New Mom Questions??

[misty'smom]

I have had my 2 little fillies almost a month now and have some questions????

I have tried both flake and fine pine shavings. The fine seems to absorb better but I need to remove 3/4 of it each day because it is wet. The flake I can rake through and pick out the manure but a lot seems to stick on the rake and gets thrown out. What types of bedding do you all use and is there any tricks for keeping stalls dry and clean (I clean stalls everyday. My babies are only in there overnight.)

I am feeding my girls a textured feed that is made at our co-op. I started with their Pace Maker 130. It has 13% Protein 3% fat, I was giving 1cup morning, 2cups evening. I switched to the Pace Maker 160 that has 16% Protein, 6% fat and I am giving 2cups both feedings. I switched because from what I have read weanings need the higher contents their first year. Am I feeding enough? They are still out all day eating grass/clover and have Orchard grass in their stall. Next spring when they are a year should I go back to the lower content?

 

[chandab]

If your fillies tend to pee in certain areas, that can be helpful for bedding. I have a stallion that tends to pee in one spot, so I put the pelleted bedding down in his pee spot (just enough to soak up his pee, its trial and error to figure out the right amount for your situation) and then cover with shaving; the pelleted bedding soaks up his pee, and the shavings give him a soft spot to lay down. Its working for me. Sometimes its trial and error to find just the right system. And, if you have real piggies that mix it all up, you might have to resort to less bedding or bedding only part of the stall.

What does the Pace Maker 160 tag/bag say for amounts to feed? Usually its listed as an amount per 100# bodyweight or just a daily amount (if just a daily amount, you'll probably have to divide that by 3 or 4 for a mini foal, as the amount listed is for a full-size foal). You can evaluate them in the spring and see if they still need the higher protein feed, some yearlings can be decreased others can't depending on their size, metabolism and etc.

 

[AnnaC]

I cannot comment on the food you are using as I'm not in the US, but Chanda gives good advice on the amount to feed and I agree with the suggestion that you wait until they are yearlings/next Spring before you worry about any changes.

Regarding your bedding, I have always found that the more bedding you put down the less mss they make! We now use straw for ours but when we used shavings in the past I always put down a bed at least 9" thick (here is where everyone gasps LOL!!) stamping it hard down. Then another bale fluffed up on top. All the wet just soaked straight down into the underlayer and could easily be dug out twice daily (horses were competition ones and mostly fully stabled), the wet did not spread as the horse walked round 'on top' of the hard stamped down base layer. All droppings - every smallest piece - were picked out by hand - during the day immedately any pile was passed and then again at late night stables (midnight), and I found that even with 'dirty horses, the droppings could easly be picked in the morning as they were only mixed in with the top fluffy layer.

There was a rule in my yard that one pile of droppings found in a stable during the daytime was allowed if you were busy out exercising the horses, but two piles were unforgivable and three piles meant you were dismissed!! The reason being was that with horses you might be lucky with only one pile being in a stall, but by the time there were two the horse could have been in trouble - colic, cast, showing signs of illness etc etc, and by the time there were three piles the horse could have been really ill as he may not have been seen by anyone for 3 or 4 hours. It meant that I could walk round the yard and know exactly which horses had been checked regularly or not. (At the time I was training students for future 'horsey' careers and this was a brilliant way to drum into them that horses can develop problems very quickly and therefore need to be closely watched at all times. Yes it was hard work and needless to say, a lot of the students didn't last more than a few weeks into their yearly course, but those that did have since told me how much they appreciated that 'lesson' for the wellbeing of their charges over the years.)

 

[BriarwoodAcres]

Anna-thats sounds crazy! But a BRILLIANT idea!

 

[wingnut]

I prefer pine sawdust. Stall mats are also a must for me....finally got some down in our other building and am so happy about it.

Weanlings/foals up to 2 years need more feed, especially than later on. Like all babies, this is their growing time and you want to be sure their bodies have what it needs to do the job well. I'm a firm believer in using pounds for measurements. Ask your manufacturer to help you decide how much is enough for your situation. Purina has a 16% protein and 6% fat product (omolene 300) and this is what their feeding guidelines recommend:

Weaningly:

60lbs - 1.0lbs (per day with hay/pasture grass)

80lbs - 1.2lbs

100lbs - 1.3lbs

120lbs - 1.4lbs

Yearlings (Purina recommends moving to their 200 product (14% protein and 6% fat)

140lbs - 1.5lbs

160lbs - 1.6lbs

180lbs - 1.5lbs

At 2, you'd move to an "adult" food and feeding guidelines.

Following these recommendations worked for us. Like you, we split the grain feedings between two meals (morning/night).

 

[Little Wolf Ranch]

If you can find them, buy the pelleted bedding. Where I just moved to I can get them for under $5 per bag at my feed store and I use two bags per 12x12 stall to start out with and put a new bag in every week to week in a half depending on how much they are left in, mine are in always at night and sometimes during the day too if its raining. These pellets are so easy to use - open the bag and spread out the pellets, then mist them down with water and in 15 minutes they are all puffed out and ready for use. They clump the pee like cat litter and there is very little to no waste when picking manure.

I've used shavings and these pellets in comparison are AMAZING!

 

[dutchhollow]

I almost never stall anymore, but when I did the pellets were for sure the way to go,