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Discussion on When can weaned babies go back with their dams....?
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Member:
judyhens
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Posted on Wednesday, Nov 17, 2010 - 11:53 pm:
We are keeping some babies for a friend who doesn't have an easy way to separate them from their dams for weaning. They are about 5 months old and doing well. Happy, eating well, playing. Our friend wanted to know when the earliest is that she can put them back together without risking restarting the nursing situation. I saw that Dr. O. said a few months. We typically separate pretty much permanently when we wean, so we don't have a lot of experience reuniting babies with their dams soon after weaning. Any thoughts, experiences, ideas, etc. would be appreciated. I will pass them on to my friend.
Blessings,
Judy
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Member:
theresab
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Posted on Thursday, Nov 18, 2010 - 12:28 pm:
I have been wondering the same thing myself. I don't have any experience either so I asked my vet when he came out to give shots. He said "at least 6 months to years", which about made me fall over. He said as long as the mare isn't bred back, he'll still be the "baby" with no new foal to push him away. I asked my farrier too and he say's he never puts them back together. (Again not the answer I was hoping for.) I don't intend to sell my colt so separating them forever isn't going to work for me.
The vet advised me to do sort of a trial and error with putting them back together. I'll have them separated for 3 months and then try putting them back together. If he tries to nurse, I'll put them back in separate pastures. Momma mare is alone in my smaller pasture, which I don't like because of the stray dogs and coyotes in the area. My young mare is babysitting the colt but he throws a fit when I pull her out to work with her.
Not much help I fear but that's my theory behind my weaning process.
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Member:
jhyrick
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Posted on Thursday, Nov 18, 2010 - 12:42 pm:
It's a unique situation with every pair. I have a mare that starts trying to wean the foals herself at about 3 months, and doesn't whinny more than once or twice at weaning. She can be put back with the foal after a few months, and she lets them firmly know she's not interested in having them close to her. Another mare is more distraught at time of weaning, but after 3 months, pins her ears at her offspring if they try to get too close to her grazing area. Another mare, would let a 2 yr old try to nurse, if they were together. Best of luck.
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Member:
judyhens
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Posted on Thursday, Nov 18, 2010 - 1:51 pm:
Thanks Teresa and J.G.! That is what I thought, but wasn't sure. Good luck with any weaning you are doing this year. It can be such an emotionally draining time. I dread it every year. Will pass your responses on to my friend.
Blessings,
Judy
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Member:
spryte
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Posted on Thursday, Nov 18, 2010 - 2:10 pm:
I can just speak from my experience. I weaned my foal at about 8 months by just separating Mum and Baby in THE SAME FIELD with electric tape. The foal was in with a companion (old gelding).. I did see the foal try to suckle under the fence so just put another electric tape a meter parallel to the first. Neither Mare nor Foal seemed distressed AT ANY TIME.. No painful calls to each other .. no trauma of separation...
I put the foal back in with her Mum... another 5 YO mare and the gelding ONE month after.. YES.. the foal did try to feed BUT Mum made it clear this was not an option.. just by lifting a hind leg..
They are all still very happily living in the same field now.. the foal is now 3
I have taken this now 3 YO away in the trailer with NO radical behavior from the Mum ... which is remarkable because when i got the Mum she was one of the most neurotic horses I have ever experienced (she was given to me free.. was x race horse and i got her from a big stud farm that was shutting down.. I had her for a year before putting her in foal)..
i suppose now, in hind-sight, what I think is about wild herds.. how many foals are forceably separated from their dams.. especially at 4-6 months old.. Mainly this 'forced weaning' has come-about as a convenience for us..
But as jhyrick says, all mares are different.. but this is just my experience. Hope it helps.
Rosie
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Thursday, Nov 18, 2010 - 4:47 pm:
Hello Judy,
"a few months" is not exactly what I said. For the whole quote and the caveats see HorseAdvice.com » Horse Care » Equine Nutrition, Horse Feeds, Feeding » Feeding the Growing Foal, Nutrition for Young Horses.
DrO
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Member:
dres
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Posted on Thursday, Nov 18, 2010 - 6:57 pm:
No answer here but my neighbor who i don't respect her ways ... has a stud colt pony 4 years still next to his mother in pipe stalls... When i am riding he will nicker low to her , she sides up to the pipes and he STILL NURSES... he is a stud too .. Another thing she does is let all the ponies run free at times with said stud colt and mom ... when mom goes into heat she teases another older stud thru the pipes .. he of course tries to breed her thru the pipes and while this is going on the said stud colt NURSES ... CRAZY...
On the first day God created horses, on the second day he painted them with spots..
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