Fayette County Veterinary Clinic, Inc.

La Grange TX

Help your Foal Grow with Proper Nutrition

FAQ

A healthy foal will grow rapidly, gaining in height, weight and strength almost before your eyes.  From birth to age two, a young horse can achieve 90 percent or more of its adult full size, sometimes putting on as many as three pounds per day.  Feeding young horses is a balancing act, as the nutritional start a foal gets can have a profound affect on its health and soundness for the rest of its life.

At eight to ten weeks of age, mare's milk alone may not adequately meet the foal's nutritional needs, depending on the desired growth rate and owner wants for a foal.  As the foal's dietary requirements shift from milk to feed and forage, your role in providing the proper nutrition gains in importance.  Following are guidelines from the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) to help you meet the young horse's nutritional needs:

       1.  Provide high quality roughage (hay and pasture) free choice

       2.  Supplement with a high quality, properly balanced grain
            concentrate at weaning, or earlier if more rapid rates of gain
            are desired

       3.  Start by feeding one percent of a foal's body weight per day
            (i.e. one pound of feed for each 100 pounds of body
            weight), or one pound of feed per month of age

       4.  Weigh and adjust the feed ration based on growth and
            fitness.  A weight tape can help you approximate a foal's
            size

       5.  Foals have small stomach so divide the daily ration into two
            to three feedings

       6.  Make sure feeds contain the proper balance of vitamins,
            minerals, energy and protein

       7.  Use a creep feeder or feed the foal separate from the mare
            so it can eat its own ration.  Try to avoid group creep
            feeding situations

       8.  Remove uneaten portions between feedings

       9.  Do not overfeed.  Overweight foals are more prone to 
            developmental orthopedic disease (DOD)

     10.  Provide unlimited fresh, clean water

     11.  Provide opportunity for abundant exercise

The reward for providing excellent nutrition and conscientious care will be a healthy foal that grows into a sound and useful horse.  More information about foal nutrition can also be found on the AAEP's horse health web site: www.myHorseMatters.com

Reprinted with permission from the American Association of Equine Practitioners






Fayette County Veterinary Clinic, Inc.
PO Box 397
227 Svoboda Ln
La Grange TX  78945
979.968.3535
faycovet@verizon.net