Feeding the orphan foal

There are many reasons for foals to become orphans. Mare rejection, although rare, can occur. More common scenarios are mare’s disease or death or the use of the mare as a surrogate for a different foal among others.

Feeding patterns for the orphan foal should mimic natural feeding, thus, foals should be fed often. While most owner would like to bottle feed, this should be avoided due to the risk of aspiration pneumonia and inconvenience over time. Natural suckling from a bucket works well and it is a very good alternative to bottle feeding. Foals learn to drink from a bucket easily. To train a foal to drink from a bucket, place your clean fingers wet with milk replacer in their mouth to stimulate suckling reflex. While they are suckling, bring the bucket (better to use a flat one first) to their mouth and slowly withdraw your fingers from the foal’s mouth. These steps may have to be repeated multiple times until the foal learns to drink.

Do not force the foal into the bucket as this will discourage drinking. It is better to lightly warm the milk replacer the first few days. Once the foal is drinking without assistance, a bucket can be hanged in the stall or pen. It is important not to leave the bucket on the ground as foals can get their limbs trapped around the handles. They will also likely dump the bucket by playing or while attempting to drink. Buckets should be hanged at the foal’s shoulder height and the distance should be adjusted as the foal grows. Studies suggest that yellow buckets (or bright color buckets) work best.

To get the foal adapted to feeding of milk replacer start slowly: Feed ½ the recommended amount the first day and gradually increase the amount provided over the next 4-7 days.

While the foal is being trained, a nasogastric tube may be left in place to ensure adequate nutrition. It is better to train the foal when it is hungry (before feeding by NGT). Patience is of extreme importance for success. All feeding equipment should be kept clean and should be washed once or twice a day (or more often if needed).

Daily milk substitute intake: The suckling foal consumes 25% of its body weight (in Kg) of mare’s milk every day. The amount gradually decreases to 20% of BW in Kg by 3 weeks of age. The amount of milk substitute recommended per day varies by brand. Therefore, it is very important to follow manufacturer’s recommendations for feeding of these products. Electrolyte toxicities and diarrheas can occur if attention is not paid.

Frequency of feeding: Feed as frequent as possible to mimic natural foal nursing behavior (foals nurse 5-7 times/h!). Feeding large volumes a few times a day predisposes to diarrhea. The advantage of commercial replacements is that they can be left in the bucket for hours before they are no longer good. Milk replacer may have to be changed more often if the weather is hot.

Other feeding considerations: Good quality hay and creep feeding should be gradually introduced from the first days of life to encourage eating. A salt block can also be introduced at ~ 2 weeks of age. Foals should have access to dirt as this is required for iron supplementation. In addition, add adult horse feces from a healthy donor. It is best to select a donor without parasite eggs (or < 200/g of feces). Coprophagy is normal in foals and it is thought to aid healthy GI tract colonization.

Diarrhea is common with diet changes in foals. In general, nutritional diarrhea is self-limiting and does not require treatment but foals should be closely monitored as dehydration is possible.

Foals that are 5-8 day-old usually develop diarrhea (“foal-heat” diarrhea), a normal, self-limiting event that appears to be related to GI microflora population. Environmental temperature should be kept comfortable for foals (around 20°C or 68°F). Shelter should be provided if weather is too cold or if too hot (shade).

To ensure appropriate nutrition, it is important to evaluate the body condition of the foal often. Orphan foals have a delay in growth but should achieve normal condition by the time they are 3-4 months of age. At this age, foals should have an adequate body condition of 6 on a 1 to 9 scale. Foals should not ever be extremely thin, weak, or lethargic.

Vaccination and deworming: There are no special considerations for vaccination or deworming of orphan foals. Vaccine and deworming recommendations are available to the public at the AAEP website (https:// aaep.org/guidelines/vaccination-guidelines and https://aaep.org/document/internal-parasite-control-guidelines)

Weaning: Foals can be weaned of the milk replacer and introduced to milk pellets (creep feeding) at an early age, usually around 6-8 weeks. The transition from milk replacer to pellets should be gradual. This can be accomplished by decreasing the amount of milk replacer available while increasing the amount of pellets (as long as the foal eats the pellets). Fresh water should be always available, especially during this transition. As the foal ages, milk pellets can be replaced by other pellets that are adequate for growing foals. These products usually have a higher protein concentration than regular maintenance pellets. In general, a foal should not be drinking milk supplement after 4 months of age.

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