5 Tips for Feeding Foals

Proper foal nutrition is critical for adequate growth and development. A foal’s main source of nutrients is his dam’s milk, but in some cases this alone won't meet his high nutritional demands. What should you do?

Here are five things to consider about foal nutrition:

1. Suckling Behavior Newborn foals generally begin nursing from the mare within two hours of birth. By one day of age, foals can suckle up to 10 times per hour. Study results have shown that foals older than one day can consume around 30 pounds of milk per day (slightly more than 3 gallons).

2. Colostrum Ensuring your foal ingests immunoglobulin (antibody)-rich colostrum, which is vital to boost his immune system, is of utmost importance. Mare’s milk is richest in immunoglobulins immediately after birth and begins to decrease rapidly in concentration by four to eight hours post-foaling. Additionally, by the time he's 24 hours old, the foal is no longer able to absorb these vital components.

Veterinarians can perform a simple blood test to ensure the foal has consumed adequate colostrum. If the mare does not produce adequate colostrum, if the foal fails to suckle soon after birth, or if the foal's system isn't able to absorb the colostrum (this can occur in premature foals and those with a hypoxic [inadequate oxygen supply] gastrointestinal injury, inflammatory injury, or other illness), contact your veterinarian. He or she will be able to provide the important immunoglobulins either via frozen colostrum, colostrum replacer, or intravenous administration of fresh plasma, frozen hyperimmune plasma, or immunoglobin concentrates.

Source: TheHorse