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Message |
    
Marie
| | Posted on Saturday, Apr 3, 1999 - 7:27 am: |   |
I have a warmblood mare with a baby a few weeks old. The mare has eaten grass hay free choice all through her pregnancy, and 3 pounds of 12% protein feed until month 9, at which time she was fed 5 pounds of 12% feed plus 2 pounds of a 3 to 1 mix of alfalfa pellets and soybean meal (the alfalfa/soy mix is 24% protein with a good ca:phos ratio). After foaling, she has been given 9 pounds of 12% feed and 4 pounds of the alfalfa/soy mix along with her hay. She is supplemented with corn oil to help hold her condition. At all times she has been on a daily multi-vitamin supplement, yeast, biotin, and baking soda.
First, is this a good program? Second, the baby seems very big--not really fat but much larger in frame than the mare. She has doubled her birth weight (now probably 175 pounds) and is not at all "ribby". Baby eats only milk and a bit of hay. Is this baby too big? And if so, is something in the mare's diet making this baby grow too fast? |
The Advisor Vet, RN Oglesby DVM
| | Posted on Saturday, Apr 3, 1999 - 7:29 am: | |
Hello Marie,
Your concentrate is up to 16 % protein which is appropriate for a lactating mare on a good grass hay. Assessing a mares diet, or any horse for that matter, requires evaluation of the condition of the mare and the quality of the foodstuffs. This is exactly what we teach you to do in the articles on nutrition. You need to assess the condition of the mare to decide whether you are pushing too much. Please read Overview on Nutriton and then » Equine Reproduction » Breeding and Foaling » Core of the Newborn and Mare, which takes you into feeding the lactating mare. It is unlikely the baby has doubled its birth weight in two weeks but common for them to do it in four or five.
The Advisor Vet, RN Oglesby DVM |
Cynthia Kidd (Cynthiak)
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 21, 2002 - 12:22 am: | |
I have a Thoroughbred mare with a 4 week old foal. The mare has been eating all the coastal hay she wants and 6.5 pounds of 14% pellets. She is beginning to lose weight and ribs are starting to show. The foal is large, active, and healthy. He nurses and eats a little hay and some of her feed. Today, I went up another pound or so on her feed, hoping to slow down the weight loss. Should I do that or should I go up on the % of the feed, or what?
This is my first foal and I need all the advice I can get. |
Robert N. Oglesby DVM (Dro)
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 21, 2002 - 7:35 am: | |
Up on the amount is the right thing to do for weight lost but your diet does strike me as being deficient in protein and calcium. What is the quality of your coastal hay? With excellent hay the deficiencies are small but even with medium quality hay the deficiency may be remarkable.
Best might be to increase the feed by using a lb of Calf Manna twice daily or consider adding alfalfa to the diet.
DrO |
Peter Papoulidis
New Member
Username: Canadien
Post Number: 1
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, Jun 21, 2003 - 10:14 pm: | |
I have a 1300 lbs Cheval Canadien mare who just gave birth to a bouncing baby boy. The colt is a voracious eater - latching onto his mother every 20 minutes or so with plenty of naps in between. The mare has free access to good timothy hay and during the latter part of her pregnancy was fed 3 lbs of 16% sweet feed (twice a day) along with a Selenium/Vit.E supplement recommended by our vet. Her current weight seems to be about right; however, I am concerned that she may begin to lose weight rapidly while lactating such a large foal. I have heard that lactating mares should be feed 1% of their normal body weight.. with adjustments made according to the condition the mare maintains. Is this a good "rule of thumb" for lactating mares ? |
Imogen Bertin
Member
Username: Imogen
Post Number: 352
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, Jun 22, 2003 - 9:33 am: | |
Just my unscientific 2 cents... I was worried my mare would lose weight exactly as you describe so I fed her up for about 3 weeks after foaling. She got ENORMOUS and she is a mare that can lose condition by just looking out of the stable window normally.
