Question

Our 20-year-old mare died, leaving behind a month-old colt. For the last two weeks, we have been bucket-feeding the foal every four hours with a mixture of three quarts of goat’s milk, 2% milk, and warm water. He also gets a half cup of growth feed as well as alfalfa hay and water. He is turned out with a friend for much of the day. The colt seems to be doing fine, but I don’t know if I am feeding him correctly. I just want a professional opinion.

Answer

You’re on the right track with your colt’s nutrition. Based on his six daily feedings, it appears he is consuming an appropriate amount of milk at 4.5 gallons each day. Some experts advise feeding no more than two quarts per meal to reduce the risk of a potbellied appearance. However, if the colt is doing well on the current diet, I would be hesitant to change.

Given his age and the average recommendations for growing horses, he shouldn’t be consuming more than 1.5 lb (0.7 kg) of concentrate daily. Be sure to follow the feeding directions outlined on the growth feed’s packaging. Over the next few weeks, you can start gradually reducing the amount and frequency of milk replacer and slowly increasing the feed. Foals are often weaned off of milk replacer between three and four months of age. At that time, he should be fed just like other weanlings.

Moving forward, it will be important to monitor his growth and body condition. We recommend using a weight tape to track these changes. If you have a larger breeding facility, you may be interested in purchasing Gro-Trac, software developed by Kentucky Equine Research to track the development of young horses.