Raising the orphan foal.

The research discusses best practices in raising orphan foals either by fostering them on to a brood mare or on a diet of fortified cow’s milk or milk replacers. The paper also addresses issues observed with feeding milk replacers and appropriate intervals for feeding.

Best Practices in Rearing Orphan Foals

• The research suggests that the best mode for rearing an orphan foal is to foster it onto a brood mare of a suitable size. The brood mare in this situation acts as a surrogate mother, providing the foal with the necessary milk and care.
• In cases where a suitable brood mare is not available, the research recommends rearing the foal on 2% fat skimmed cow’s milk. The cow’s milk should be fortified with dextrose at a rate of 20 gm per liter.
• The feeding of this fortified milk should be increased slowly starting from 10% of the foal’s body weight at 1 day of age to 25% of body weight by the time they’re 10 days old. The feed amount must then be maintained constant till the foal weans.

Milk Replacers and Problems

• Alternatively, the paper discusses the option of rearing foals on milk replacers, but it highlights some issues that have been observed with this method. The feeding instructions provided by manufacturers often do not mimic the milk intake a foal would obtain from its dam, which can cause problems.
• The proposal made is, it may be preferable to feed the milk replacers at intervals of 1 to 2 hours as a 12.5% solution. The volume fed can be gradually increased from 5% of body weight on day 1 to 20% of body weight on day 10.

Diet Diversity and Weaning Age

• Adding to the feed, from 2 weeks of age, the foal should be offered fresh water, hay and good quality creep feed containing at least 18% crude protein.
• Weaning of the foal, according to the research, can be done anytime between 8 to 12 weeks of age.