I have stopped feeding her since there is an abundance of good grass at the moment, and the books on foaling I have suggest that for May and June, and until the grass starts to lose some nutritional value in the dryer half of July, you don't really need to give supplemental feeding unless the mare is losing condition.
She's still very fat but nothing compared to the gi-enormous Irish draft broodmares you see at shows here in Ireland at this time of year.
Interested to hear what Dr O thinks? My foal is a little ribby but nothing too bad and it's growing like stink and is very active so I think it's entitled to be a bit gawky. I think there are quite a lot of risks in overfeeding foals but I don't have any experience to draw on.
All the best
Imogen |
Colleen Goolsby
Member
Username: Goolsby
Post Number: 28
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, Jun 22, 2003 - 9:02 pm: | |
Imogene
My mare is also getting fat fat fat. She has a 6 week old and is on pasture. I feed her a little 10% sweet feed with a little calf manna when she decides to come to the stall, about every other day or two. The colt is putting on weight and very energetic. Im am worried she is gaining too much weight, but have heard not to take them off grain when nursing. |
Robert N. Oglesby DVM
Moderator
Username: Dro
Post Number: 8638
Registered: 1-1997
| | Posted on Sunday, Jun 22, 2003 - 11:11 pm: | |
No Peter 1% is completely off base as a total weight of diet on a dry matter basis. The mares current condition needs to be taken into account as does the quality of the forage available.
Please read Overview on Nutriton and then » Equine Reproduction » Breeding and Foaling » Care of the Newborn Foal and Mare which takes you into feeding the lactating mare.
DrO |
Imogen Bertin
Member
Username: Imogen
Post Number: 353
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, Jun 24, 2003 - 3:38 am: | |
So, what exactly do you feed a fat lactating mare on good grass to make sure she has adequate calcium and protein but doesn't get any fatter?
All the best
Imogen |
Robert N. Oglesby DVM
Moderator
Username: Dro
Post Number: 8647
Registered: 1-1997
| | Posted on Tuesday, Jun 24, 2003 - 6:56 am: | |
What is the total diet of the horse Imogen and what is the makeup of the pasture?
DrO |
Imogen Bertin
Member
Username: Imogen
Post Number: 354
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, Jun 24, 2003 - 7:14 am: | |
Erm, as much grass as she likes to eat (24 hour turnout). The grass is just typical mixed pasture grasses - not high quality, it's believed here that horses do better on non-lush grazing, but there's plenty of it. Mare and foal are in a paddock of about 2 acres.
I could give her a bit of beet pulp and oats just to make sure on the protein/calcum. I checked the acidity of this field in March and it was OK but we are on generally acid land that has to be limed every 5-7 years.
All the best
Imogen |
Robert N. Oglesby DVM
Moderator
Username: Dro
Post Number: 8654
Registered: 1-1997
| | Posted on Wednesday, Jun 25, 2003 - 6:39 am: | |
No clover in the field?
DrO |
Imogen Bertin
Member
Username: Imogen
Post Number: 355
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, Jun 25, 2003 - 2:21 pm: | |
Loads of clover. Also plenty of tasty weeds (no ragwort) but overall the grass quality is not bad. It was mixed sheep and cattle land for about 15 years before I got it and it got then (and gets now) only small amounts of low nitrogen fertiliser and a bit of topping to control weeds. Old-fashioned unimproved perennial pasture but with our climate the grass still grows...
Surely that's what horses are designed to eat? Do a mare and foal that look well on such a diet really need supplemental feeding? I know you can't say with such an unscientific description of the pasture but I'm doing my best... if you like I'll post a picture of a typical chunk of it...?
To be honest my only worry would be that due to the general acidity and ironbearing nature of the ground rock around here the calcium could be low.
All the best
Imogen |
Robert N. Oglesby DVM
Moderator
Username: Dro
Post Number: 8661
Registered: 1-1997
| | Posted on Thursday, Jun 26, 2003 - 6:42 am: | |
The clover, being a legume, is rich in both calcium and protein, it is unlikely you have a nutrition problem.
DrO |
