weaning time

[shadowpaints]

well, my oldest colt is now close to 3 months old... we have started to seperate him and his momma for an hour a day.. every 3 days we will bump it up another hour.. untill he is only with her during the nite.. after a few days of only at nite, we will seperate them permenatly. what do you do come weaning time? i know many just have the mares go cold turkey and seperate them permenatly all at once.. i feel that stresses the mare and foal way too much so we just do it gradually. with the final act of permenate seperation being usually after the foal 3 month bday. we do start giving the foals 'away from mommy time' starting at 4 weeks old . but its only for 15 minutes at first

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Erm...when did you think of weaning him??

I take my foals off for a bit form ten days old, but I don't actually wean them until they are gone five months old.

I think you will find most people on here feel the same.

If he is OK with being separated (I always have Mama in full sight all the time) then it is a good step to be taking towards eventual weaning.

I never have to do "cold turkey" as mine are so used to being apart by the time they get to five months I honestly think the mares are happy to see them go!!

 

[JWC sr.]

I have to agree the mares are glad to see them go in most instances. We start feed as soon as they will take it and they usually start nibbling on Mom's feed at around 10 days old and by the time they are 4 months old they are ready to go. We do not do the time away routine as we did in years past though, it stressed some of the mares out for us.

We try and wean 2 or 3 at a time and pen them together for support/companionship. We also keep the mares out of sight when doing it. It makes it easier on the babies and mares in our opinion.

 

[shadowpaints]

He is nearly 3 months old, i have always weaned at around 3 months old, most of the time ist closer to 3 1/2 just kinda depends.

He does not mind being away from his mom.. his mom whinneys a bit but settles down after a few minutes.

we do show quite a bit both the mares and the babies and i find it easier to have the babies weaned (they HAVE to be at least 3 months old) then to have mares and babies going nuts screaming and freaking out in a class. many of our mares continue to have a show career even after foaling.

he will have a buddy when the time comes to completly cut them off with each other.

his mom is actually biting him (she left a mark on him the last time) every time he nurses, i used to notice him nursing every few hours or so but now he is lucky to get to nurse 1-2 times a day

we have also bred his mom back for next year .

our vet has said weaning at 3 months as long as the baby is healthy is perfectly fine. this colt is eating hay and grain, and drinking water just like his momma

cant wait to take him to his first show!

 

[Genie]

We like to wean when they have company so sometimes the older foals are more than ready to wean.

We separate and keep the mares out of sight. After about three days of crying the worst is over. I hate weaning time

I think the foals handle weaning better when there are at least two of them

 

[shadowpaints]

oh i totally agree a weaning buddy should always be there!

we have a smaller yearling filly that he just is best buds with. she is his weaning buddy (course she is already weaned) they are best pals . we put the filly in with the colt and his mom when he was a month old so he would have someone to play with

 

[Miniv]

We will wean at four months at the EARLIEST. And we feed moms and foals together, so that often the foal is only a few days old when they are experimenting with what their mom is eating. And yes, weaning in pairs or groups is best.

We used to do the gradual method, but found it mostly just prolonged the agony for all involved.... (US INCLUDED). Now we make sure the mares and foals are emotionally ready - this sometimes means waiting a week or two...ummm...or three..... What is also helpful is using the FARMERS ALMANAC dates! This has worked very well for weaning "cold turkey".

 

[DianeT]

We wean between 3 to 4 months old, depending on the maturity of the foal. We do not put the foal and mom together again.

However we always wean at least 2 foals at a time, so they have a friend.

 

[denny10012]

Hi,

I dont mean to be rude to anyone but why on earth would you wean before 6 months unless there was an issue with the mare????

 

[PaintedMeadows]

I don't have a set age that I wean foals. It depends on the time of year, whether they have a new home to go to and how momma and baby are doing. When I feel they are ready I remove momma from the pasture and herd that they are in. So the only thing that changes is that momma is gone. Seems to work well for me. I have left foals on moms right through the winter and the mommas have weaned the foals themselves. Worked really well.

