Weaning?

[ShelleyS]

Hi. For my daughter's 10th birthday she got a mare and her little filly (Pixie). Pixie was born July 4 so she's just 4 months old. I know she shouldn't be weaned right now, but when? I've read 6 months. We are keeping both Molly (Mom) and Pixie and they're in the pasture together. Will Molly wean her? Pixie is eating feed, grass and hay but she still nurses too. Molly doesn't mind right now that she nurses. Molly is also bred and due in June... if that makes a difference.

Advise? Suggestions? Thoughts?

Thanks all!

ShelleyS in Oklahoma

P.s. Is Bermuda hay good to feed? I'm assuming so.

 

[appypintolady]

I weaned my filly at 5 months of age very sucessfully. her mother said it was time as she was getting a little too pulled down and I wanted to start getting weight back on her. The way I did it was to let the filly into anther pasture by herself that was close to mom for a few hurs a day. I kept increasing it a few hours a day and then after about 2 weeks she was on her own. (I did put her in with two new weanlings that I got about the same time and there was no fuss at all.)

 

[Jean_B]

Hi Shelley,

I'm sort of a neighbor - in Arkansas just a little ways from Fort Smith .... so hello!

On the weaning question - you will probably get a zillion different answers. I've been raising horses for over 20 years, 15 years with the minis. I wean between 3 and 4 months--this with the advice of several different veterinarians as well as other more "seasoned" breeders. After that period of time, the food value of the mare's milk is almost zilch. I wean "cold turkey" - I take the babies and get them as far away from the mares as I can -- in my new place the babies are in a large paddock on one side of the property and the mares are in a pasture on the other side.

There will be a bunch of bellering and crying the first day or so but they QUICKLY get over it. The mare's udder will swell with milk - but that's OK - it will quickly go down. One thing that helps is that I have a bunch of babies that I wean all at the same time, so they keep each other company. If you don't have any others for the baby to hang out with - perhaps your daughter could spend a lot of extra time with the baby for the first day or two.

As far as Bermuda hay - that's a GREAT hay. That's what I'm feeding now that I moved down here from WI and my horses all look great.

Jean

 

[Miniv]

Weaning at four months is fairly standard.....but people will wait til 5 or 6 months too.

One way is to do it gradually....with pulling Pixie from mom for part of the day and gradually increasing the time.

The other way (and usually this is done when they are 5+ months) is by pulling the baby off abruptly. This is done with better results when the baby has a buddy to be with.

If Pixie has no buddy to be with I would be more apt to do the gradual method.

MA

 

[REO]

We've fed only Bermuda hay for many years! Our horses love it!

 

[sfmini]

I have weaned several different ways, and how your place is set up will dictate how you do it. I have weaned with a board fence keeping them apart, no stress, baby can nurse through the fence, everybody gets bored and walks away and voila, weaned. I had to do something like this a few years ago with a foal that had uclers (after she was better) to keep the stress down. This year we brought the babies into the barn and mamas stayed outside. Hollered for a while and that was it. One mare never made a peep. It was like she was saying that it was about time!

As for age, depends on the foal and mare. If the mare is being pulled down, 3 months works. Otherwise we go 4 or 5 months of age.

Don't milk the mare for relief or she won't dry. We usually put her on a hay only diet for a week or two before returning her to grain. Helps in drying her up faster.

Old timers say to wean on the full moon. We did it and it was the easiest weaning ever so we do that as well. Don't know why, but......

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I love the board fence method and have had my best results that way, but stalling next to one another works really well, too. You just have to do the milking off yourself. I do not let the baby nurse again once I have weaned, if the mare needs relieving ( and I had two go "goopy" on me this year and needed to be milked out) then I do it by hand.

 

[Dona]

Weaning any time 3 - 5 months seems to be common with minis.

I like to wean "gradually". I first separate the foal from mom thru the day, and put back in with her at night. I do this for 2 or 3 days. Then I separate them entirely...BUT allow the foal to nurse once in morning & once in evening. I do this for 2 - 3 days. Then no more milk bar for baby & they are separated for good. This not only helps the foal to adjust to being without Mama & the milk....but it also helps the mare's bag & milk production to decrease gradually. By they time I separate them for good, I have absolutely no problems with the mare's bag getting full & tight & uncomfortable for her.

 

[lilnickers]

I like to wait til the foal is about 6 months old. Mom is weaning them to a degree by now anyway. I separate them at night with ajoining stalls, then turn them out together during the day. The nursing stops alltogether soon after this. The foals seem to make new friends and are more confident when I do it this way. Works for me

I think I started doing this method because we only had one foal the first year. Good luck !

 

[Miniv]

Oh, forgot to mention.....when you do the final pull of the foal from mom, do NOT grain the mom anymore. Grain helps make milk.....which you do not want.

If her bag gets very tight (I check the mares daily) and just relieve the pressure I squeeze just one squirt out of each nipple. If you milk TOO much out, you encourage more milk production.

MA

 

[ShelleyS]

Thanks everyone for your great advise! I appeciate all the responses. - - - Shelley