Weaning dates for this month

Miniature Horse Talk Forums

Help Support Miniature Horse Talk Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

equestrian

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2003
Messages
104
Reaction score
0
Location
Houston Texas
I was wandering what is the weaning dates for this month, because I was wanting to go by the Old Farmers Almanac with these three I need to wean.

Thanks, Darwin
 
I was told it is the 10th, 11th and 12th. So get to weaning!
default_wink.png
 
I'm weaning TODAY! Don't wait until the 12th because the 13th goes back to "the head" and will go hard on them before they can adjust.

Either wean today or tomorrow at the very latest
default_smile.png


I'll be glad to get my last 3 done! Whew!
 
Thank you every body and I really Appreciate it. I have two 6 months old and one 4 months old which i want to get weaned. I was wanting to try the correct weaning date this time to see the difference. Just in case I do not make it this time on the 4 months old which are the next dates for weaning, because he is in the country pasture away from me.

Thanks Darwin
 
Nov dates are

6-8.

The best date for Nov, that I would use is the 7th.
default_yes.gif
 
Just got my last two done today
default_smile.png
, one filly is fussing a little but the other is taking it well and neither mare is particularly upset.

Jan
 
I don't know how you guys do it with so much luck. I have a mare whose last baby was born in April of 2007 and that mare SCREAMS at the fence all day, every single day!
default_wacko.png
The baby doesn't care at all, but momma will NOT give her baby up. I've actually decided she's never going to give the baby up nor is she ever going to have another one because she doesn't get in foal when she has one at her side so I've just given in and let them be in the same pasture. Maybe it's not the right thing to do but she's 26 or 27 years old now and I worry that the stress was going to kill her. I want to sell the filly she had but I think it would kill the mare.
 
This year I weaned two foals to start with, and put their dams in the paddock adjacent to the creep feeding area. The two foals were left out in the pasture where they were accustomed to being, with the horses they had already been with. There was very little screaming or fussing. The next week I took another mare from her foal, and put her in that paddock, and moved the previous two mares on the other side of the barn. There was some fussing then, more from one of the mares than from the foals. I did the same again a few days later, same thing, and now I have one left to wean. Now, this mare is going to protest, and loudly, but she'll be right next to her foal, though the foal won't be able to nurse, and that does seem to make all the difference. The mares all dried up nicely in a very short amount of time too. I think that it really helps also that the foals have been eating on their own very well for quite a while (creep feeder) and have been quite independent from their dams. Before weaning began I would see mares acres away from their foals, the foals either with other foals or hanging out with another mare, or both. Being separated but near each other is not unusual for any of them. I also have the "babysitter", our 24 year old retired broodmare, who stays with the foals and provides a grown-up presence for the foals.

I AM dreading just a little bit weaning that last foal though-- this particular mare is going to make sure that all are aware of just how upset she is about it, and she has a PIERCING whinny! lol!
 
OK, you guys have thoroughly confused me. I have never heard of weaning on certain dates. I've always weaned when I would be home for a couple of days to watch the baby. Please tell about this method you all are talking about. What am I missing?

Thanks!

Tammie
 
Valid or not, this is how weaning by "The Sign" works:

It takes the moon a little less than 28 days to complete on orbit around the earth, and on any given night during that lunar cycle, the moon appears to be near on of a dozen groups of fixed stars, or constellations. These are the same constellations that make up the 12 signs of the zodiac familiar to anyone who ever has read a horoscope --Pisces, Aries, Taurus, and so on.

Two thousand years ago, astrologers assigned each sign of the zodiac to a part of the body. Every 28 days or so, as the moon moves from on constellation to the next, it also moves progressively from one part of the body to another, from the head (Aries), to the neck (Taurus), the arms (Gemini), the breast (Cancer), the heart (Leo), the bowels (Virgo), the kidneys (Libra, the loins (Scorpio), the thighs (Sagittarius), the knees (Capricorn), the legs (Aquarius), the feet (Pisces).

The idea is to wait until the moon has moved to a sign (or part of the body) that is below the part of the body you are working on. The thinking gets a little fuzzy here, but the theory says that since you are weaning a foal's body (apparently without his lower legs) it is best to wait until the moon--and therefore "The Sign"-- is below the knee. To do this, locate a calendar for the month in question, find the little diagrams, representing the signs below the knee (Aquarius for the legs and Pisces for the feet), then locate those two signs on the calendar.

The calendar will indicate on which days of the month the mood enters those two signs (although theses dates will differ slightly from the almanac). Weaning supposedly can be done safely on the days when the moon is "in" Aquarius and Pisces.

This works out to a 4-day window for "safe" weaning each month, ending when the moon chugs back up to Aries, sign for the head. The actual dates vary from month to month because of the variance between the moon's regular 28-day cycle and the calendar's 28-day to 31-day months.

The effectiveness of weaning by "The Sign" never can be confirmed. So even though weaning by "The Sign" might not help it probably will not hurt, either.

Found this to help explain, not only is it used for weaning but also for castration, slaughter, and many other things.

By The Signs
 

Latest posts

Back
Top