Re: Advice wanted for foal

[Kim <mathew@redhorsetech.com>]

On Tue, 1 Sep 1998 12:34:51 -0700, "arikara appaloosas"
<arikaras@iafrica.com> wrote:

(snip)
> So what should I do from here,how my life  and sleep pattern will change
> again if I have to feed the foal every two hours.Anyone got any bright
> ideas and have more milk formulas for me.
> Thanks
> Kathy "as if I dont have enough animals to look after"
> 
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Hi Kathy,

Commercial milk replacers work pretty well, but be sure to read
(scrutinize) the label.  You want to have the concentration of the
resulting milk at 10 to 16% total solids.  From experience, some
manufacturer's use recommendations which make the milk "too rich", and
that can cause digestive disturbances, dehydration, etc.  So, double
check to see if the resulting milk is dilute enough.  If you don't have
access to Foal-Lac, NutriFoal, or Mare's Match as milk replacers, there
are some "homemade" recipes you can use.

You can take 2% fat cow's milk and add 20 grams of dextrose (glucose)
per liter of milk.  Don't ever use table sugar, honey, corn syrup, or
other types of sugar --- use dextrose (glucose) only, as the other
sugars are not tolerated by the foal's digestive system very well (lack
of disaccharidase enzymes).

If you do not have dextrose available, try jam and jelly pectin at a
rate of 57 grams (2 oz package) per 3 liters of cow's milk.  It should
be found in any decent supermarket.

If you do not have cow's milk available, substitute it with goat's milk
using the same "recipe" as with 2% fat cow's milk.  

If 2% fat cow's milk is unavailable, you can also use whole milk if you
add saturated lime water.  The resulting foal replacer milk should then
have 1/3 saturated lime water, 2/3 *whole* milk, and then add your
dextrose/pectin.  How to make saturated lime water???  Add calcium oxide
to water until it cannot dissolve any more of it.  Let the solution
stand undisturbed for several hours, then pour off the clear liquid,
which is the saturated lime water.  Discard the remaining liquid.

If the foal's manure starts to become hard, add an ounce (30 ml) of
mineral oil to the milk formula, but of course, if it's obvious that
constipation has resulted, call your vet!  Foals tend to be less apt to
display signs of illness until it's "too late", so keep a close eye of
the foal's behavior and responses.  A "wait and see" method is not the
best choice for foals.

Feeding times:

You should be feeding the foal every two to four hours for the first
couple of weeks.  After that, the feeding times can be lengthened to
four times a day until the foal is four weeks old.  If diarrhea or colic
set in, and the foal seems to be tolerating the replacer well, then
you'll need to hold off feeding for four hours after signs of diarrhea,
feed a smaller amount, and increase the feeding interval (in other
words, you have to feed more often with a smaller quantity of milk). 
Talk with your vet regarding signs of colic or diarrhea.

Try feeding the foal commercial milk replacer pellets at about a week of
age.  Just stick some in his mouth when hungry at each feeding, and
leave a bucketful around for him to freely explore.  When he's eating
about 2 pounds of the pellets, you can start creep feeding him (e-mail
me for creep rations if you want) and at one month old, offering a
palatable hay with the creep feed.  Avoid clovers, alfalfa, and other
rich hay until he's a yearling.

Hope this info helps... I'm not a vet, but the recipes and
recommendations are from research, vets, and experience.  I can provide
references if your vet needs them.

Good Luck!

Kim (and Lee)