is it just giving them more calories or is there anything else they can be given to make them grow faster?
You want your foal to grow faster or you want to know how others make their foals grow faster?
My opinion, a faster growing foal isn’t doing them any favors.
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Adequate, quality calories-- the rest is genetic. You don’t want them growing faster than they’re designed to, that causes its own problems.
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you do not want to do anything to speed up their growth, just feed a complete balanced diet to mare if still nursing and then to foal once weaned so it has what it needs to grow at a healthy natural pace. It can do much more harm than good if you try to encourage them to grow faster…you would never feed a “super size” diet to get a human baby to grow as fast as possible.
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Yeah, too fast growth leads to all sorts of joint and bone problems. They aren’t feeder calves.
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Don’t compare your own foal to others - maybe they are born earlier or later or … - if well cared, all they need is time.
Do not overfeed youngsters to encourage growth. It can pose significant soundness risks long term.
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Give them good quality hay, pasture and free choice exercise first off. If you supplement with feed or vitamin/ mineral supplements do so sparingly. Fast, excessive growth leads to a leg issue ( which I cannot spell) .
Epiphysitis!! google it.
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For the love of god please do not try to feed your foal so that it “grows faster.” Feed your foal a proper diet with adequate protein, vitamins, minerals and calories and plenty of good quality hay or pasture. Do not either overfeed or underfeed your foal. Overfeeding calories will cause serious health problems in a growing foal. Deworm regularly per your veterinarian’s instructions. If your foal is a colt, geld him early.
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Growth rate is primarily determined by genetics, all else being equal (where all nutritional requirements are met).
Meet your young horse’s dietary needs (but do not overfeed) with a balanced diet that isn’t too rich. The rest is up to the horse’s genetics. No two horses will grow in the same way at the same rate.
Trying to artificially induce growth via over-supplementing, over-feeding, or feeding an unbalanced diet that’s too rich in certain vitamins/minerals leads to complications down the line including but not limited to epiphysitis, osteochondrosis(OCD), developmental orthopedic disease, contracted tendons, and angular limb deformities.
Frankly anyone who is looking to induce rapid growth in a young horse via feed is a crap horse person who shouldn’t own any horse, never you mind a young horse. I would recommend sticking with pet rocks.
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Well, it’s just that overfeeding is an experiment that has been thoroughly tried in the past, and that’s how we know that not only does it flat out not work, it also produces some very detrimental results.
Talk to your vet about feeding–or a nutritionist. Don’t try to hurry things along.
