WEANING THE FOALS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3443, 9 March 1920, Page 11

WEANING THE FOALS.

MARE AND OFFSPRING AT AN t IMPORTANT JUNCTURE. The month of September or early in October (February-March in New Zealand) is tho usual time for taking foals from the mares (says the Farmer and Stockbreeder), and no advantage is gained by allowing tho foals to suckle any longer. Autumn is a busy time on the land, and mares are wanted to help with the work of ploughing, drilling, manure carting, and so" forth, and consequently they cannot be allowed to run idle, and when they are brought up to work the foals are better take a away altogether. Provided the foals have been taught to eat some corn and dry food beforehand, ihey never miss tho milk of the mare when weaning time comes, and in the case of early foals» especially the .milk has become old and stalo, and contains far less nourishment, than in the earlier period of lactation.There is never much difficulty about weaning foals, provided there are two or more . to° keep each other company; but when there is only one it is a different matter, inasmuch as after having been shut up for a week it will be difficult to keep a single foal in a paddock by > himself without 3 other company: and it is on that account always advisable to buy another foal or two to bear him company, or otherwise to sell the foal and buy a good yearling or two-year-old with the money. .Strange though it may appear, good foals almost invariably fetch quite as much money as yearlings or, in some cases, even two-year-olds; and to sell a foal and convert the cash into an older animal is. often good business. The Separated Matron and Offspring.—* A small yard with strong, high walls, double-boarded doors, and a good warm shed is the best place to wean foals, as in a yard it is easy to get the foals away from the mares, and the foals can get plenty of exercise in the open air; but if a yard is not available, they must be shut up in a big, roomy loose-box, only the drawback to a loose-box is that the doors must be kept shut or the foals will soon jump over, or attempt to do so, and get hurt. And when two or three foals are shut up in a box for several days _ with doors shut, the atmosphere becomes tainted, and when the foals are turned out > are apt to catch colds or chills. In an. open yard ..they can get both air and exercise without any risk of harming themselves. When the foals are taken away, the mares must be tied up in the stable or box until they settle down. The mare? should be kept on dry food for a week ot so until the milk dries up, and the udder may be eased once or twice, but should

not be milked out, or the milk will keep poming. If possible the mares should be "kept out of hearing of the foals, and the more they are kept at work the sooner Trill the milk dry up and the foals will be forgotten.

— Feeding.— The food given to the weaning tools should consist of crushed oats mixed with bran, if available, and some nice eweot chaff, and if any green food can be obtained, euch as clover, lucerne, or the like,

they should -hare it in preference to hay, but otherwise some good hay will serve the purpose. They must have a good supply of clean water in a tank or tub, so that they can drink _ at their pleasure. The advantage of teaching foals to eat some corn before weaning time is that when that time comes they take to their corn straight away, whereas if they had* never tasted it they will be three or four days before they take to it; and if no green irtuff is available they get rather tucked up by the time they are let out again. "Wihen the foals have settled down, they snould be put into a well-sheltered and strongly-

fenced paddock; and they are less apt to become affected with worms on a nice young fresh pasture than when weaned on to a stale one, which may have been stocked with sheep and cattle all summer. Beware of Weak Fences. — It is most important to see that the fences are ;reod, for tin 3 first thing weanling foals do when freshly turned adrift is to see where they can get out to find their mothers, and if there is a weak place in a fence, a spirited foal is sure to make, for it; and many a good foal has been badly injured through getting a stake wound or aome other injury while trying to break through a weak place, or in attempting to jump over a low or broken-down gate. It should be seen that gates where young foals are put are both high and strong. It is so easy to get a foal blemished for life, and it does not take much of a blemish to affect seriously a horse's value in after life. When the young foals are turned out of doors they must not be forgotten, or be expected to rough it. They should receive as much corn in the shape of crushed oats .and bran, with, perhaps, a small handful of split beans occasionally, as they can comfortably eat up with a relish. There should always be a lump or rock salt within their reach,_ and a keen lookout kept for worms, which are often very troublesome to weanling foals. When a foal begins to show a harsh, staring coat, then the fasces should be examined, and worms are almost certain to be detected; and, if neglected, the foals soon lose all their flesh, become pot-bellied, and get either diarrhoea or constipation, and suffer great weakness, so much so that bad_ cases of worms, if not taken in time, occasionally end fatally. When worms are discovered, they should be got rid of at once, and 12 to 15 grains of calimel given in a mash—and repeated after a 12-hour interval —is a good remedy, followed up by a dose of linseed oil. Although foals are very hardy, and able to stand a good deal of rough weather when well fed, yet shelter of some kind Is a great factor in warding off bad colds and chills which sometimes are contracted through undue exposure, and often

end in inflammation of the lungs" and death. There is nothing to beat a good, old-fashioned, thatched hovel, with the opening to the south, in fields 'or paddocks, in which weanling foals are to be wintered. Fitted up with a rack and manger,, they can eat their dry food in warmth and. comfort, and c.\h go in and out at leisure; and it forms a comfortable shelter from rain, snow, and biting winds and blizzards. Foals never mind cold, but it is cold"' and wet combired which try the constitution. Where no hovel is available, it can ; sometimes be arranged for them to run' into a strawyard, in and out as they like. Foals repay good treatment during their first winter. The mares when weaned must be remembered as well. Suckling a, big strong foal, and probably carrying another as well, en-' tails a considerable drain on the mare's constitution and if put to any heavy work they should be generously treated. Good Foals Fetch Long Prices.— A very large number of foals are bred for sale at weaning time, and they should always -be handled and made tractable before the time of sale, and be given some extra food. Good, well-grown foals, bred from sound mares and by well-known sires, command very long prices nowadays, so that it pays to take a bit of trouble with them, and send them to the auction full of bloom and life. Poor, dejected-looking foals, taken from hard-working mares and stinted in food, and consequently in growth, are often sold far below their real value. Do a foal well during the first winter, and he will make a horse, and can look after himself and roujjh it as a two or three-year-old. Much depends upon giving a young animal a good start in life, and this applies almost more to foals than any other young animals; and when well grown they are better able to take their place in the team at tv o-year-olds than some are when a year or more older. Horses are horses nowadays, and prospects are good.