Feeding of Foal and weanlings

FEEDING THE FOAL

• Neonatal feeding of the foal depends upon how well the mare has been fed during the gestation.
• A well balanced diet supplies all nutrients needed for development of foal and also enables the mare to produce optimum milk after foaling.
• Also the foal should receive adequate nutrients post-natal, and pre-weaning, to have a good start in bone development and growth, espe­cially if the foal is to become a high level performance horse.

COLOSTRUM FEEDING

• The mare has to pass adequate passive protection to foal which is provided through colostrum feeding. Besides, colostrum has laxative sub­stance that promotes bowel movement and elimination.
• Mare has to, there fore, be in foaling area preferably a month before foaling so that she confers immunity to microbial strains peculiar to her environment, especially those causing scours, joint ill and septicemia etc.
• Immunoglobulins do mot pass through dam's placenta and are absorbed only through first part of intestine during first few hours of life. The immunoglobulins get concentrated by the mare in her udder within last two weeks of gestation.
• The mare's colostrum contains protein upto 19 percent immediately after parturition which falls to 3.8 percent after 12 hrs and to a fairly constant level of 2.2 percent, after 8 days.
• The foal absorbs gamaglobulin as intact undegraded molecules through­out first 12 hours of life which gets reduced to a great extent in next 24 hours.
• Amounts of these specific antibodies so acquired by foal, start to decline from 24 hours of age, by 3 weeks the values are halved and by 4 months, the titre of specific immunity provided by the mother is barely detectable.

• The foal's own system of building active immunity in the form of autogenous gamaglobulins first provides detectable products at 2 weeks of age in the blood of colostrum deprived foals and at ,4 weeks in those reared normally.
• By 3-4 months of age, the gamaglobulins attain adult plasma concentration, Upto this stage, therefore, the foal is more susceptible to infection than is an adult in the same environment, particularly when it has received inadequate quantity of colostrum.
• The foal may at times be deprived of colostrum because of premature birth of foal, small intestine malabsorption, delayed suckling, premature leakage of milk through teats or death of the mare. In case of colostrum deprivation due to leakage of colostrum through teats of mare or due to some other reason except malabsorption, it is necessary to give foal colos­trum from another mare preferably one accustomed to the same environ­ment or failing this, cow's colostrum rather than milk.
• The foal should receive about 500 ml of colostrum by nipple or stomach tube every hour for three or four feeds before 12 hrs of age.
• After 18 hrs, the colostrum has little systemic immune value, although it does have some beneficial local effects within the intestinal tract.
• If the plasma concentration of immunoglobulins falls below ,400 mg per 100 ml blood then foal may be given blood plasma from another horse at the rate of 22 ml/kg body weight over a period of 1-2 hours which is approximately 1 litre per foal.

FEEDING OF MARE'S MILK

• Milk meets the needs during 2 to -3. weeks of life of a foal, and how adequately it meets these needs depends upon how good a milk producer the mare is, and also the growth and development one expects of the foal.
• The foal needs supplementation of other feeds after 2-3 weeks of life. Vigorous foals nurse within 30-45 minutes.
• Mare's milk is not a perfect food to foal. It is deficient in energy, protein, vitamins and minerals and, therefore, it alone is insufficient for foal to sustain it. Mare's milk is also deficient in calcium, phosphorus, iron and copper.
• Milk production on an average ranges at about 3.1 percent of the mare's body weight at 11 days post-partum, 2.9 percent at 25 days and 3.4 percent at 39 days which supplies about 3.1, 2.1 and 2 percent DM of the foal's body weight.
• The Mare's milk contains on an average 2.1 MJ of gross energy per kg. The milk yield is markedly influenced by the mare's innate ability, by feed consumption during the later stages of pregnancy and more importantly, by water availability and intake of energy and nutrients during lactation. 

