Raising an Orphan - Help

[Sweetfiddler]

Brought home a one month old filly yesterday. Her mom was the draft mare I posted about foundering after foaling. We tried the hot water soaks and lots of cold water soaks, plus Bute twice daily. Mom was very painful and finally could not get up yesterday morning. The Filly is drinking from a bucket well and has been nibbling at grain.

Orphan Questions:
She a draft cross. How much milk should she drink every day?
How often should I give her milk?
How early can she be weaned?
Any good milk pellets made by Nutrena or Purina?
Any training I should start on to help her become a well adjusted adult?
Should I put another horse in with her now? Gelding or Mare?

THANK YOU!

[hollyhorse2000]

so sorry for your loss. Would this get more response if it's in the Breeding section? I imagine those folks are experienced in this situation . . .

[hansiska]

She should be drinking a high-quality mare's milk replacer like Land O' Lakes' Mare's Match about once an hour (and that includes all night!). Since she's healthy, you probably won't have to worry too much about the amount she drinks; she will probably regulate herself. But it probably wouldn't hurt to record her intake over a day or two and report back to your vet. Obviously if she suddenly drinks much less or starts to refuse to eat, you will need to call the vet.

Orphans don't need special training but they do need boundaries. Be firm! You'll thank yourself later. I know orphan foals can look very sorry and cute, but they desperately need to be taight to respect the herd.

Some recommend divising a way to pour the milk into their buckets w/o them seeing you so they don't associate food with humans so much. A companion horse is a great thing for orphans, especially if you happen to have an older broodmare to show them the ropes. If you have one, try to introduce her to your foal asap.

You can probably wean at about three months. That's when we weaned our orphan and it was at the Cornell vets' advice.

There are a few companies that make milk pellets to transition them to feed. Our colt refused to eat them, though, and just started eating small amounts of grain.

Good luck!

[mp]

If you can get it, Buckeye Mare's Milk Plus is a very good milk replacer. Mix it up, put it in a bucket and you can leave it all day without spoiling. Discard what's left and mix another batch for night. I agree with letting her regulate her intake. After a day or two, you'll figure out how much she's drinking and avoid wasting any. If her stools remain relatively firm, all is good.

We tried graduating to milk pellets, but our orphan wouldn't eat them either. Just gradually went to grain.

Also agree with setting boundaries. Although I bet she's cute as can be, don't allow any transgressions -- no nipping, nuzzling or crowding you, kicking out is a major sin, etc. You don't have to scare her or anything -- just be consistent and firm enough that she gets the message. When they're that young, they figure things out pretty fast.

Yes, absolutely put her with a companion -- a kind older horse. Mare or gelding doesn't matter, you're looking for temperament -- a friend who won't run her around or hurt her.

We were lucky that another mare had foaled the day after our orphan was born. After introductions through the fence and a few days of squealing, he was turned out with that mare and her baby who was one day younger than him. She pretty much ignored him for a month, and then started mothering him. She even let him nurse, which amazed me. He turned out just fine.

Good luck. And sorry about the mare. That's tough, I know.

[jaimebaker]

Try www.cyberfoal.com

It places nurse mares with orphan foals and vice versa. I bottle raised my gelding until he was 6 months old. You want to avoid bottle feeding if you can. Unless you plan on having this foal in with a horse that can teach her manners without being mean. My gelding is a nightmare because boundaries were not set early on and he had no interaction with horses until he was almost a year old.

We used Foal Lac milk replacer for the first 3 months and switched to Foal Lac pellets mixed with grain for the next 3 months.

[catknsn]

Agree with everything Hansiska said!

I used Land O' Lakes' Mare's Match also and had great results. 2 year old orphan is over 16 hands. :) Clearly not stunted!

Mine got milk replacer but was paired with an old crazy broodmare who thinks every foal is her foal so he got disciplined. If that is not possible to do, then I'd try to turn him out with weanlings daily and just separate him to eat. The big danger is that he will not get socialized with other horses. You have to make sure he gets to hang out in a herd regularly, even if it's a PITA to separate him to eat.

Also, orphans are much more susceptible to worms than a normal foal who is on his mom. My understanding is that they have decreased immunity because of the lack of mare's milk. We had to deworm mine with a small dose every 2 weeks to get him "clean."

[Sweetfiddler]

Thank you everyone for the info so far. The little girl is doing good. Can anyone give me an idea on the total amount of formula she should drink per day? She has had 6 Quarts so far today and has Vitality 14% feed free choice. Thanks!

[hrfponies]

I raised my first orphan this year and she was on Progressive Feeds milk replacer. For the like of me right now I can't remember how many gallons of milk she drank (maybe too many sleepless nights) I think it was about 6-8. I would call a progressive feed rep and talk to them about it. They are very helpful. I wouldn't put her on grain as little baby bellies can't really digest it. If she doesn't like progressive or buckeye milk pellets, land o lakes makes one too. I weaned my filly off the milk by putting some of the milk powder on the milk pellets..I used the same bucket...same place and eventually she started to eat it. You might want to put her on a mineral drench by progressive also.
Make sure you socialize her with other equines. I did the whole minature pony thing for 2 months and then the pony started to eat the babies food no matter what I did to stop her. So then I put the filly out with another mare and foal and at first it was rough, so I added an old pony who kind of took her in. She is very well behaved and loves to be with other horses. Do not baby her! She needs to know you are not mom. Good luck!

[SpecialEffects]

I agree, hansiska gave you very good info. I can't remember either how much (I think I initially just followed instructions on the bag) but I paid attention to how much she would eat each feeding and made the milk accordingly and made sure the amount didn't dramatically change. It spoils easily so whatever they don't consume - toss. Eating the pellets came later, I used the Lank O Lakes brand.

