The Nursing Foal

A foal should stand and nurse within the first 1-2 hours after birth. They will nurse for about 10-20 minutes every 1-2 hours. If a foal suckles for more than 30 minutes at a time, is constantly nursing, or not sleeping well between meals, it may not be receiving enough milk.

• During lactation, a mare will produce an average of 3 gallons of milk per day. Peak lactation generally occurs during the second and third month of a foal’s life. At this time a mare may need almost double the amount of feed and water she required before pregnancy.

Foal Feeding Guidelines

• As early as 7-10 days of age, a foal may begin to show interest in solid feed. By 8-10 weeks of age, mare’s milk alone may not adequately meet the foal’s nutritional needs.
• We suggest you provide free choice hay or pasture from birth and start supplementing with grain or concentrates beginning at about 4 weeks of age.
• Start by feeding 1% of a foal’s body weight per day (i.e. 1 lb. of feed for each 100 lbs. of body weight, or roughly 1 lb. of feed per month of age).
• It is best to divide the ration into 2-3 feedings and to adjust the feed ration based on growth and fitness.
• Do not overfeed; overweight foals are prone to Developmental Orthopedic Diseases.

Vaccinations and Deworming

• We recommend that you begin vaccinating and deworming your foal at two months of age.
• Ideally, the foal should be given a paste dewormer at 2 months of age, and then put on a daily dewormer like Strongid C2X. If not, then the foal should be dewormed every 4 weeks for the first 2 years.
• Quest should never be given to a foal less than 6 months of age.
• Vaccination recommendations will vary depending on the foal’s lifestyle and the time of year that it was born. Some of the vaccinations can begin at 2 months of age, along with the deworming.

  Weaning

• Foals are commonly weaned at 5-6 months of age but can be weaned as early as 3 months of age.
• Beginning at about the third month, the mare’s milk supply gradually declines. About a month before weaning, the foal’s ration should be slowly increased until it is eating approximately 2.5% of its body weight in feed and forage a day. During this period, the mare’s grain should be gradually decreased.
• When the foal is weaned, the mare’s grain should be eliminated until milk production stops.
• Once separated the mare and foal should be kept in a safe area ideally where they cannot hear or see each other for several weeks.

Exercise

• Proper exercise is essential to strong bone and joint development. Ideally, healthy foals should be provided with free choice exercise and not confined to a stall for extended periods of time.
• On the other hand, excessive forced exercise can strain young joints and limbs, so a foal should never be worked to the point of fatigue