Advice on weaning

Bearpup

Hi There,

I am wondering if anybody could offer me some advice.

I have a 7mth old friesian colt, he is still with his mam, I am going to wean him shortly & am just looking for advice on the best way to go about it. Both colt & mam are very independent in that I can ride mare around the field and colt will just chill out with our gelding, neither mare or colt get upset about being separated but then again, they can still "see" each other.

Also, does anyone have advice on gelding him? Im not sure but I think I may have left it a bit late as I have heard that its better to do it when there younger?

Any advice is much appreciated

doctor evil

Best to geld him before the weathe gets warmer as there will be more flies around then.

It they're independant of each other then it shouldn't be too hard to wean them. Does the foal go to the mammy at all if it gets a fright? Is the gelding a good 'uncle' for the colt, if the gelding is a bit of wet lettuce the colt could turn bratty. Do you have somewhere out of sight/hearing for the mare or colt to go

Bearpup

Hi,
Thanks for your reply.

Re: gelding- do you think I should get it done sooner rather than later? or does age matter much? I'm just concerned that he might get too old & bold!

If foal gets a fright, Sometimes he will look for security from gelding or mam, or sometimes he might actually just be ok on his own, he is quite independent.... Gelding keeps foal in line with a few nips here & there so he's a good uncle

I have somewhere I can put foal that is out of sight/ear shot but Im just worried that he might try to escape & hurt himself? He would be put in a field with a 2 yr old colt....

Sorry for all the questions, new to the whole foal & weaning thing & want to make sure I do it right with as little stress on them as poss

Thanks.

shanagarry

If you can, I would be inclined to leave the foal where he is with the gelding and move the dam, if you have somewhere you can put her (you don't want any accidents with a 2yo colt). Just make sure that you have good fencing in the field you leave the colt in and that he respects it (be it electrified or whatever he is used to). You don't want him panicing and trying to break through the fence. Also, have plenty of help when you do the move, someone to stay with the foal, someone to help with gates etc.

Is the foal eating independently? It's important he's eating well before you take his dam away. Is he well handled (leading etc)? That will also make the weaning process a lot easier.

Bearpup

Hi Shanagarry,

Thanks for the message.
Yea maybe I might move my mare instead, she would probably find it easier, I can just imagine the foal losing it & running into fences/gates etc trying to get back to her. Even the thoughts of bringing him off in a horse box scare me! How long do you think I would need to keep them seperated for?

Foaly is eating hard feed no bother & has been for a couple of months, mills all of his own and then starts eating his mams... Im finding it hard to keep weight on my mare because he is still suckling away even though we are giving her 3 massive scoops in the morning & 3 again at night. He is leading ok... could be better but my fault for not spending enough time doing it!

Thanks a mill for all the advice

shanagarry

It sounds like you are well prepared, it should go ok for you. Obviously they will both be a bit upset intially, but they should settle. I would move the mare if it's convenient, it should definitely cause less trauma all around.

As I said, have plenty of help when you do it so you get her out and away as quick as you can. Maybe feed him while you are doing it so he is a bit distracted. Then have someone stay with him for an hour or two until he settles and make sure he's not going too crazy.

You will need to keep them apart until the mother's milk completely dries up, the time varies, but maybe 2-3 weeks. It should be quicker if they are out of earshot.

ecaf

I would second shangarry's advice. We had 2 attempts at weaning our foal this year. It wasn't working out the first time, so we decided to wait for the 2nd foal to be weaned at the same time. That way we could move the 2 mares and leave the foals together as company.
We put them all in one evening, separated them using stables (but you won't have to as you already can remove the mare from the field). Then boarded up the foals stables, I was afraid because of my spoilt little brat, she was rearing up against the door and I thought she might hurt herself. The other foal was much more relaxed.
I thought the mares would be calling to the foals when we went to move them the next morning, but not a peep out of them, they were just ready for it, even my mare who likes to fuss over the little foals a lot. We feed the foals so they had something to distract them a little while we moved, and we had someone stay with the foals while we walked the mares down the road to another field.
We brought the mares back 4 weeks later and they were well on the way to being dried up, we haven't put them back together yet, but it's just handier that way at the moment. But if they had gone back together the rug on the mares would more or less prevent the foals getting near. We fed the foals hayledge in the field when the mares were coming back and they barely noticed them going up the drive or being put into the field.

You are in a much better position having your foal already independent of it's mum, so best of luck.