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T O P I C R E V I E W
Kharif
Posted - 29 Sep 2009 : 11:26:37 PM Looking for some foal feeding advice... I recently bought a Newforest X TB foal who was born on the 22nd of May. The Lady had around 6 foals after a TB colt got into her field so she was keen to sell them on. Now I had him delivered on Saturday, which makes him 4 months give or take a few days, Ive had mixed opinions on this, i think its too young but a few people are saying its the norm now?? Anyway thats probably another debate as not much I can do about it now, he hasnt been weaned properly as I was led to believe and has basically been taken from mum and dropped off to me. He seems to have settled in well the boys love him however he hasnt been eating. The owner had told me that he was having mare and foal mix with mum and hadnt been feeding much from mum. But he just isnt interested in anything, hes trying to feed off the boys or sucks your fingers. Iv called the vet today who is coming out for a check up tomorrow. Iv tried him on foal mix and today on milk replacement both by bottle and teat and in a bucket. All he seems happy to pick at is a bit of hay. I understand that some of this might be due to stress but im keen to get him eating again. Does anyone have any suggestions I could try?
8 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First)
Sirius
Posted - 01 Oct 2009 : 08:15:46 AM Getting enough feed into the foal:
Now he's growing, we reached the limit of what he can take in, but have got round it! We have Perdaius (provisional name)(perdu - lost) in with another mare and her foal to avoid him becoming a "pet foal" which is polite code for "pain in the **** when older". Silihah is never going to allow him to suckle as her foal is 3 weeks older, so she isn't going to be persuaded that the orphan is hers. We are using the suckling of the other foal to tell us when the orphan needs a slurp of milk, and it's a lot more times than we thought: hoorah for CCTV and outdoor cameras!
We have also found that he doesn't eat the creep pellets after 2 litres of the milk, but will drink 2 litres of the milk after eating 0.5kg of the pellets plus chop, so we are now giving him 3 solid meals THEN milk, and as many milk feeds as we can fit in in passing.
Grazing and herd management problem: to get this many feeds into the foal without paralysing the rest of our work, we have to have the threesome close to us, so they are in the small paddocks next to the house rather than out on the remaining good grass further away, and indoors for the hours of darkness. This means that poor Silihah isn't getting much decent grass or adult company. Still, at this time of year we sometimes have the whole herd on full winter regime by now, waitng around for the lashing rain to stop so they can have a few hours of turnout on the winter field...
Indoors we have adapted a double loosebox to keep things safe for Perdaius. Details later.
Zarena
Posted - 30 Sep 2009 : 11:54:08 AM Just in case he hasn't been fed hard food at all and doesn't know what it is, I would mix it with the best succulent grass you can find.
natntaz
Posted - 30 Sep 2009 : 09:37:38 AM I would try two things. Try to put a little in his mouth. it might get him to taste it. You could also sprinkle some on his hay. Again he might get a taste for it. I agree with others it may be due to stress but quite often in these cases people say they are eating and they are not, I would imagine the lady just wanted rid.
Sirius
Posted - 30 Sep 2009 : 06:48:10 AM We have just had a foal orphaned at 7 weeks old, so a more extreme case than yours. We put him straight on to a mare replacer ("the milk"), NOT COW'S MILK, and it took a couple of feeds to get him to drink competently from a bucket.
At your foal's age he will probably still suck your fingers dipped in the milk which you can then use to tempt (not force) his head into a wide shallow bowl. Once he gets the idea you will have to tip the bowl to get the milk to be deep enough for him to drink. Later on he will be confident enough to be able to drink out of a narrower vessel, eg a 2 litre plastic kitchen measuring jug.
At the same time, begin to feed Foal Creep Pellets, either mixed with the milk to a slop or dry with chop. Used on their own we found that he was on the verge of choke. Pretty soon you should be able to wean him off the milk and onto the creep pellets. You can use up the remaining milk replacer powder as a sprinkle on the creep pellets, so it won't be wasted. The idea is to give him the recommended amount of feed overall. We are now at about 60% milk, 50% creep in terms of our's daily recommended intake (yes, it equals 110%, to get him to catch up after his severe knockback).
Once he is beck up to weight and condition, you can blend him over to foal and yearling pellets as normal.
I will PM you with the product details to avoid advertising, but the creep pellets we have ours on at the moment are expensive and are for foals from birth to 4 months, and the ones we are now blending over to are MUCH less expensive and for foals from 4 weeks to 12 months old.
If you need more advice, ask as a reply on this thread, not by PM, so that others can also see what you do and how it works!
Good luck, Dom and Jan, Seren Arabians
Kazhak
Posted - 30 Sep 2009 : 04:36:43 AM Well the poor little tyke has had a bit of a shock, if he's eating hay for right now then, encourage him to eat that to start & then bring the other stuff back in, oh & make sure he keeps his fluids up, he will settle in shortly
I'd say 4 weeks is a bit short but then thats coming from a family who would prefer to see the mum wean the foal when she's ready, still if he was a bit of a mistake then I can understand the women wanting to get rid of them quickly but she could have had them terminated before they even got to being foals so (shrug)
good luck to the little mna & yourself
Kharif
Posted - 29 Sep 2009 : 11:50:08 PM As much as they seem to love him, i wouldnt even chance trying to get him to share.
Hes having a little graze and seemed happy to tuck into the hay tonight, im just concerned he isnt getting enough of the good stuff.
kimzi
Posted - 29 Sep 2009 : 11:41:36 PM Will one of you're others let him share from the same feed bucket,it may help. Is he grazing much?
BeckyBoodle
Posted - 29 Sep 2009 : 11:38:40 PM Sorry no advice, but hope you get it sorted. How stressful for both of you. Look forward to seeing photos when you are both more settled. B
