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Expert
Posts: 2685
   
| Please tell me what you have had good and bad luck with dealing with an orphan foal. I have this guy for sale and his momma colicked and died today. He has been eating grain, hay, and grazing well for about two weeks and he is a huge people person so I think I can do it without a nurse mare. I want to know what products you guys have had luck with (and what not to try). Any info is welcome.
thank you!
ETA:
As of 5/18 he started eating the milk pellets. When should I take him off the gastrogard? I'll be moving him to the round pen tomorrow afternoon to start getting him used to my herd, so another big change. Maybe another week?
Edited by RoaniePonie11 2017-05-19 8:47 AM
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Meanest Teacher!!!
Posts: 8552
 
Location: sunny california | milk pellets |
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  Champ
Posts: 19623
Location: Peg-Leg Julia Grimm | I've only had one orphan. This is what my feelings are toward your problem. You need to find a kind older gelding or mare who will tolerate your baby being a baby but still provide discipline and guidance for him. Get some foallac pellets and provide him a creep feeder with good quality grass hay and a little bit of alfalfa (no more than 20% of the total feed intake). Pellets would work fine for this. Foals at 5 weeks don't have the digestive system to be without milk so you need to replace that nutrition for him. I would be very aware of the possibility of ulcers as well. |
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 My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
Location: Arkansas | What a beautiful boy, so sorry for your loss |
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 Take a Picture
Posts: 12838
| Foal lac or some other milk replacer. He should be able to drink out of a bucket but if not use a bottle and transition to a bucket ASAP. There was a video on YouTube feeding an orphan foal and making him behave. Make sure you feed often enough. My trainer has one that is a year old now. They raised him on goat milk. It is a pain milking a goat on the middle of the night but frozen goat milk is available from one of our hillbilly neighbors. Very handy. It can be done successfully but you are going to have to be diligent. Good luck. |
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Expert
Posts: 2685
| Thank you everyone. I put milk replacer pellets, a little of the normal grain they get and hay out for him tonight. (And water obviously).
He turned his nose up to the replacer pellets. They have a strong smell. I may try the liquid in a bucket. A bottle won't work. He's to mature mentally at this point for that. I will look into other pellets too I guess. These are from the vet that I work at. The one that put the mare down. They brought them for me. I don't know exactly what brand they are.
Thanks again. Anything and everything is welcome. Prayers included. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 865
| I don't have any advice but I wish the best for your precious gorgeous angel.
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| For orphan calves we use a powder milk replacer. It smells good and all the animals try to eat it. Does foal lac come on a powder?.
Really watch for ulcers, like an above poster already said. |
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Expert
Posts: 2685
| Would you guys put him on something for ulcers like low dose omep or just wait and see |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 489
| I really like the Buckeye brand milk replacer and foal pellets. I ship mine in from a place in Lexington, Ky. Unfortunately, I've raised several on it. It holds well, so once he's drinking it, you only have to mix a couple of times a day. I used to have a foal that figured out how to slip out of his pen and he would bring me the whisk I used to stir up the milk when he was hungry! I do second the idea of getting him with another gelding or mare as soon as the urge to nurse is gone. The socialization they learn in the herd is super important. I made the mistake of keeping one separated all the time as it was growing up - he was a booger around other horses at the trailer and in the warm up pen because he hadn't learned how to "get along". |
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| RoaniePonie11 - 2017-05-17 6:42 AM
Would you guys put him on something for ulcers like low dose omep or just wait and see
Talk to the lady on here that sells THE. Their ulcer medicine is really effective and easy on their system. |
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 Experienced Mouse Trapper
Posts: 3106
Location: North Dakota | You've received a lot of really good "modern" advice. 30 years ago i was given a foal that his mother had died 10 days earlier. I hand raised him by feeding him ground corn oats and barley-he nibbled hay and grass and every couple hours I would feed him out of my hand. We never had access to goats milk or milk replacer. The main thing is make sure he gets enough to eat. I must have put him in with an older gelding because he certainly was well behaved-never kicked or bit anyone. When I college rodeo'd on him he was a gentlemen-I could tie him long-he would lay down and make himself comfy and never really got himself into a jam. I do recall being pretty hard on him-because he was growing-he was halter broke by 3 months old and we went everywhere together. He had great feet and pretty good manners-was easy to break and super fast.