 

[Miniv]

Hi,

I dont mean to be rude to anyone but why on earth would you wean before 6 months unless there was an issue with the mare????

Denny, You've raised a good question because I know that "big horse" breeders tend to wean around 6 months...... For some reason people in the mini horse world do EVERYTHING earlier. The theory is that our minis mature faster. We wean earlier (4 months instead of 6.) and we begin breeding earlier too. (3 years versus 5, on average.)

Not sure if this a good thing.

 

[shadowpaints]

Hi,

I dont mean to be rude to anyone but why on earth would you wean before 6 months unless there was an issue with the mare????

Denny, You've raised a good question because I know that "big horse" breeders tend to wean around 6 months...... For some reason people in the mini horse world do EVERYTHING earlier. The theory is that our minis mature faster. We wean earlier (4 months instead of 6.) and we begin breeding earlier too. (3 years versus 5, on average.)

Not sure if this a good thing.

the majority of big horse breeders i know wean at 3 -4 months here. the time that anyone weans is of personal preferance . every one does every thing a little different.

also if i for any reason feel a foal isnt emotionaly ready to be weaned, then i would wait.. how ever long.

my favorite thing about this forum, is that everyone is able to share their own opinions about anything for the most part, and no hateful arguments and words are said!

I love this forum!

 

[supaspot]

I think the early weaning must be an american thing as I dont know anybody that weans before 5-6 months and most people I know leave them longer ,

 

[FoRebel]

We go cold turkey at 4-5 months depending on the foal.

 

[Jetiki]

We do the gradual thing as well it seems to have worked so far for us. We usually start at about 3 months and done by 4 months this all depends on mare and foal and if they have buddies or not.

Karen

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

Uh oh. I think I've been leaving my foals on WAY too long. Is there a downside to leaving them on? Obviously, if the mare is being brought down I don't leave them on, but it seems the mares do the weaning themselves by about 7 months. They bite or "fly kick" the baby away from the milkbar when they feel it's time for them to move on.

 

[Farina]

We wean not until 6-7 months and we do it gradually.

I understand that the lactation has its peak at 12 weeks and there after the milk is getting less important. But in my opinion neither mare nor foal are mentally ready. All younger weaned foals have regressed in maturing. And for performance I like to get healthy ponies without a regression in growing with the risk of getting any joint issues.

 

[chandab]

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I didn't start weaning my 09 filly til 2-3 months ago, so she was 8-9 months old. If I put them together, the mare would still let the foal nurse, and the filly tries with the 3 year old filly.

She eats feed and hay just fine, but is still looking for the milk bar.

My 3 full-size foals were weaned at 4,5&6 months. 4 month was dragging her mom down. 6 month was waiting for the 5 month to be ready to wean, so they could go together, or he would have been weaned sooner (he was ready).

 

[Marty]

I weaned only one at 4 months because the mare was having trouble with her weight. The rest I leave on 5-6 months. When you think about it, that baby has only been in this big ole world of ours for only 90 days, then taken from his mama, I think that is way too early emotionally. I also will take the baby and work with him daily for a few minutes only, in sight of his mama, then return him to his mama.

Weaning always is easy here, no crying, nothing like that. I do cold turkey but I replace the mama with others so the baby is not alone and has a playmate or two or three etc. The mare is just on the other side of the fence, and when in the barn,she in the next stall over. The only difference really is the baby can no longer nurse. I do put both on ulcerguard for 30 days as a precaution of ulcers.

 

[afoulk]

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I didn't start weaning my 09 filly til 2-3 months ago, so she was 8-9 months old. If I put them together, the mare would still let the foal nurse, and the filly tries with the 3 year old filly.

She eats feed and hay just fine, but is still looking for the milk bar.

My 3 full-size foals were weaned at 4,5&6 months. 4 month was dragging her mom down. 6 month was waiting for the 5 month to be ready to wean, so they could go together, or he would have been weaned sooner (he was ready).