CREEP FEED

• At about 7-15 days of age, the foal starts to nibble on the feed given to the mother. To meet the inadequacy of nutrients in mare's milk and avoid­ance of imbalance diet to the foal, horse owners prefer to feed well balanced creep feed to the foals.
• It is usually recommended that creep feeding be started after 1-2 weeks of foaling. The creep should be located where the mare goes periodically during the day for water or shade.
• The use of creep feed helps to ensure that inherited potential of growth and development is realized.
• The creep feed also helps to avoid set backs that can occur when the foal is weaned from its mother.
• Creep feeding also accelerates anatomi­cal and physiological maturation of the gastro-intestinal tract.
• At 5-6 weeks of age, a foal should be consuming at least 0-1 kg of creep feed daily per 50 kg of body weight. By weaning time, the foal should be consuming at least 2-3 kg of creep feed per day which depends upon milking ability of the mother and development desired in the foal, kind of creep feed used and economics involved.
• Creep feeds also help in condi­tioning to the change of dependence on mother's milk to a man made diet. If the mare and foal are doing well during the first 6-12 weeks of age, creep feeding may be deferred until then when the mare's level of milk produc­tion starts to decrease and foals requirements are increasing.

Suggested Creep Feed for Nursing Foals

Feed	Percent in Diet
Oats	35
Corn/Barley or combination	35.4
Soyabean Meal	15
Dried Skim Milk	5
Black Strap Molasses	5
Dicalcium Phosphate	2
Limestone	0.8
Salt trace mineralised	1
Vitamin Supplement	0.8

NUTRIENT REQUIREMENT FOR GROWTH

• The digestible energy requirement increases with age of the foal. How­ever, high energy intake is associated with developmental orthopaedic dis­ease.
• Starch feeding causes significant changes in serum insulin, thyroxine and triidothyronine which retards cartilage maturation.
• The protein requirement for growth have been found to be 50 and 45 gm/MCal of DE/day for weanling and yearling respectively.
• Lysine is the first limiting amino acid in the diet of growing foals which is 2.1 and 1.9 gm/MCal DE per day for weanling and yearling ,respectively.
• The growing foals deposit approxi­mately 16 gm calcium per kg of gain whereas phosphorus requirement is 8 gm/kg of gain.
• The requirement of vit A to support normal growth has been estimated to be 20 IU/kg of body weight or 1760 IU/kg of feed, whereas requirements of vit D has been calculated to be 275 IU/kg of feed.
• Alterna­tively, 6.6 IU of vit. D per kg body weight is sufficient for most circum­stances.

FEEDING OF THE WEANLING HORSE

• Weaning of foals may be before or after six months but preferably at six months. Weaning before six months is practiced where the owner can supplement the feed of the foal with creep feed, starter diets which are excellent substitutes for or supplement mare's milk.
• Delayed weaning is preferred by some in order to take advantage of the nutritional value of the mare's milk especially when feed supply available for the weaned foal is limited in quality and quantity.
• Early weaning, however, requires excellent diet fortified with minerals, vitamins, amino acids, protein, besides superior managerial ability.
• Weanlings grow rapidly and develop considerable bone and muscle s and, therefore, their diet has to be well balanced in terms of energy, protein, minerals and vitamins.
• It is important to note that fastest gains are made during the first year, and horses with. heavier mature weights, gain faster than horses of lighter mature weight.
• Thoroughbred foals have been seen to attain_', 4_.6, 67 and 90 percent of their mature weight at 6, 12, and 18 months of age respectively. However, ponies attain 55, 75 and 84 percent of their mature weight at 6, 12 and 18 months of age which indicates that lighter breeds attain mature weight at an early age.
• Thoroughbred foals attain 83, 90 and 95 percent of their expected mature height at 6, 12 and 18 months of age which indicates that during the first few months after birth, the fastest growth and most elongation of bones occurs.

• It, therefore, warrants a balanced feeding for mare to produce plenty of milk for the foal and a well balanced creep feed to supplement the mare's milk if they are being developed for high level performance at an early age.
• The creep feeding to foal before weaning is given at an approximate rate of 0.5 to 0.75 percent of the body weight which after weaning should be increased to 1 to 1.5 percent of body weight. In addition, the foal should be given forage at least at the rate of 1 kg per 100 kg body weight.
• The individuality of horse, its likes and dislikes, eating habits, quality of concen­trate feed, quality of the hay/pasture provided are some of the factors which determine the roughage to concentrate ratio of the weanling's feed.
• However, whether the weanling is being developed for sale or for performance, is also an important factor.

