Mares are pigs - steal from foals

[WhiteTailsMinis]

Hopefully some of you can point me in the right direction and save me from hours of searching.

My babies are not getting their little ration because their mothers are pigs of course. No matter how we stand guard or hold the dish for each baby (boy is that time consuming) - - they don't get to finish their portions (and we don't get much else done during feeding time playing referee).

I know big horses have Foal Feeders with the adjustable bars across the top - what a great gaget! Unfortunately, they are still big enough to allow our adult miniature muzzles in there. Do they also make these in MINI size?

What do you use? How do you feed your foals? Our problem is that we have multiple pastures with multiple harems - meaning we have one stallion to his group of girls per pasture. Each group has a couple babies of course. So not all our babies are in the same place so I'd have to erect multiple feeders if we're talking about something they walk into away from the adults - which is why I thought I could hang those foal feeders in their run-ins.

We actually did come up with something that only the babies could get through the gate (from a width standpoint) - but quickly realized the younger smaller mare can also get through - so we had to stop that or risk her overeating. It also seems the younger foals aren't too ready to venture that far away from momma while she's eating elsewhere.

I"d be interested to see what cool things you have come up with to ward off this problem - we're not close to weaning so I need something to keep these piggish - selfish - mothers off their babies food. Once weaned - the babies will be to themselves in a group separate pasture and that'll be easy.

Any ideas you wish to share would be appreciated please

~ Thanks (and I'm betting you'll have ideas for another project for my hubby to do - just what he needs LOL)

 

[muffntuf]

Never finding a small enough creep feeder for Shetlands or Minis - I settled on this solution - I tie the mare up! She gets her portion, the foal gets theirs. Much easier and I can keep moving around doing stuff as well as keep an eye on the pair.

Don't be surprised - the foal still goes over to the mommie's feed pan and steals, but they have free choice of theirs at meal time.

Eventually I tie the foal up as well, (being close by) they learn to tie as well.

 

[WhiteTailsMinis]

That's a great idea MuffnTuf- and I can see it working for small numbers - however we have 41 horses split into groups in several pastures so there are groups at feeding time - some with babies - some not. For us, I can't see tieing every horse in the pasture to allow couple or three foals to eat - that would also be time consuming and then you'd have to drive back to each pasture again to untie everyone - but that might give me few ideas - thank you. We have four pastures with stallions and their group of mares - with babies. Other add'l pastures don't have babies so they aren't a problem.

The barn worked much better with stalls but now that foaling season is over - we're so glad to have an empty barn and not have to muck all that stuff everyday! LOL LOL

 

[osu_barrelracer]

Not sure of exactly how your set up is, we have all of our broodmares and babies in stalls at night, and they get turned out during the day. They get fed twice a day in rubber tubs on the ground. The foals all eat right along side their moms. Every now and then you'll get a mare that does not want to share, so we'll just separate the feed so the foal can eat too. Most foals really won't eat that much (compared to the mare). I have one foal (a big horse) that I separate at feeding time (both in the morning and night). I tie him up outside her stall so he can still see mom. He gets his food (a foal feed) and she gets hers. The only reason they get separated is because the mare is a very nice barrel horse that is back in training and is on a few different supplements, and the little hussy will let her kid eat them!

I really haven't had much luck with the foal feeders for big horses. Either the bars are too wide and the mare can get into it, or they're too narrow and the foals won't eat out of it.

You're best bet creep feeding wise, would be to find/make a creep pen with bars that limit the size of horse that can get into it, not just width wise, but height also. Don't worry too much if they aren't real willing to wander away from mom to eat when they are really little. The first moth or so of life, they are getting most of their needed nutrients from their dams milk. As they get bigger they'll get more interested in the grain!

 

[wildhorses]

I have a friend who has done this for years, and this year I am going to try it myself.

