Weaning By The Moon

I have always weaned my foals right after 3 months because I think they are okay to wean and the mares are bred back and need to provide for the foal they are carrying plus be ready to face the winter months ahead. I keep them to stay in good condition all year round and they never have to be fed up to get weight back on.

Not long ago I was severely chastised for weaning early by someone who thought they were right and that is their privilege but my foals never miss a meal and are healthy and thrifty. I usually have at least two to wean at the same time and my system has worked well for me. I think that when people see the foals they can't disagree.  

I have always weaned by the moon signs and have never in almost 40 years had a problem unless I deviated from using the signs. I have a mare that will tear the farm down if you try to separate her foal or get it out of sight but on the right dates I just lead her out and leave the foal behind and put her in a pasture that is just across from where the foal is and she never looks back. She doesn't do anything but nicker a few times and the foals do the same and a couple of hours it is a done deal. I creep feed all my foals and wean the first dates after they are 3 months old.

The foals are accustomed to having grain 24/7 and so they eat a lot like they nurse which is eating a little, playing, sleeping and eating some more. I give them 6 pounds daily of steam-crimped oats with animax, which is a milk supplement, and they eat that over a 24-hour period. I refresh their feed twice a day give them free choice of good brome or brome/timothy hay and of course salt and minerals and water and they thrive. I have found that it is sufficient grain and they gradually evolve where they are cleaning up their feed pretty much on the twice a day schedule with the big horses.

As they mature I have found they require less food to maintain themselves because they got their growth and never had to catch up on development.  A foal properly fed will get 50% of their growth in the first year.  I don't want them hog fat like the quarter horse people do their foals. My 16-hand buckskin mare is 6 years old and gets a 1 pound coffee can of oats twice a day. Raising foals this way sure does produce some easy keepers later on and they don't go through an awkward stage between 1 and 2.

Try it and see if it works for you like it works for me. I have never had a mare or foal try to take a fence or get hurt or even throw a fit. I have weaned them just across the fence and never a problem. 

Elsie 

Last Chance Farm 10267 206th Road   Nortonville, KS 66060   Phone: (913) 886-6481   Fax: (913) 886-2713 darrah5015@yahoo.com