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weaning???

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Chanda:
Not sure if this is the right category, but it's about weaning foals, so about foals growing up...

How do you decide when it's the right time to wean your foals? I'm not talking a date, per se, but what signs do they show you that they are ready to be separated. I typically wait til 5-6 months old, sometimes longer; both my foals are creeping up on 5 months, and need to start thinking about the logistics of weaning before winter really hits and it's harder to rearrange pens. They are currently eating feed with their dams, so I'm not sure how much either eats, but both dive into their dams' dish.

Ryan:
With the biggies over the years , we always waited until 5-6 months, unless however weaning was necessary slightly earlier. This was usually because the mare was struggling to keep weight on and we were confident that the foal was ready.

This is a great topic Chanda as I believe people need to take into consideration some of the points you have made in the opening post.  Winter as we all know is that time of the year  where it can be a little harder to keep the weight on. For me , I have less paddocks to graze and limited grass and the wettest paddocks are out of use, so my minis spend winter in the same paddock.

Sometimes you will find that a mare and foal will wean each other, the foal will noticeably spend less time with their dam and when other horses/minis are around will develop a new "group of friends" and most of the time the foal doesnt even realize that their dam has been moved and the foal weaned.

Chanda:
And, my other logistical problem, I have two foals, 1 colt and 1 filly; so they'll need to be separated before spring, just in case (we don't want an oops).   I pretty sure Spotty can go over with the geldings and I can set up panels for introductions, he's already met them through a fence when they were still grazing, but grazing ended when I went out of town for 5 days (too much trouble to ask Shayne to let them in and out of the drylot while he was working).
Bliss can go in with Dolly in the pen adjoining the mare pen; might not be ideal, but it wouldn't be the first time I've wintered a filly with her dam.

dcwolcott:
I used to wean around 4 months, and since I always had a big crew to wean together, things went very easy.  But, heading to winter, I can see the need to wean soon.  I had two mares that used to wean their foals themselves, and always before my 4 month mark.  I was always surprised to go out to separate the foals, and find these two mares with no bags, and the foals totally weaned.  Used to be so surprising for me.

Keep us posted with what you decide.  They are such little beauties!

Chanda:
Don't think Bliss is quite ready yet.  Brought Bonny in to the barn aisle to trim her hooves, left Bliss standing with her head in the hay feeder, as soon as she figured out mom was gone, she hollered and came running. And, was fidgety til I let her in the barn and put her in a stall at Bonny's head. 

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