
Carolyn
Depressed/Lethargic weanling...
- Thread starter Calekio
- Start date
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Genie
Well-Known Member
How's the little guy today???????
Still a bit hit and miss..
Got some very good and helpful info from bonnie... and i'll be ringing vet again on Monday with new info and asking her about looking at his teeth.
He's a bit up and down... his mum when running today after another mare and he shot off after her.. nice to see a bit of energy in him but didn't last long... his gone extremely picking with feeding as well... only wants soft feed now... and not doing much grazing....
Here he is having a cuddle moment when i was halter training 1 month old locket.... (who wants Prince to be his playmate and hangs off him!!!)
Got some very good and helpful info from bonnie... and i'll be ringing vet again on Monday with new info and asking her about looking at his teeth.
He's a bit up and down... his mum when running today after another mare and he shot off after her.. nice to see a bit of energy in him but didn't last long... his gone extremely picking with feeding as well... only wants soft feed now... and not doing much grazing....
Here he is having a cuddle moment when i was halter training 1 month old locket.... (who wants Prince to be his playmate and hangs off him!!!)
WLS
Well-Known Member
Sure sounds like foal protein deficiency to me. I had a severe case of this 8 years ago when we almost lost our Nevada. But our own stupid mistake, bought her at three months old at an auction sale. Foals should neither be weaned at three months nor at auctions in my opinion. She was the frisky filly, who went down hill very fast once we got her home, she went pot belly, hair went dry, she just stood around and hung her head and had no energy. I called my vet when it was obvious something was very wrong, vet did a blood test and she was protein deficient from being weaned too young. We gave her vitamin shots daily for weeks, put her on high protein foal feed and even fed her small handfuls of alfalfa hay. Sounds like a lot of feed for a young filly, but after about six weeks, she recovered to her frisky personality and is one of our best broodmares today. I highly recommend not to wean foals too young unless the mare is in life/death situation. Best of luck to your foal.
Genie
Well-Known Member
WLS's information makes sense to me.
I have always weaned at 3 months, but since I had the problem with ulcers on my filly foal, I have changed my way of thinking and unless the mare is in dire straits I am going to give them longer with mum.
Really hope your baby perks up. He looks very sweet.
I have always weaned at 3 months, but since I had the problem with ulcers on my filly foal, I have changed my way of thinking and unless the mare is in dire straits I am going to give them longer with mum.
Really hope your baby perks up. He looks very sweet.
Well this is the last foal for this mare... as she just can't cope with feeding a foal and herself. I have 3 other babies here at the mo... 2 of which will be weaned at about 5 months... the other at 7 months unless mum goes poor as he is a winter baby so i'll wait till the spring to take him off.
One of the older babies though i'm watching his mother... as she's has started to self wean him now at 4 months..... she is beginning to be rather horrid to him and kicking him off her.... her both both back legs at feed time last night and she flipped him on the ground
OH! i will be feeding them seperate from now on... not even in the same field as this was with there own buckets! OH!
Edited to add:
Vet checked protein levels which were all within the normal rates...
One of the older babies though i'm watching his mother... as she's has started to self wean him now at 4 months..... she is beginning to be rather horrid to him and kicking him off her.... her both both back legs at feed time last night and she flipped him on the ground
OH! i will be feeding them seperate from now on... not even in the same field as this was with there own buckets! OH!Edited to add:
Vet checked protein levels which were all within the normal rates...
Last edited by a moderator:
rabbitsfizz
Well-Known Member
I never do feed foals with mares, right form ten days they are taken away to feed....at first the mare is just tied up in the round pen and the foals hang out together and eat what they want...Tip here, I use a kiddies sand tray I got at the Car Boot, it is raised up off the ground, has two compartments, it did my foals right through till last month when they got tied up to eat their own feeds.
By this time of year (real weaning next week at four and a half months (youngest foal) to five and and half months(oldest) ) they are all eating a "proper" feed and standing tied up to do so, with the mares now off grazing a field away.
Next week they just will not go back.
If I have a mare that loses ground (first time ever this year) she comes in with the foals, gets tied up and fed...feed them enough, they put on weight, seems simple to me
The younger stallion, who is the sire of all but one foal this year, comes in with the foals and is fed as he does lose weight...all that worrying about child support
I find feeding foals with mares leads to the kind of behaviour you have seen...feed related aggression, which is never a good thing, and anyway, my broodmare are not routinely supplemented as I have too much grass as it is!!
By this time of year (real weaning next week at four and a half months (youngest foal) to five and and half months(oldest) ) they are all eating a "proper" feed and standing tied up to do so, with the mares now off grazing a field away.
Next week they just will not go back.
If I have a mare that loses ground (first time ever this year) she comes in with the foals, gets tied up and fed...feed them enough, they put on weight, seems simple to me
The younger stallion, who is the sire of all but one foal this year, comes in with the foals and is fed as he does lose weight...all that worrying about child support
I find feeding foals with mares leads to the kind of behaviour you have seen...feed related aggression, which is never a good thing, and anyway, my broodmare are not routinely supplemented as I have too much grass as it is!!