My point? If a 13 year old kid can raise an orphan anyone should be able to-if they are hungry feed them! Oh and he is going to go through a really crappy looking stage and probably become depressed.
I see so many orphaned foals this year-it just breaks my heart. Good luck to you!
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 I Sell Dreams
Posts: 1654
Location: Freestone TX | I had an orphan mini pony that lost his mom at 5 weeks. He refused milk replacer in a bottle or bucket. We fed him calf manna and coastal hay. I didn't think he'd make it because he wasn't eating well at all, but he made it just fine and is now the barn mascot. |
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 Miss Laundry Misshap
Posts: 5271
| A friend of mine lost a mare with a slightly younger foal than yours. She got liquid (or mixable) milk replacer and put it in a bucket. The foal drank it well and they never looked back. Baby grew up loving people and was very sweet. They never turned her out with other horses because they didn't have anything that qualified as a babysitter. She could see them and talk to them through a fence but that was it. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 912
Location: Alabama | Where are you located? Get him drinking from a bucket asap. I would keep grain out in a creep 24/7 and hang a bucket of fresh milk every 4 hours or so. Unkle Gut is a great supplement for babies to mix in with the powdered milk to support a healthy digestive system. (prevent ulcers) He needs a buddy. Old broody or old gelding that will tolerate him is ideal. Once he is drinking from a bucket and buddied up to another horse he shouldn't be any harder to raise than he would be if he had his dam. Sorry for your loss of the mare! My mom has raised two foals on a bucket. No issues! 
Edited by Sockittoemred 2017-05-17 8:56 AM
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | Do you have a Bluebonnet{feed} dealer close by? |
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 I Don't Brag
Posts: 6960
| My colt lost his momma at 3 weeks. She had gone in for colic surgery a week before she died and they started him on milk replacer from a bucket to supplement his diet while she recovered. So that hurdle was faced. I used Mare Match milk replacer and he did really well on it, never got puny as one poster suggested. He actually liked it cold from the fridge, which supposed to slow his drinking down. I think that I fed him every 4 hours for awhile then stretched it to every six. He would coming running when he saw his little blue bucket and would suck it dry in less than a minute! He was already trying to eat grain and hay at 3 weeks and LOVED dandelions (I think that the flower heads were easy for him to pop off, lol).
One of the first things we did was turn each member of our "herd" in with him under supervision to see if any of them would take over as head babysitter. Surprisingly to me, his big sister took over immediately as his mom in every way except nursing him ( I did not think that she had a motherly bone in her body!). Weaning those two was worse than "normal".
So sorry for the loss of his momma and best of luck for his future. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 670
Location: Running my kids somewhere. | GLP - 2017-05-17 6:14 AM For orphan calves we use a powder milk replacer. It smells good and all the animals try to eat it. Does foal lac come on a powder?. Really watch for ulcers, like an above poster already said.
Foal Lac makes a powder as well as the pellets. There is also a powder called Mares Match that I have used. The pellets do smell but once they start on them I have had good luck.
I am sorry about your mare.  |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 878
Location: "...way down south in the Everglades..." | So sorry to hear...that's awful, prayers your way!
I second the one post about getting him a gentle buddy (if you have one at your farm?). It will keep him from being as lonely and he will still learn heard manners. I think when they are all alone they get even more depressed and hence don't want to eat. So if a buddy is possible, I would definitely try it.
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Expert
Posts: 2685
| Hello everyone. As of this morning he hadn't eaten much of anything. He was offered grass hay, a little of his moms feed and a cup of mares match replacer pellets (they do smell strongly). He did drink a little water over night. As of right now he has a cup of Progressive nutrition foal creep (milk pellets) and a bucket with milk replacer in it, a bucket of water and grass hay and a little bit of alfalfa. Just trying to see what he will eat.
He was bright and alert this morning. Still upset but not as bad. He started to find comfort in standing with me while I was with him. The Progressive nutrition says the foal creep can be fed free choice (only) if the foal is orphaned after the age of 3 weeks. I honestly don't care which he takes to. As long as its something....
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