Feeding your foal around weaning

The nutritional requirements of a foal will increase as they grow and will begin to exceed the supply that the mare is able to provide. Ensuring your foal is consuming enough nutrients early on in life will allow for a greater start post-weaning.

Foal creep pellets are a great source of nutrients for young foals who are not gaining enough from the mare, suckling foals who are underweight or an orphaned foal needing those additional nutrients that the mare would have supplied. Providing a creep feed early on in a foal’s life will aid with the development of the stomach and digestive system to help with the later transition from milk to hard feed. The composition of supporting micronutrients and milk proteins will provide all the necessary requirements of a foal for early growth.

The first year of a foal’s life can significantly impact its future performance, so ensuring an additional source of nutrients is present will aid with skeletal development and therefore adequate growth. The need for a concentrate feed separate from the mare is to allow both the mother and the foal to be consuming their specific requirements. While the foal is growing, more nutrients will be needed which the mare cannot sufficiently provide as her milk production begins to reduce at around 2 months post-parturition. Providing a creep feed early on will increase the foal’s likelihood of consuming more as the mare’s milk decreases, reducing the foal’s reliance on the mother’s milk for all the needed nutrients.

Dodson and Horrell recommend introducing creep pellets gradually into your foal’s diet as early as 10 days old. The meals should be small and often throughout the day once the foal begins to nibble at the pellets, building its digestive tract in preparation for weaning. The early preparation with creep pellets will aid their transition when they will no longer be relying on the mare’s milk.

D&H foal creep pellets should be fed at a weight of 0.9-1.3kg/100kg of body weight. For foals and weanlings, the meals need to be divided into at least 2-3 feeds per day with free access to good quality ad-lib forage and fresh water always. But remember, at this age, they should not be exceeding the 1.3kg/100kg body weight of creep pellets.

Stubb scoops typically hold around 1.8kg of pellets.

Foals should not be weaned any earlier than 3 months of age, however, if adequate creep feed is being consumed and the foal is strong enough, the gradual process can begin. Creep feeds will provide a weanling sufficient nutrient intake with the addition of ad-lib forage and turnout to aid with their ongoing growth patterns.

As your weanling transitions to a yearling, a mare and youngstock concentrate can be fed to those who need a bit of extra weight when the grass is poorer. 600g-1kg/ 100kg body weight of concentrate can be fed in intervals throughout the day to supplement those additional vitamins and minerals needed for supported growth. Alternatively, Suregrow can be fed to support those additional supplements needed for young horses; weanlings can be fed 350-400g/ 100kg bodyweight or 200-250g/100kg bodyweight for yearlings. Ensure that good quality forage is still provided alongside any feed as this is still the main source of energy for a growing horse.

If you are unsure of what you should be feeding your foal, weanling or youngstock, speak to your in-store equine specialist for any advice needed.