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Time to Wean

4K views 27 replies 11 participants last post by  LoriF 
#1 ·
Hello Friends,
I would love some help and suggestions for weaning my 4 month old a filly. I really don't want to separate them b/c they are so sweet together, but I understand I should do it by 5-6 months. Any suggestions on how to do it would be greatly appreciated.
 
#2 ·
When I weaned my colt I just put up a fence dividing the area he shared with his dam in half, and made sure he couldn't get his head through to nurse. He could still hear and smell and talk to his momma, he even played with her through the fence, but he could not nurse. He could just barely get his head over the fence, or stick his head through toward the bottom, but where he needed to be to nurse I ran a long length of rope in a tight zigzag pattern. It worked very well, and I kept them like this for about 4 months I think, before removing the fence and turning them loose together again. But I weaned my colt as a late 6 month old. Admittedly he was the only one I've ever weaned, so feel free to take my words well salted, but personally I think 4 months is too young to wean. Just my opinion though. I know it's done successfully that young quite often.

-- Kai
 
#4 ·
Kaifyre,
Thanks for your information. What I am learning there is no wrong and I am with you on 4 months being too young. It seems cruel to me. They love each other and she still nurses and the mare doesn't seem to mind. I do have another mare out with them. So it's not too bad. How long did it take for the mare to dry up?
 
#5 ·
Mmm Mirage was a maiden and would go stand alongside the fence and "assume the position" for a while afterward, trying to encourage Phoenix to nurse, but if I remember correctly (this was all in high school, 8 years ago or thereabouts) she was completely dry in 2 weeks? Maybe a little more? I left them separated for a long while afterward, just to be sure, but I'm certain it was less than 3 weeks for her to dry up. I felt so bad for her, she was so sore while we were weaning Phoenix, but I had to remember that any alleviation of the pressure would mean that it would take even longer for her to dry up, since the pressure on her teats is part of what stops milk production. So expect your mare to not want to be touched there, and be sore, but don't hand milk her or it'll take forever. : )

-- Kai
 
#6 ·
I found my old trainers way ideal. Start putting foal in stall next to mare at night, leave together during the day. Leave them like that for awhile. Promote independence! Then move mare into an adjacent pasture while leaving the foal in with the herd. Voila. Pretty much never any issues and she was a breeder.

I don't think there's any immediate rush.
 
#8 ·
I think it is perfectly fine to do whatever suits your individual situation. Some mares do a good job of weaning their foals themselves so if you don't have a secure way of separating them you don't have to worry about it. This can work well if you have just the mare and foal and no other horses. Of course if you have a colt you will need to separate them eventually (some yearling colts are very capable of getting a mare pregnant) I do like to get the foal used to his own stall (next to mom's) usually just at feeding time to start with and then for longer periods. Unless there is a specific reason for it, I don't see any reason to wean early. Waiting six months or even a bit longer makes he process easier
 
#9 ·
I never weaned until they were at least 6 months old and 8 months was about the latest. Kept the foal(s) where they were used to being along with a babysitter and moved the mares into the adjoining pasture. Never had a problem doing it that way. Some mares dry up faster than others but I'd say on average it was about a month before they completely dried up, with 2 weeks of them being REALLY bagged up.
 
#10 ·
There is no just one way, but I always weaned 'cold turkey'
I also always had several foals, so they were weaned , having their peers as company and as playmetes
I have safe stalls, with rubber matts, and would put two foals together in each stall, while the mares were turned back out with the main herd.
Those mares would come up to the gate and whinny for the first 2 to three days, then would not bother to
The foals also would settle down after the first day,I then would start to halter break them, first leading them in the stall, then up and down the barn isle, and by the end of the first week, they would be leading out to a corral, to spend the day, then led back in ant night
After about two months,\i would turn them out in the weanling pasture, for over the winter. That pasture shared a common fenceline and stock waterer with the main herd, and it would be the dams of those foals, which would give them the ;loudest get lost signs.
That maternal strong bond breaks rather quickly, once that mare has dried up
Since I fed my weanlings diffrent then the rest of the horses, they spent the winter in that pasture, and joined the main herd in the spring. I only brought them in during the winter, for foot trimming, learning to stand tied, ect
 
#11 ·
Hi, Wow so glad I posted this question b/c I didn't feel like it was nice weaning baby and mom. I am currently getting Melody a bit more independent from Mama Jazz. I lead her in and out separately. Last week I took her out of the stall and bathed her separately from her mom. I feed them in separate feed bins and tie the mama at hers so she doesn't gobble up Jazz's. I do like the adjacent stall idea.
One more question. I can't find the like button for all these wonderful comments?
 
#13 ·
Weaning at 4 months is not cruel.

I have weaned from 4 months to 8 months, and not really noticed a difference. If the colt starts dragging the mare down, I wean.

It is harder with only one, and I like to begin by tying the mare and colt side by side in the stall, gradually increasing the time. Then I move the colt to the stall next door, and then to a seperate pasture.

Last year's filly was moved right out to pasture at about 6 months, with my oldest mare, then I added one horse at a time after about a week, until she was in with 5 unshod horses.
 
