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Equine babies are hungry right from the start. Newborn foals may nurse as often as ten times an hour in their first day of life. These frequent meals are vital to the foal’s health, because the foal ingests colostrum rather than milk for the first 12 to 24 hours following birth. Colostrum contains antibodies that protect the foal against disease until its own immune system develops. Colostrum also delivers glucose, protein, and vitamins that the foal needs as it stands and moves around soon after being born.

Foals in the first month continue to nurse frequently, taking in about 33 lb (15 kg) of milk each day. During this time the foal gains about 3 lb (1.5 kg) a day and can double its birth weight in the first month. Foals begin to nibble grass and try out the taste of the mare’s grain ration in their first few weeks, but milk is still the most important source of nutrition for the first few months.

Mares that are fed a fortified ration in the last months of pregnancy have all the nutrients they need to produce a strong, healthy foal. After giving birth, the lactating mare uses a tremendous amount of energy in milk production. If her diet does not support this effort, the mare may lose a significant amount of weight. These equine mothers should be given a feed product designed for nursing broodmares; this feed is also appropriately formulated for young foals who will usually sample whatever the mare is eating.

A foal’s digestive system changes as it matures. It is able to absorb the antibodies in colostrum for only about the first 12 to 24 hours after birth, and can’t process a great deal of solid food efficiently until the young horse is two to three months old. Milk is digested by the action of lactase, and nutrients are absorbed in the small intestine as this part of the digestive tract increases in length and surface area. By about four months of age, maltase is abundant enough that digestion of forage and grain by this enzyme is at least as important as digestion of milk by lactase. The hindgut continues to develop, becoming populated with countless microorganisms that function to break down and ferment ingested fiber.

Foals are usually weaned at between four and six months old. By this time, the mare’s milk is supplying a much smaller percentage of the foal’s daily nutrient requirements than the young horse is getting from forage and grain. In addition to grass or hay, the standard guideline is to feed weanlings about 1 lb (0.45 kg) of grain per month of age, with the total amount ideally being split into at least two feedings a day. Managers should weigh weanlings on a regular basis, aiming for a slow, steady growth plane. To avoid skeletal problems, growing horses should be allowed plenty of exercise and should not be allowed to become too heavy.

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