She takes small panels, like 8 foot cattle panels, corral panels, etc. and places 2 of them in the corner of the pen, as if you were going to make a square catch pen in the corner of the corral, (portable panels make 2 sides and your fence makes the other 2 sides). She then leaves an opening at each corner that is about 12 inches wide or so (not sure exactly, depends on width of your foals), pounds a T fence post into the ground and ties the panels in place. The space is just wide enough that the foals can walk in and out of the pen, but the mares can not fit. Her foals all know to go in there to eat their grain and moms can't get in there to eat it up like pigs. I found her babies will eat a little grain all day long since there is no pressure from moms. Just have to make sure the feed dishes are far enough back from the fence that mares can't stick their heads through the panel and grab the bowl. She's done this for many years, I thought it was a clever idea....hope it makes sense and is helpful. Good Luck!

 

[Maple Hollow Farm]

I have a friend who has done this for years, and this year I am going to try it myself.
She takes small panels, like 8 foot cattle panels, corral panels, etc. and places 2 of them in the corner of the pen, as if you were going to make a square catch pen in the corner of the corral, (portable panels make 2 sides and your fence makes the other 2 sides). She then leaves an opening at each corner that is about 12 inches wide or so (not sure exactly, depends on width of your foals), pounds a T fence post into the ground and ties the panels in place. The space is just wide enough that the foals can walk in and out of the pen, but the mares can not fit. Her foals all know to go in there to eat their grain and moms can't get in there to eat it up like pigs. I found her babies will eat a little grain all day long since there is no pressure from moms. Just have to make sure the feed dishes are far enough back from the fence that mares can't stick their heads through the panel and grab the bowl. She's done this for many years, I thought it was a clever idea....hope it makes sense and is helpful. Good Luck!

This is what I do too!

 

[RnRs Lilnickers]

Do you have any pics of this setup?

 

[WhiteTailsMinis]

Wow, that sounds like a perfect solution! Great idea and I do think it would work! I've got plenty of coral panels so could do that in every pasture very easily. Long holiday weekend so that's going to get added to the top of my list of "to dos' ! haha

Thanks everyone for all your ideas - really appreciate it and going to implement this weekend and see how we do!

 

[Loess Hills]

We use something similar. In the corner of each foaling stall is a little shelf that fits in the corner. On the shelf we've mounted a large blue plastic dog bowl, which is screwed into the shelf. The bowls can be easily cleaned when needed, because they're easily removed. The foals can go in the corner, eat their food..........some will even happily share with each other!

The taller mares cannot reach the bowl because of the crossbars, and the bars can be adjusted in height as the foal grows. Our little guys love it, and they can eat at night or during the day - since they go in and out to a small pasture with the moms.

 

[WhiteTailsMinis]

that is a great system too! We have run-in barns in each pasture so I could very well take a corner of each of those as well in each pasture - great idea and looks fairly simple to erect too!

Thanks - I knew I'd get lots of ideas from everyone and I appreciate it.

 

[pepperhill]

We use the same idea, but do it just a little different. We nail the cattle panel across the front of the run-in shed at a low height. The foals can walk under it, but the mares can't. I found that a couple of my smaller mares could always manage to squeeze their fannies through even the smallest gap, but when I hung the panel from the top, they aren't smart enough to get on their knees and crawl under. It has worked really well for a number of years for me. About the time you have to raise the panel to the point that the mares can start to get under, the foals are ready to be moved to their own pen and weaned anyway. Best wishes!

PS I, too, have found that the foals seem to nibble all day long instead of gulping down a whole portion at once. I start this "creep" feeding while the foal is still pretty young, and then make sure their is grain available to them pretty much all day. They go in many times a day and nibble, but never really pound it back. The "panic" eating like older horses seem to do doesn't start until they are in their own pen, getting weaned. Then, I have found, I do have to portion it instead of letting them free feed, or they will over eat.

 

[WhiteTailsMinis]

cattle panels - another great idea - I might do one of each just as a test - thanks for another great idea!

 

[muffntuf]

Hi,

learned a bit from this thread. I have 5-6 mares that are fed inside twice a day and tied up when appropriate - like the mom starts becoming food hog. I also have 4-5 others tied - yearlings learning to tie and be patient.

If I had that many on the farm, I would be looking for alternatives too!