#14 ·
I also have weaned both early and later, as when I was showing in foal futurities, I would wean foals as early as three months. The maternal bond is somewhat stronger then (early), but those foals grew up equally well, with the foals I actually showed, having a jump, far as show exposure and handling. They learned to accept being body clipped, to stand squared up, even in the activities of show scene, to be blanketed, ect, and this did make them easier to show under saddle as green horses
When I quit showing horses,until they were of age to be shown under saddle, I did not wean them until 6 to 8 months, and, in fact, didn't even halter break them until then. Made no difference in the end
 
#15 ·
Yeah while I have NO horse experience "leaving them to sort it out" I have started doing that with the sheep. I weaned the first few years then realized it was more work and stress and no point whatsoever. I leave the lambs ewes and rams all in together then when the mom's are done they're done. I don't worry about it. I haven't seen anyone trying to nurse at any point that I was thinking "it's too long what are they doing?" it's done pretty early. They aren't overly attached to mom but do tend to enjoy "family groups" (both weaned and "unweaned" lambs do). At this point I often just wean when I sell them, you'd never know. If they are young (8 weeks or so) I'll mention it but otherwise no. I have adults that have never been weaned. (I do wean if the ewe is in poor condition)

We weaned this year but it was more of an "ok let's move you over here now that you don't need milk and handle you a bit more" (adjacent stall). Most of them didn't even notice!! If an ewe has 2 lambs it's very simple to grab one and have her get over it. At this point they are in an out with the adults and some still run to mom but no nursing. The ewes dried up pretty promptly (well the older "milkier" ones less so). They were already mostly weaned and the youngest were 8 weeks.

We have a yearling bottle lamb (aka the "white dog" that lived in the house and got kicked outside :P). We have given up on turning her into a sheep, it's pretty pathetic, so the strategy this year was to put all the lambs in with her and make them more like her lol! So far so good XD.

As I said no experience with horses, but my concerns would be primarily being overly attached to each other and late nursing (I've heard of this being an issue with horses, but as I said not with the lambs). Horses are different! Otherwise it is much simpler unless you have a reason for weaning.
 
#16 ·
After his 4 months of separation from Mirage, Phoenix did try to nurse a few times, but I think it was more habit than anything else. Mirage was terrible at discipline and spoiled him rotten lol, so she had no problem with him trying to nurse even though there wasn't anything to nurse from. As you can see, lots of ways to skin this proverbial cat. I think as long as you're weaning the foal safely, in a way that's conducive to building trust in the handler and good manners, you're doing it right. : )

-- Kai
 
#17 ·
I prefer to leave them on mom for at least 6 mos, but the mares will also tell you pretty clearly when they are ready to lose 'the tick'. My favorite way is to get the foals and moms in a pasture, then slip in one more mare or gelding, and let them sort that out for about a week. Once the foals are comfortable with their future babysitter, I sneak the moms out when babies and sitter are playing or napping. Load moms onto trailer and haul them off to the "mare spa" and leave them for 30 days. They dry up, the foals hardly notice they're gone and when they come back, I put the moms back in an adjacent pasture for 30 days and then let the foals back out with their dams (assuming fillies or that I've already gelded the colts). They run up to mom and usually get, "MOM WHO?" for a response and that's the end of them trying to go back to being babies.
 
#18 ·
So it sounds like I am on the right track. I think I am waiting until 5-6 months or let me mare tell me. But today, I did something kind of fun with the mom and baby. I loaded them on the trailer and took them for a spin around the block. They did great. I figure if I do this now and she gets a good example from her mom it will be no problem later on.

I have also ponied her with mama.
 
#19 ·
That's all excellent groundwork. DH and I were talking about this the other day and he commented that he just has a hard time believing all the problems with loading that people have when we never have any. I told him that he had to remember, MOST of the horses on here we've had either since birth or very very young, and we always load them up with mom and haul them around the block, over to the next town, go out to dinner and leave them in the trailer, and get them used to it before it becomes an issue.

I also like to pony them off mom or another mare and man, it's a amazing the difference it makes to their reactivity later on. Once they've been on a couple of short 'trail' rides around the property, then out to our favorite lake, when it comes saddle time, they are pretty unflappable outside of the arena.
 
#20 ·
Well, I never have loading problems with my horses, and I don't haul babies with their moms, unless I am breeding to an outside stud, or taking them to the vet
Many times, the horses we raised, first loaded when we either sold them, took them to their first show or trail ride. All loaded with no problem, because they led 100%
A trailer loading problem is a leading problem
Only time I ponied yearlings (never weanlings), was when fitting them up for halter
 
#25 ·
I think that there was a time, when people were not in such a hurry to get things done, foals were left with their mothers a whole lot longer. Being 7 months + and still with mom was more the normal. These days people have more of an agenda most of the time whether it is showing the foal or selling or whatever.
Personally, my plan was to leave my foal on my mare for as long as they were both in agreement with it. If my mare was being drawn down to much would be another consideration. As of now, my plan is to wean her at six months only because there is another foal on the property that is going to be weaned at five months and I don't want that foal to be alone.
Do I want my mare back to ride? Heck yea, but I can ride her some with baby in tow anyway. I feel myself wanting to do stuff and have to remind myself to be patient and wait.
 
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