I am having my first foal soon and I’m feeding the mare a mix of gro n win,alfalfa pellets,cracked corn and rolled oats and looks great! Does anyone have a preferred mix or brand to feed their foal/weanling? I wanted to creep feed when the little one shows interest in mom’s feed and want to have on hand already. Thanks for the advice!
The breeder that I bought my weanling (now a coming yearling) from feeds Tribute Growth to her young horses.
A ration balancer could work as well.
I was thinking an rb. I cant get the tribute brand here
As I suggested on your post in Health - any ration balancer you can get will be good. That’s perfect for those who don’t need substantial calories, and IME, most babies don’t. Depending on the expected mature weight, 2-3lb is what you’d feed, and that’s not trivial calories to begin with.
IMHO the mare needs to come off the corn. Whether the oats are ok or not depends on how much you’re feeding. More than a couple pounds and I would increase the alf pellets and reduce the oats.
No hard feed at all of for the foal until he’s 4 months. He can’t digest anything that’s not milk-based until then. If he needs nutritional or caloric support before then, it needs to be a well-soaked milk-based pellet.
GNW is fine for the foal once he’s 4 months. Start with a small amount, well-soaked, and increase every couple of days until you’re at the necessary amount.
Add in a handful of alfalfa pellets to the mash, and then you can increase that to 1-2lb pretty quickly if/when he gets into a growth spurt that makes him too lean. Then reduce as he settles and gains weight again.
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I agree with JB. Purina, Triple Crown, etc. all make ration balancers too. I have actually had better weight results with Purina Enrich vs. Triple Crown’s RB for some reason.
Mine is on a ration balancer, flax and alfalfa forage (and free choice grass hay). He held his weight well through the winter.
