4 day old filly is eating grain. Problem?

[llsc]

My new filly thinks she's all grown up already and is eating mom's grain. I feed the mare out of a pan on the floor. Should I put it in a bucket and hang it out of her reach. I thought she was just mouthing the feed, but she pooped some out, so she's swallowing.

[amdfarm]

I don't think it's a problem, least it's never been for our foals that start creep feeding w/ their moms around that age. And if mom doesn't like her sharing, she will let her filly know. Before you know it, she'll be ready for her own pan/bucket.

[Samotis]

My colt did the same thing and he is now 3 months and eats all of moms food! He did go on creep feed at 1.5 months old.

I wouldn't worry, it is a little young, but you can put her bucket up higher, that will probably stop her for a few weeks. Mine figured that out after a while and eventually climbed up the wall to get to it.:lol:

Good luck;)

[peskee]

The foal should not eat mom's grain. A foal's stomach is not designed to process it. Their tummies are very sensitive. There are special milk based grains made for foals. Progressive Nutrition and Buckeye are two. I use PN.

[ise@ssl]

Foals should NOT be given processed feeds made for adult horses. They do not have the stomach enzymes to process this grain - so all it does it pass through them. There are feeds on the market made specifically for foals.

We have been breeding for over 20 years - our mares feed tubs are VERY HIGH and when those foals (we often have big colts) can reach the feeders they can share the grain - though our mares never really let them. That's ALWAYS past 3 months of age.

What you gals are doing is wasting grain that's passing through the foal - and taking it from the mare who can use it to make good quality milk for the foal's growth and development. So while you may think it's o.k. - it's a lose - lose situation.

[llsc]

Thanks guys. I was worried that it was not something she should be doing. She's not eating more than a few grains here and there, but her system certainly isn't ready for it. I'll hang a bucket on the wall rather than let the mare eat from her floor pan. She's also grazing and eating hay already, but there isn't much I can do about that. She seems to think she's alreay 3 mos. old.

[ise@ssl]

Grazing on pasture and eating hay is normal and fine for a foal.

[tri]

Can't it also contribute to physitis?

[Just Wondering]

What you gals are doing is wasting grain that's passing through the foal - and taking it from the mare who can use it to make good quality milk for the foal's growth and development. So while you may think it's o.k. - it's a lose - lose situation.

The quantity of feed the foals can gum at that age is not an issue.

[Tiki]

What it can contribute to is cribbing. The foal at less than 3 months does not have the digestive enzymes to handle grain, so as ISE said, it either passes through the gut whole and is wasted, or much worse is passed to the hindgut and fermented, thereby creating acid gut syndrome. This causes great discomfort and distress to the foal and is thought to be one of the big causes of cribbing - to relieve the discomfort. Once formed, cribbing is an almost impossible habit to stop. Can also cause ulcers with too much acid present in the gut.

Work the foal up to about 1 lb of milk-based pellets a couple of times a day as tolerated from when they will start eating them until weaning. Gradually switch them over to a growth formula by replacing portions of the milk-based pellets sometime after 3 months and prior to weaning.

[amdfarm]

The quantity of feed the foals can gum at that age is not an issue.

That is kinda what I was thinking. It's not like they're stealing pounds and pounds of grain/pellets from mom and depriving her in any way. And it's not been a problem in 30+ years of breeding between my friends and I.

[Ladybug Hill]

I have been breeding for about 20 years. My foals always eat a bit of their dam's grain but it amounts to so little that I have never worried about it too much. Never had an issue with it. Never raised a cribber. I think that until 3-4 months of age they are eating such a tiny amount that it should not hurt them. I don't creep feed either, but if I did I would certainly use a grain made for foals as suggested above.

[ise@ssl]

Well just being in the business a long time (we've been in for decades) doesn't mean that more information isn't available every year. Even in the last decade we've seen HUGE changes in processed feeds for horses and we know that breeding warmbloods - we avoid sweet feeds completely. And actually more and more research is making big changes to how we feed and what we feed to have healthier horses. We feed low starch/high fat. That's a change from what we fed 20 years ago.

Also continuing research on the issue of cribbing and ulcers is giving us more informaton that we should consider. Foals are very often born with ulcers but they often rectify themselves while nursing off the mare. Tiki is right about new research showing a connection of ulcers to cribbing and just ulcers in general relating to what goes into the digestive tract of a horse (of any age) and where problems can occur.

People are certainly free to let their foals eat grain that really isn't produced for their systems but I honestly don't see why anyone would want to do that based on new information.

The original poster was asking about whether it was good or not and even the feed companies have literature explaining why processed feeds for foals are a 'SPECIFIC' Feed tailored to their digestive abilities.