What do the results tell us about management of foals at weaning?
Although this study found slight differences in some measurements immediately after weaning, no significant long-term differences were found between foals weaned at four and a half months or six months of age. These data indicate that there is no growth advantage for foals allowed to nurse until six months of age, and likewise no growth disadvantage for foals weaned at four and a half months. At least one other study has shown that foals confined to stalls during the weaning period had some loss of bone density. Foals in the present study were kept on pasture and did not show a similar loss. From these data it would seem that late weaning carries no advantage over early weaning in relation to growth and bone density of foals kept on pasture the majority of the time. This paper was published in the proceedings of the Equine Nutrition and Physiology Society Annual Symposium, Fort Worth, Texas (1997), pp. 335-341 Reprint courtesy of Kentucky Equine Research.
