Husbandry & Management

Several important deadlines occur in the late summer months.  By the time you receive this magazine the farms standing stallions will have filed the ‘Report of Mares Bred’ with The Jockey Club.  This report begins the paper trail that ultimately results in the registration of   your year 2000 foal.

            The Jockey Club blood kits for the 1999 foals are arriving daily and the registration process is in full bloom.  If you have not received your kit by the end of the month, a phone call to The Jockey Club is in order.  The whole identification process starts with the ‘Live Foal Report’.  If that report has not been received by The Jockey Club, you will not receive a blood kit or any of the subsequent notifications.

            The Cal-bred registration applications are due September 30 for the 1998 foals (yearlings).  Delaying this application will result in a higher fee being accessed when the application is processed.

            Out in the pastures the babies are growing by leaps and bounds.

  If you have been able to wait until your foal is a full four months old to start your vaccination program you are on the leading edge of medical practice.  For more information, see last month’s excellent article by Dr. David Wilson from UC Davis.

  The early foals are now reaching weaning age. A brief telephone survey indicates there are as many different methods of handling the weaning process as there are farms in this state!  The methods run the spectrum from the complete “cold turkey” separation of the mare and foal to taping the mare’s teats with duct tape and leaving her in with the foal.  They insist it works.

            Many of  the California farms have come around to the more humane method of weaning, as used at E.A. Ranches in Ramona and described by farm manager Marguerite Eliasson in this month’s series.

            As noted by Marguerite, the stress of weaning has been found to effect the growth curve in foals which can certainly be a factor in the development of orthopedic disease.  Problems like contracted tendons and severe physitis are visible and can be managed.  But bone cysts and bone lesions are unseen, and sometimes irreparable.  It is much better to keep the stress level to a minimum.

            There is an excellent article in The Horse, August 1998 issue, about the weaning process, which includes reports on research into the emotional development of the foal and cortisol levels in his blood.  You can access this article on the internet at www.thehorse.com/0898/weaning_strategies0898.html

         To those of   you who are selling select yearlings at Del Mar we have one suggestion:  While you are having the x-rays done for the repository, you should also have the ‘wolf teeth’ removed.  Often this is not attended to by the buyer in a timely fashion.  As the early training begins, your colt could develop bad habits while trying to avoid the bit hitting those tiny teeth. These bad habits could have an affect on his later racing career and your success as a breeder.

 

Marguerite Eliasson,
Farm Manager, E.A.Ranches, Ramona, San Diego County.

            E. A. Ranches began its current weaning program approximately 15 years ago.  We were searching for an approach that would cut down on the stress for both mare and foal.  Our original method was to move a few mares each day to fields out of sight and sound of their foals.  The mares would run frantically searching for their foals and within minutes were dripping with sweat.  Their foals behaved the same and we worried about their safety.

            After reading an article regarding a gradual weaning process studied at Texas A & M, we gave it a try.  After a little fine-tuning, we now wean our foals using two adjacent fields and a subtraction method. The larger field holds six to eight mares and foals and the adjacent field is used for the weaned mares.  Every day we move two mares into the adjacent field leaving their foals.  The mares and foals will run the adjacent fence for about five to ten minutes; however, when they realize they are only separated by a fence, they quiet down.  We put some feed along the fence for the mares and feed in the catch pen for the foals. The foals leave the fence and wander to their catch pen, which is a few hundred feet from their dams, for their creep feed.  The mares can look up from their feed and still see their foals.  Every other day we wean two more mares from the field and introduce an older mare or gelding into the field before the last mares are removed.  These older horses provide security and discipline for the weanlings.

        After one week the first two mares weaned are moved to another area on the farm, completely out of sight of their foals.  Some people have thought that this second move would be like starting over, but this is not the case.   Both mares and foals are completely indifferent to this second move.

        Our foals are weaned at approximately six months of age.  We have found that the foals seem more independent while the younger foals are more insecure and dependent upon their dams.

        The goal is to lessen stress for a number of reasons.  Some articles regarding weaning mention that the level of stress has an affect on the foal’s growth.  Stress can interfere with normal growth; when the stress levels drop, the foals sometime have a growth spurt which may lead to OCD’s and physitis.  Respiratory disease usually occurs during late spring and summer months and stress should be avoided in these compromised foals.  Some thought should also be given to the level of stress placed on the mares. Consider the potential for early pregnancy loss.

        Weaning used to be a time of the year we dreaded, however, this method has made it easier on everybody.