Feeding the Growing Foal to Meet Nutrient Needs

Proper nutrition is vital for your foal’s health and can ensure he reaches his genetic potential.
Share
Favorite
Please login to bookmarkClose
Please login

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

weanlings in field
It is important to be sure that your foal has adequate nutrition for their development. | Anne M. Eberhardt/The Horse

Q: When should I start introducing my foal to hay and grain to make the transition easier after weaning?

A:  This is an important topic to understand, because the goal for developing youngsters is for them to grow steadily to reach their genetic potential. The nutrition we provide them can certainly affect the quality and rate of foal development. For healthy development, foals should have access to a prescribed amount of a high-quality foal feed early in life. Feeding the foal dry feed early and continuing to provide the same feed they’re used to consuming after being weaned can help reduce the stress of weaning.

Suckling foals grow at a relatively rapid rate, often reaching 50% of their mature weight and 80% of their mature height by six months of age. This rate of development requires a steady supply of good nutrition.  During the first two to three months of the foal’s life, the primary nutrition source is mare’s milk.

Mares produce an incredible amount of milk—3 to 4% of their body weight each day. However, the mare’s milk production peaks at about two months of lactation and then steadily declines. Not only does milk production decline throughout lactation but also the content of important trace minerals in the milk. By the time the foal is two to three months of age, mom’s milk, along with hay or pasture, will fall short of meeting all nutrient requirements for optimal development.

Supplemental feeding of the suckling foal should make up the difference between what the mare’s milk is providing and what the foal needs to grow to his genetic potential. A good rule of thumb is to feed suckling foals 1 pound per month of age per day of a high-quality foal feed. For example, a 2-month-old foal should be eating 2 pounds of feed per day. Another way to figure this is to feed 1% of the foal’s body weight per day (1 pound per 100 pounds of body weight). If allowed free-choice access to supplemental feed, foals might over-eat and gain weight too fast, putting undue stress on immature bones and joints.

Feeding the mare and foal individually offers the most precise method of supplemental feeding the foal, and both mare and foal receive exactly the amount of feed they need. A creep feeder the foal can access but the mare cannot is an option for individual feeding.

When the mare and foal are fed together, the feeders should be at a height the foal can reach comfortably, and there must be plenty of space for both to eat at the same time. While this approach does not provide the control over intake that individual feeding would, feeding the mare and foal together can be a workable situation. The mare will eat faster than the foal, which prevents the foal from overeating. If the mare and foal are fed together, they must eat a feed balanced to support foal growth. Enough feed must be available to support the mare’s needs, plus the 1 pound per month of age per day for the foal.


Horse Nutrition Question Submission Form

Do you have an equine nutrition question? The Horse’s editors want to hear from you! Submit your question via the form below.

Name(Required)

Share
Favorite
Please login to bookmarkClose
Please login

No account yet? Register

Written by:

Karen Davison, PhD, director of equine technical solutions for Purina Animal Nutrition, earned her Master of Science and PhD degrees in equine nutrition from Texas A&M University. Davison’s research included some of the early work investigating the use of added fat in horse diets. She spent eight years as an associate horse specialist with Texas Agricultural Extension Service, developing and teaching youth and adult education programs, prior to joining Purina in 1993. Davison has guest-lectured at universities and veterinary schools, is published in scientific research journals and magazines, has authored book chapters, and presented at regional and national veterinary meetings on equine nutrition topics. She and her family are involved with training and competing in the cutting and rodeo performance horse industries.

Leave a Reply

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

What types of blankets does your horse wear during the winter?
69 votes · 92 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!