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Weaning foals?... when is ideal? |
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JadeLace
Champion Joined: 29 Mar 2015 Status: Offline Points: 1045 |
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Joh sorry I ruffled your feathers with your tertiary degree where that counts in breeding horses I'd like to know,
Just being realistic in breeding is all I m saying but obviously it's all above you birds of a feather stick togetherš |
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Oritah
Champion Joined: 20 Jun 2014 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 661 |
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A wise person once told me you catch more fly's with honey than you do with vinegar and of course it never hurts being polite and respectful of others opinions.
I dont bred my mares year in year out either and I keep my foals on their mums for as long as I can, because I think it is good for them mentally and physically. I dont mind that others do things differently to me and I am open to those ideas because it then allows me to consider them properly. It horses for courses and there is 100 ways to skin the proverbial cat....
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Lawyer
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Gay3
Moderator Group Joined: 19 Feb 2007 Location: Miners Rest Status: Offline Points: 51819 |
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Lauren Fraser Equine Behaviorist
Weaning is generally mare-led, and usually occurs between 8-10 months of age. It is a gradual process, where the physical and psychological bond between mare and foal is slowly broken. Weaned juveniles of both sexes may remain in their natal band until sexual maturity, before choosing to leave or being encouraged to leave by the stallion. By contrast, it is routine practice to prematurely wean foals between 4-6 months of age. Despite protocols designed to minimize stress, such as group weaning, premature weaning is always a stressful event. Stressful events - whether short-term or chronic - can result in the development of gastric ulcers in horses. It is widely accepted that premature weaning practices increase a foal's risk of developing ulcers. In addition to premature separation, when foals are prematurely weaned they are also fed concentrates to help maintain their physical condition. In horses, feeding concentrates can also increase the risk of ulcer development. Premature weaning stress + feeding concentrates = a recipe for ulcer development. A recently published study discovered that by two weeks after weaning, 98% of the 6-month old foals in the study had developed ulcers. The 45 foals in the study were all from the same stud farm, were weaned in groups, and fed concentrates. What is particularly noteworthy here is that none of the foals showed any outward indicators that they had ulcers - even though some of the foals had the most severe grade of ulcers possible. Does the psychological stress of premature weaning mask expression of the pain resulting from the ulcers? 'Just because we can doesn't mean we should.' Clearly, foals can be prematurely weaned and survive. While I don't know the weaning history of all my own horses, I know with certainty that some were prematurely weaned. It could be argued that by all outward appearances they're doing ok. But this 'doing ok' outcome shouldn't stop us from questioning the practice, and even changing our behavior when it comes to weaning horses. Why? 1. Because we havenāt yet done enough research to examine how ādoing okā they are really doing 2. Because it doesn't need to be this way. Foals can be successfully weaned without causing them such physical and psychological stress. If we know that we are doing this to foals, shouldnāt we change our behavior? If youād like to read the full study, 'Diagnostic accuracy of blood sucrose as a screening test for equine gastric ulcer syndrome (EGUS) in weanling foals', it can be found by clicking on the picture of mare and foal, or here: https://actavetscand.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13028-018-0377-5 |
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Wisdom has been chasing me but I've always outrun it!
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linghi11
Champion Joined: 18 Apr 2013 Status: Online Points: 7452 |
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As studs practically charge you double, they wean as early as possible. Iām a believer in not before 6 months
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to the victor
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ianb
Champion Joined: 19 Feb 2007 Location: Queensland Status: Offline Points: 1311 |
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Iāve finished all of ours. 40 in total. I would personally hate to leave them on for 6 months or more. We start generally in the first week of February so some are 6 months old anyway. Others I do it because the owners are putting pressure on me because the mare is going to sale or more often than not they are not coping with a big foal sucking the guts out of the mare Others get pulled off early, maybe 3 months of age because Mum doesnāt have enough milk Plenty of reasons to wean but I want it done before easter
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PhillipC
Champion Joined: 03 Jan 2014 Location: Warragul Status: Offline Points: 685 |
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Purely a money making exercise. I charge the same whether the mare has a foal on her or not. The reason being, I feed the mare to the requirements of the foal. Overfeed the mare to keep good condition on her and the foals joints blow out. Being from a dairy and beef upbringing, any lactating cow will lose weight feeding her calf/milking, so why should a mare be any different? Thankfully I have an owner who is on the same page as I am, so he's not concerned that the mare may have lost condition, despite being on good feed and green pasture - She's putting it all into her foal. She's not back in foal as he only breeds his mares every second year. The foal is now 6 months old and will not be weaned for at least another month, but we've also had out autumn break here in Gippsland, so the grass is jumping again :-) The foal is only 6 or 8 inches shorter than her mother at this stage, so it's understandable the the foal is dragging the condition out of her, but she'll have a good few months to regain that before she is served again. Having said that, fat mares are more difficult to get in foal.
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http://www.equinehaven.com.au
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brave_ponies
Champion Joined: 06 Sep 2013 Location: Sydney Status: Offline Points: 3244 |
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I was reading this and thinking, what great advice!, how good are these guys for sharing their experience! etc etc ... then I realised I said the same thing 3 years ago
Thanks again, breeders. And good luck to you all. |
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