The best way to wean?

[Deleted]

My filly will be 5 months on 7th December. She is a KWPN (dutch warmblood).

Will she be ok weaned in a field with a rug on with another weanling? Or will she need to be stabled over night?

I am trying to plan ahead?

[sarahp]

I would have thought so provided she has shelter and plenty of the right feed as well as ad lib hay/haylage.

Mine are in at night, out in the day through their first winter but this is partly so that I can feed them individually and partly so that they get handled as they aren't really until weaning - I shouldn't think Velvet needs the handling bit though!

Everybody has different systems to suit their setup, nothing is right or wrong but all sorts can work well. Or did you mean the actual weaning process? Here I get the mare and foal concerned up near the barn and have them in at night together and feed them until the foal is eating well and I can put a headcollar on the foal. They are turned out for the day either with another mare and foal or a nanny, and then one day when settled I put the foal out as usual with companion(s) and take the mare away to be turned out in my furthest away field out of sight. There is normally very little fuss from either, and the foal then continues to come in at night and be fed for the rest of the winter. Foals are usually weaned one at a time when the preceding one(s) are civilised. But the system has to be flexible to allow for circumstances - eg I have a couple of mares I can't catch in the field but have to be driven in, so their foals have to be weaned without the coming in at night with dam stage. I'm not keen on the common system of shutting foals up in a box for weaning, especially when they haven't been in one before, but prefer a more gradual and less stressful aproach.

Good luck!

[holiday]

We tend to find, if the mares are within hearing distance we need to have the foals in for a couple of days, however if out of earshot they are usually good to go back out in the field with a friend. Make sure babies are introduced together first if possible so they are paired up together and if mum is away from home until both are not too bothered it is fine to go out.

We usually find it is the mares who bother most rather than the foals

Personally we keep the babies in at night for the first Winter then they go out in the spring once the weather turns, and have a nice time with their friends!!!!! They do go out daily whatever the weather and what ever the "mud situation" but come in at night and are rugged. However as long as they have a nice dry shelter to lie down in as they do like to spend lots of time sleeping when in, I cant see why they cant stay out all Winter

However my personal preference is for them to have a dry bed to sleep in at night at least. xxxxxx

[bizzylizzie]

Until recently i have always shut my foals in a stable and taken the mare as far away as possible, but due to a lack of facilities last year i left the filly in a field with an already weaned foal that i purchased, and took the mare to another yard some 2 miles away. She ran through one spring gate and galloped around for the day but then gave up. I did bring them in at night though as i think they do better and the daily handling over the winter is invaluable for loading and showing the next year. We had limited turnout for them Jan - Mar but they had their breakfast and had a lay down at 10am every day, went out for a few hours and then had their afternoon nap before tea! I was surprised how much they still like to sleep at that age.

[brt]

I have 2 foals to wean this year, i was going to wean them together so mums had company and foals too, what are the pros and cons of this? (foals will be in seperate boxes)

[sparkle]

Hi LP,

I've had to wean my foal early due to medical reasons for the Mare but as the foals a big strong girl and eats plenty etc vet agreed she'd be fine. What I did was have them in stables next to each other and took some wood out and put some mesh type stuff in between so she can still see mummy in her box. I've had to put up a grill at the door so she doesnt try and come over it (not that she has tried but I didnt want to risk it) I've also seperated them in the field next to each other with electric fence and neither one of them has fretted, stressed etc on the first day they called to each other a bit but after that they arent bothered one bit as they can still see each other (well I think that's what it is)

I've started to lead them seperately to and from the field (they are out in the day and in at night) and this seems to have worked well for my two - we're now on week to and mares milk has 'almost' dried up and foals doing really well

Good luck, I was stressing and worried about what's best but try one way and if that doesnt suit them then you can try another xx

[Deleted]

How late could I leave Velvet with Violet? If I wanted to leave them together until the spring, would that be too long? Velvet will be 6 months in January.