Suggested Concentrate Mixture for Weanlings

 Feed Percentage in Diet

Feed	Percentage
Oats	25
Corn	31
Milo	7
Soyabean meal	23
Dehydrated alfalfa meal	5
Black Strap Molasses	5
Vitamin Supplement	0.75
Dicalcium Phosphate	2
Limestone	0.25
Salt trace mineralized	1.00

• Table gives the suggested concentrate mixture which can be fed to weanling foals being developed for high level performance.
• Oats and corn are the energy sources whereas soyabean meal is plant protein source which is rich inlysine, the indispensable amino acid required for growth.
• The molasses is ^added for palatability and to help control dust. The vitamin supplement is used to reinforce the diet and make sure it is adequate in all the vitamins needed whereas salt trace mineralised makes sure that essential mineral elements required by the horse are supplied.
• The concentrate diet should be about 70 percent of total dry matter intake Whereas remainder should be a high quality hay or pasture which should contain at least 12 percent crude protein whereas concentrate ration should have 18 percent resulting into an average of 16 percent protein in the total diet.
• The feeding of weanling should be individually carried out so that aggressive ones do not dominate the timid weanlings. The concentrates should be fed at leasttwice daily whereas pasture or good quality hay should be provided on a free choice basis.
• Regulated exercise is a must for weanling to help develop sound bone and fitness. However, forced and excessive exercise may lead to development of joint inflammation, soreness, lameness, pulling up on their pasterns, bending over on the knees etc.
• These external disorders represent a variety of internal skeletal problems and are inaccurately put together under epiphisitis. There are three factors which are known to cause skeletal disor­ders in horses
• Genetic predisposition associated with large size at maturity,
• Nutrient imbalance or deficiencies in the total diet,
• Confinement coupled with forced exercise.

FEEDING OF MARE DURING LACTATION

• The mare suffers from maximum stress after parturition as it has to recover from parturition stress, produce enough milk and even rebreed dur­ing the next season.
• Inadequacy in energy, protein, vitamin and mineral content of feed will lead to decreased milk production and also her ability to breed back while suckling the foal.
• Inadequate feed intake will lead to poor rebreeding performance, delayed post-partum intervals, low conception rates and increased embryo mortality.
• During the 1st phase of lactation i.e. first 3 months of lactation, feed intake increases by 37 percent over feed intake during the last quarter of the pregnancy.
• The feed intake also rises from 1.5 to 2.0 percent of body weight. In this phase, concentrate diet should be 45 to 55 percent of total feed intake of the mare.
• However; the amount of concentrate intake can vary depending upon the quality of hay and pasture used, milk production level of the mare, her condition and other factors.
• During the first 3 months of lactation, the total diet of mare should contain at least 12.5 percent protein but it can be up to 14 percent.

• The higher protein percentage level will be safer to use with higher milk producing mares and also it will provide a safety factor to compensate for hay and pasture with lower digest­ibility because of stage of maturity at which they are consumed or har­vested.
• The hay/pasture should contain at least 10 percent protein in feed. Minerals should be self fed to mares especially if they need more than that is supplied in the concentrate mixture, especially if milk production is more, concentrate level in diet is less and quality and digestibility of hay/pasture is poor.
• Inclusion of soyabean meal has been shown to improve the protein content of early lactation mare's milk and it is considered to be accompa­nied by faster growth of the foal.

FEEDING RACEHORSES

• The racehorses must not be allowed to become fat. They need to be kept in trim and thrifty condition for which it is important that they receive
• protein, energy, vitamins and minerals in adequate amount to develop their body and perform to the maximum of their inherited potential.
• The concentrate diet should be upto percent of the total diet, how­ever, it will vary depending upon condition of the horse, how it responds to the diet and amount and quality of the hay and/or pasture used. The concen­
• trate feeding can increase or decrease depending upon whether the horse is under light training or heavy performance. The condition of the horse can serve as a guide as to whether too much or too little concentrates are being fed in relation to forage intake.