Whether you are a manager of a large breeding operation or own one special mare, getting a healthy new foal on the ground is important to you. Nutritional management of the mare during the last 3 months of pregnancy has a significant impact on the health of the newborn foal.
When the foal arrives, he will be approximately 10% of his mature weight. Following birth, foals continue growing at a very rapid rate, with most reaching 30 - 40% of their mature weight by weaning and 70% by their first birthday. Growth and development at this rate requires a steady supply of good nutrition.
During the first couple months of life, the foal's primary nutrition source is mare's milk, but by 2-3 months of age, mare's milk and free-choice hay or pasture will fall short of meeting the growing foal's nutrient requirements.
It is very important that foals have access to a nutritionally balanced foal feed early in their development. You just can't wait until weaning to supply supplemental feed. A foal feed should contain very high quality protein to supply essential amino acids, such as lysine, and be adequately fortified with the proper balance of vitamins and minerals.
Foals will show interest in eating within the first couple weeks of life. Supplemental feeding of the suckling foal should fill in the difference between mare's milk and nutrient requirements to reach genetic potential.
Feeding one pound of a high quality foal feed per month of age per day will accomplish this. For example, a 2-month-old foal should be eating 2 pounds of feed per day, or roughly 1 lb of feed per 100 lbs of body weight. If allowed free-choice feed, foals will often overeat and gain weight too fast, putting undue stress on immature bones and joints.
Feeding mares and foals individually offers the most precise method of supplemental feeding to the foal. However, many farms don't have the labor or the facilities to do this. Creep feeders are an option but must be monitored to make sure mares cannot get in and that mares or foals can't get injured around them. Creep-fed foals should be grouped and fed amounts appropriate for their age. Otherwise, older more aggressive foals will overeat.
Mares and foals are often fed together, which actually works pretty well. As the foal begins to need more feed, the mare's requirements decline, so it averages out pretty close. It is important that feed troughs are at a height the foal can reach and there is plenty of space available for all mares and foals to eat at the same time.
Foals eating a high quality foal feed can be weaned by four months of age with no detriment to growth and development. Actually, at that point, weaning can be more cost effective for the mare owner and more nutritionally accurate for the foal.
Once foals are weaned, mares go on maintenance rations, which are often less than half of what was required during lactation. The weanling should stay on foal feed, but intake should be increased to 1.5-2.0 lbs per 100 lbs of body weight and fed with a similar amount of good quality hay or the equivalent in pasture. The amount of feed offered should be adjusted to support moderate body condition, meeting nutritional requirements for growth without the youngster becoming overweight.
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Karen Davison, Ph.D.
Equine Nutrition
Manager of Equine Technical Services
Dr. Karen Davison, an active horse person, learned to ride at an early age. While at Texas A&M University, she discovered research in horse reproduction, exercise physiology, and later specialized in equine nutrition. Her research includes studying the effects of fat-added diets in both broodmares and weanlings. She joined Land O'Lakes Purina Feed in 1993.
For more information, log on to www.purinadifference.com or www.horse.purinamills.com.
