When to wean

[Flight]

Hi all

I recently had a big problem with one of my weanlings. He is a first foal and was born late in the season so even though he was a bit small, he was a lovely looking colt when I saw him with mum at four weeks.

He was moved to a new home recently and arrived in what has been described to me as a half-starved condition. Needless to say I was NOT happy. He contracted some type of virus and almost died. The general thoughts were that his immune system was low.

I ws told by the farm that he was weaned at 3 1/2 months which I feel may have been a bit early. They are now telling me that studies have shown that foals don't get anything from mum after three months.

Is this right?

Or did they simply put him in a paddock (no grass due to drought) and not supervise feed time as well as they could?

He is going well now although he is slightly back at the knee which is a problem he did NOT have at birth. I'm not sure at this stage whether I have a saleable commodity or whether he should be given away. Either way this little exercise has cost me money.

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

[madelyn]

Wow, I am planning to wean a filly tomorrow about 5-1/2 months old and pals are freaking out that it's too early! But 3-1/2 months? Only if there is some compelling reason... after all if she's making "free" food for the kid, why feed him separately?

[austique]

I would generally say 5 months if the foal is just huge and really pulling down the mare, but 6 months has always been the day for me.

[Intrinsic Worth]

We went for either 5 months or 500lbs, whatever came first. Some were weaned early if they were growing way too fast. At first we tied the mare up and let the foal eat grain and we wouldn't wean the foal until it ate its grain well.

[Roguelet]

I usually go somewhere around 6 months... I always make sure I can wean 2 or more together so sometimes that means a little younger or a little older than 6 months. I will wean early if the foal is just taking too much from the dam... had to do that last year and I can see I'm going to have to do that with the same dam again this year... but she had a very late foal so when my next youngest is ready, this foal can be weaned along with her.

I've heard that they don't get much nutrition out of milk after 3 months too, but I really don't believe that. However, nutritional value aside, I think that there is an educational value and mental "stability" for lack of a better word that a foal learns by being with it's momma. I don't believe in yanking a baby away from it's momma that early unless there's a darn good health reason.

I've even separated foals for weaning, watched their reaction and mom's reaction, didn't like what I saw and put them back together. In those cases, I've separated again a few weeks later and found that those particular horses were then mentally "ready" for weaning and completed the process with much less stress on mom, foal, and myself! I've only had to do that a couple of times over the years, but when I have done it I've found that the mental difference that only a few weeks makes with these horses is simply amazing.

[sstacy19]

6 months for me too although that is next week I am not ready..lol.

[JimP]

Hi Guys,

6 months is the norm for me but have gone as long as 9 months when the mare was not rebred and the foal wasn't pulling her down. I am sorry but 3 1/2 months sounds way too early. The milk value may have diminished by then but what a foal LEARNS from a mare can be priceless!!!
JMHO

[Flight]

Thanks everyone for their comments.

I'm happy to say that he has improved so much and is now looking like he should and his knee is hardly noticeable.

I think that he got through this due to his attitude and intelligence.

I will still follow through on this issue though.

Commercially, the farms need to make money from agistment. If they can justify weaning the babies earlier then they make more money. Some babies can handle it, others obviously need more time with mum.

One thing I have learnt from this excercise is that in future I will have no hesitation telling my agistment farm when to wean the babies as opposed to when they think they can start charging for another horse.

[madelyn]

Good thing your boy is much better. The filly we weaned at 5 months took it in stride and left the other day on a trailer, glossy and plump and halter broke. My vet says three months nutritionally is okay... but we put the filly in a stall and monitored her food. The issue was that she would "walk away" from her breakfast. If your colt was with others and did that, it wouldn't be there when he came back to snack on it and so I would say they weren't monitoring his feeding. There is also the issue of parasites, I worm them quite young and feed wormer pellets every week. It doesn't take much to get a youngster in parasite overload. They will look unthrifty and rough-coated.

[Elusive City]

6 months is the norm for Itbaya.
which is usually late September/early October for her. she's
still got her Sky Classic suckling colt by her side, teachig him how to run fast. .

[teb]

I weaned my colt this year at 4 months because he was annoying his mother something fierce and he was massive. I always make sure I spend time getting them to eat their own food while mom is eating hers. Some days they eat a lot, some days they just pick. At this time I groom them a bit too. Once I go to wean I have no problems and I always have foals that eat. Not one of my foals has missed a pellet no matter how upset they are that mom is gone. As my mares and foals are generally out 24/7, I try to wean before the bad weather sets in. In Ireland this is usually mid to end of Sept. I think they have enough stress with mom gone and bad weather makes things worse. I would never wean early if the foal wasn't eating on it's own or wasn't physically doing. I like to plan ahead and treat them as individuals long before mom is gone. They have 4-6 months with mom and the rest of their lives to spend with humans.
terri

[magic code]

We go anywhere from 4-5 months, though this year since we were so busy and had few places to put 25 weanlings we went a bit longer. Two old mares died when their foals were 3 months and 4 months, respectively. With the 3 month old, we had a 2.5 month old on a nurse mare who was a wicked, wicked step mother. We just weaned those two together and it was alright.

If your baby went to a new place to be weaned, I can understand him having problems, since with his mom they were likely grained and hayed together and he had no problems finding food. At a new place, he would've had to learn where the food was and when it was coming.

Glad everything was OK in the end.

[Cheryl]

Was the foal vaccinated before he was weaned?
I creep feed mine from the beginning. I put up 2- 16' fence boards in the corner of the paddock to make a square where the 2 foals can eat w/o mare access. I also vaccinate prior to weaning, before they are stressed. Yes worm also.
Cheryl

[DanN]

We generally wean at about 6 months but as others have said. Sometimes earlier if the mare is getting run down but how can we say that the foal gets nothing from the mare after 3 months. We have had to wean a little earlier than 6 months because the foal was getting to much from the mare and growing to fast.. We did lose 1 mare when the foal was 3 and half months old and it was very hard on him..

[teb]

This year my sister-in-laws mare died when her foal was 6 weeks old. We got a foster foal as a companion, put him on a nutritional diet and had him on milk replacer. No problems physically or mentally. On the farm I live, the owner lost a mare and the foal was 2 months old. I had just weaned my colt, so they were paired up and she also suffered no problems mentally or physically. Last year I raised an orphan foal that was purchased for a mare that had lost her own foal. The mare that lost her foal tried to kill the orphan and that's how I ended up with him. He was only 4 weeks old and grew up with no problems and is a little gentleman. I wouldn't wean earlier than 4 months, but I have seen foals that can survive if they are properly delt with and looked after.
teb