[pencaedu]

Would leave on as long as you can. A little extreme, but one of ours (now 7) was still suckling at 3. Advantage is that the mare does a lot of the disciplining for you - and he didn't even notice she was gone when we eventually took her away, as he was already playing with the other older geldings

[welshmare]

We leave are weanlings in once off Mum but it gets very cold here (North Wales) in winter. It is easier for us aswell if they are in as Mums would be able to hear them.
We show ours at a show or two to get them used to all the hustle and bustle. However I think that if you have good shelter and fencing and they have a friend then there is no reason not to leave them out.
Good luck whatever you decide

[boothsdale]

We have always had mares and foals coming in together at night for a few weeks and then taken mares away when we've bought in one evening. This year we've tried a different method - we built a creep feeder in the field to get the foals onto their hard feed and then just removed the mother of the oldest foal to a field we rent a mile or so away (leaving foal in field with buddies). We then left it a couple of days before removing the next mare. They all weaned brilliantly (barely a whinny) as they were settled with their friends.

[geegees]

I usually wean by taking the mares to a field a few miles away and keeping the foals in their same routine except keep them in for a couple of days until they are settled and then back to being out through day and in at night, usually wean in pairs and this works well.

Last year i just had the one foal though and nobody to put her with so i separated her from her mum by putting her in the stable next door (we have grills so they can still see each other) and when i turned them out (it was winter and our fields are really wet so they just went into arena which is split in to two with a safe high post and rail fence between the two halves) everything went well with foal being on one side and mum on the other, they could still touch over the fence and there was no problems at all. The foal was around 7-8 months old at time of weaning and mum was in foal again so i dont think leaving velvet until spring would do mum any harm if shes a good doer like my mare ;D

[Deleted]

Oh believe me yes - Violet is a good doer!!!!!!

[geegees]

Maybe i also should have added that a couple of months after my mare and foal had been separated that way i got another youngster so he went out with the filly, some days i would put them out and leave the mare in so the mare and her foal just gradually forgot about each other, it was easiest stress free weaning i have ever done and think i will try it this year too

Glad Violet is a good doer too ;D

[mummy]

Aug 22, 2010 10:11:22 GMT brt said:

I have 2 foals to wean this year, i was going to wean them together so mums had company and foals too, what are the pros and cons of this? (foals will be in seperate boxes)

In this situation brt, we take one mare away at feed time and put her in a small paddock out of earshot where she can keep moving which is important so that her milk doesn't build up and lead to mastitis. She has a companion in an adjoining nursery paddock. The foals then "share" the other mare for a couple of days and then the 2nd mare leaves at tea time to join her friend. This would be my very favourite way as it brings minimal stress to everyone (including me!)

However, this afternoon we have weaned a foal who has been alone with her dam. We had a very sweet-natured yearling filly at one gate, gave everyone tea, led the mare off to another small paddock out of earshot so that she can't pick up too much speed and come through the fence (she was a v good racehorse!), with a pony next door as company. We immediately put the yearling in with the newly-weaned foal so that she wasn't alone for more than a minute.

Both the mare and foal called and were anxious for perhaps 10 mins. Half an hour later you simply would have no idea that they had ever been together as they were both so relaxed and settled in their respective paddocks (the foal stayed in her original paddock so that her life was disrupted as little as possible).

It is a February foal and the mare is due again in February, so I needed to get on with the weaning, but the foal had had a horrible abcess so we needed to wait for her to be completely better before weaning.

It is important to keep an eye on the mare's bag for a week or so, and some people advocate milking a bit of milk off her each day although I really don't like this. She must be able to move around to help disperse any milk build up. And if appropriate, cut her feed for a week. With the grass as it is this year, my mare is on minimal feed.

You can expect your foal to lose a bit of condition at weaning and to look a bit ropey but it should pick up quite quickly.

Very good luck.

[alinmeg]

We always have put mares and foals together and then seperated them, keeping the foals in with each other and taking the mares well away totally out of ear shot. The mares have been loaded straight away and stay turned out in field with good fencing.
We have good friends that bred in the past and doubled up to help each other out one year. We had a new forest foal one year and it's best buddy was a percheron foal it was weaned with!
Good luck, hope i may have given you more ideas.