Feeding For A Bright Future

By Sarah Gee
©Voice, June 2006

During the first two years of life a young horse can achieve 90% or more of its full adult size, putting on as many as three pounds per day. While genetics, management, and environment play significant roles in determining individual growth patterns, nutrition can also have a profound influence on a foal’s growth and development – for better or worse. The nutritional start a foal gets will affect its health and soundness for the rest of its life.

Among a foal’s first missions in life is to stand and nurse in order to get the antibody-rich colostrum that will help protect it from disease. During the first weeks of life, the mare’s milk provides everything a rapidly growing foal needs for sustenance. During lactation, a well maintained mare will produce an average of 2 – 3% of her body weight in milk a day. Early on, it is very important to watch the foal nurse. If it suckles for more than 30 minutes at a time, it may not be receiving enough milk and supplemental feed or milk replacer may be required.

As early as 10 – 14 days of age, a foal may begin to nibble at solid food. Its digestive system will adapt quickly to dietary changes and by 8 – 10 weeks of age the mare’s milk alone may not be adequate to meet the foal’s needs. In order to meet the foal’s expanding needs, high-quality grains and forage should be added to its diet. It is essential that the ration include properly balanced vitamins and minerals. Deficits, excesses, or imbalances of calcium, phosphorous, copper, zinc, selenium, and vitamin E are of particular concern for the growing foal as improper amounts or ratios can lead to skeletal problems.

Some owners may be tempted to feed their foals with the goal of accelerating their growth rates. However, accelerating the growth rate through nutrition can cause various complications including contracted tendons, epiphysitis, angular limb deformities, and osteochondrosis. Research suggests that a balanced dietary approach, which supports no more than a moderate growth rate, is less likely to cause developmental problems.

Weaning commonly occurs between the fourth and sixth month of the foal’s life. Beginning in the third month, the mare’s milk supply will gradually decline as a natural weaning process begins. At this time the foal’s ration should be increased over a two or three week period to make up for the nutrients being lost in the diminishing milk supply. Once the foal and stopped nursing, a 500 – 600 pound weanling should be eating between approximately 2% and 3% of its body weight in feed and forage a day.

Weanlings and yearlings benefit from a diet containing 14 – 16% protein. They also require readily available sources of energy to meet the demands of growth and activity. The diet should never contain less that 30% roughage, measured by weight. It is very important that the diet provide ample fiber to keep the digestive tract functioning properly. As the young horse nears two years of age and its growth rate slows, you will need to adjust the ration to approximately 1.5 – 2% of its body weight. The grain to roughage ratio should be adjusted so that by the time the horse is two, half its daily diet (by weight) is coming from grain sources and the other half from hay and pasture.

-Sarah Gee

Foal Feeding Guidelines

1) Provide high-quality roughage (hay and pasture) free choice.

2) Supplement with a high-quality, properly balanced grain concentrate at weaning, or earlier if a more rapid rate of gain is desired.

3) Start by feeding 1% of a foal’s body weight per day or 1 pound of feed per month of age.

4) Use a weight tape to weigh the foal and adjust the feed ration based on growth and fitness.

5) Foals have small stomachs so divide the daily ration into two or three feedings.

6) Maintain a proper balance of vitamins, minerals, energy, and protein.

7) Remove any uneaten grain between feedings.

8) Use a creep feeder or feed the foal separate from the mare so it can eat its own ration. Also avoid group creep feeding situations.

9) Do not over feed. Overweight foals are more prone to developmental orthopedic disease (D.O.D.).

10) Always provide unlimited fresh, clean water.

11) Give the foal every opportunity for abundant exercise.

References:
Foal Growth: Special Care and Nutrition at www.xcodesign.com/aaep/displayArticles.cfm?ID=63

Help Your Foal Grow with Proper Nutrition at www.xcodesign.com/aaep/displayArticles.cfm?ID=239