Home management of the orphan foal

Normal foals nurse from the mare very frequently in the first few days of life. This can be as frequent as every 20-30 minutes. They also consume a large volume of milk. This can be 20- 25% of their bodyweight. This equates to 10 litres per day, divided into feeds of 140-200ml each. This is important information, because when we plan nutrition, we must bear in mind not only the nutritional goals but also the normal stomach capacity. In the first few days of life, when the mare has adequate milk, the foal will often stand, urinate, nurse and then lie back down to sleep. The foal will “latch on” to the teat for a period (often up to 5 minutes). It may have a short period of running around after nursing [...]