But probably the most important info is to let her know she is a horse. It IS so tough but you don't want her spoiled, pushy or obnoxious because there is no respect for you - no you are not mom. Ok, repeating what others have told you so I'll just say, sorry for the loss of the mare and good luck!

[ptownevt]

The biggest danger I've seen with raising orphan foals is inadvertently raising a demon horse. The two orphans I know personally are both down right dangerous. They were not put with other horses because it "scared" them. Neither of these horses learned anything about the boundaries between people and horses. It seems that if they are not taught boundaries as a baby, it is very difficult to teach them later on. One mare will actually attack people with no warning and absolutely no provocation. She broke one girl's leg and another girl was found knocked out in her stall. Luckily someone nearby heard the ruckus and got the girl out before she was injured further. This mare's owners bottle fed her and slept in the stall with her when she was very little. To this day, she is afraid of other horses. The other is not so vicious, but she wants to interact with people the same way she would interact with horses, physically. If the first mare were mine, I would euthanize her, but she's not.

[mp]

Thank you everyone for the info so far. The little girl is doing good. Can anyone give me an idea on the total amount of formula she should drink per day? She has had 6 Quarts so far today and has Vitality 14% feed free choice. Thanks!

Is she drinking it out of a bucket? If so, just let her have it free choice and see how much she drinks. I think our orphan drank ~3 gallons/24 hours. But I honestly can't remember. Here's a link to a guide on how to care for orphans. It has a table, based on mare's weight, for how much a baby should drink. It seems a little high to me, but I don't know ...

Foal care guidelines (http://www.docstoc.com/docs/2241179/General-Guidelines-to-Foal-Feeding)

I made the milk accordingly and made sure the amount didn't dramatically change. It spoils easily so whatever they don't consume - toss.

That's why the Buckeye milk replacer was recommended to us. It stays good for 24 hours.

[shawneeAcres]

I have raised orphans, most recently was two years ago when a mare died about 30 hours after foaling. As far as amount, it is best if possible to allow feed choice for milk, they will drink what they need usually. If not possible to free choice, then I would offer milk (for a month old foal) every 1 - 2 hours. Once they get that age not necessary to feed every hour really, they can go thru night about every three hours. I would encourage to get foal on milk pellets as soon as possible as it allows you a lot more options interms of free choice (since milk will go rancid pretty quickly). Although I never tried it, I have seen setups with milk in a cooler (like a plastic lasrge water cooler) with a nipple attached. But again I would worl on the milk pellets. My orphan looked quite awfully scrawny for about a year and a half even though he was totally healthy. He suddenly Sprouted last winter and is starting now to look like a real horse! Doesnt help that he is a WB and most of them jsut don't seem to grow into their parts til about three years old. But this guy os not going the be stunted!!! You need to get her in with anohter hrose/pony or foal asap. This is to insure they don't bond too much with the human, but I think less likely in a month old foal than it was with my colt. He lived with a goat for about the first 45 days and then with a weaned filly. When he was out before we weaned her, he went into a round pen that was in same pasture with the mare and her filly (couldn't turn him lose with them as she would kick the snot out of him!) and played over the fence with the filly so got some hrose interaction. HE was more pushy than other foals generally speaking and if so you MUST discpline quickly and pretty harshly. They can take more than you think they can, momma's will often bite or kick foals when they are being naughty or too pushy!

[Home Again Farm]

Buckeye's milk replacer direction are excellent:

http://www.buckeyenutrition.com/equine/maresMilkPlus.pdf

I like the Buckeye replacer as it is acidified and, as has been pointed out before, keeps for a long time without spoiling. When I had orpahans, I would mix a full day's amount once a day, feed half in a bucket in the AM, store the other half and feed it 12 hours later.

Land O' Lakes milk replacer may also be acidified, in which case it is just as good a choice. I try not to use Foalac, as it spoils quickly and the mineral content is not as good as the others.

[Nun Ya]

I raised an orphan from birth that the mother never stood afterwards and the baby's IGg came ack a 400. I used Goat milk replacer by Purina. It was about 25.00 a bucket. I also intruduced grain early. I did not stop feeding milk completely until about 4 months. My baby was a 16.2 hand TWH at 2 years of age. She was not small as a result of losing her mother. I was very protective over her and loved her so much. My problem is/was that I had a 16.2 hand horsey who thought I was mommy and was afraid of other horses. She would see another horse and clobber me trying to get away. Take the advice and don’t let her think she is a baby human. Treat her just like a horse. I would suggest putting your baby with other horses the same age or one that YOU KNOW will not harm it. You have to remember now that he/she has no mother that there is no one to discipline the little angel. You will have to teach respect and space issues. Good luck

[Nun Ya]

Orphan Questions:
She a draft cross. How much milk should she drink every day?

Follow the directions on the bucket or consult with your vet. You need to know the weight of your baby.

How often should I give her milk? Every 3 to 4 hours

How early can she be weaned?

I have heard of horses being weaned at 2 1/2 months but I would not recommend it. I have a very tiny 3 month old weanling now. She was weaned a week early from being 3 months and she seems to be doing fine. Feed a good mare and foal feed when you start to creep feed the baby and continue feeding mare and foal once weaned.

Any good milk pellets made by Nutrena or Purina?

My horses have never liked the pellets. I am a big fan of Calf-Manna

Should I put another horse in with her now? Gelding or Mare?

Make sure it is a horse you can trust. I would not leave the baby alone with them.