There are many different schools of thought as to the way you should wean foals away from their mums... and I guess because we normally wean 1 at a time and have a tried and trusted method you keep to what works for you.
Today saw Mad Max (pictured above with Evan in the weaning barn. Evan gets the youngsters used to be touched and tries to start building trust between baby and human), weaned from Maddie. Max has been making a bit of a noise in the weaning barn (especially when Billy with his new found freedom wanders out into the big yard - just because he can!). Maddie has been very quiet since taking Max away and as I look over my monitor now I can see her with her head down in the grass. Every now and then she wanders over to the fence and has a look of concern on her face, but whatever she is thinking Iam sure that it is about her stomach as she soon walks away from the fence back to the choice area of grass she was picking from and resumes where she left off from.
Max has been picking at his food too... we're not overly concerned that he isnt tucking in as today marks a big change in his life and the start of the rest of his life.
Evan goes in and spends about 10 mins with him every couple of hours, as its important that Max starts to trust us and understands what roles we will be playing in his life. So far today (day 1), Max is doing just fine and we anticipate only a few days in the weaning barn for him. Mind you, not all foals (now called weanlings) are that well adjusted as some take a week to get over missing mum and become independent. We normally start giving the foals their own bowls, as well as mums at feed time very early on in the process as it teaches the youngsters to understand that they have to eat themselves. The only foal that we didnt have to teach was Billy, as our beautiful Nanna (may she rest in peace), started the process with Billy very early on.
So, its been a very busy day for us today, not forgetting that we had to redress Sunny's hoof as the original bandage had started to come off, which wasnt too much of a big deal as Sunny is very quiet and let's us do what we have to do without much fuss. I wish all of our charges were like that!! lol.
Tomorrow its back to Telstra and the wonderful world of whingeing customers. Lucky me!
Helen.
Today saw Mad Max (pictured above with Evan in the weaning barn. Evan gets the youngsters used to be touched and tries to start building trust between baby and human), weaned from Maddie. Max has been making a bit of a noise in the weaning barn (especially when Billy with his new found freedom wanders out into the big yard - just because he can!). Maddie has been very quiet since taking Max away and as I look over my monitor now I can see her with her head down in the grass. Every now and then she wanders over to the fence and has a look of concern on her face, but whatever she is thinking Iam sure that it is about her stomach as she soon walks away from the fence back to the choice area of grass she was picking from and resumes where she left off from.
Max has been picking at his food too... we're not overly concerned that he isnt tucking in as today marks a big change in his life and the start of the rest of his life.
Evan goes in and spends about 10 mins with him every couple of hours, as its important that Max starts to trust us and understands what roles we will be playing in his life. So far today (day 1), Max is doing just fine and we anticipate only a few days in the weaning barn for him. Mind you, not all foals (now called weanlings) are that well adjusted as some take a week to get over missing mum and become independent. We normally start giving the foals their own bowls, as well as mums at feed time very early on in the process as it teaches the youngsters to understand that they have to eat themselves. The only foal that we didnt have to teach was Billy, as our beautiful Nanna (may she rest in peace), started the process with Billy very early on.
So, its been a very busy day for us today, not forgetting that we had to redress Sunny's hoof as the original bandage had started to come off, which wasnt too much of a big deal as Sunny is very quiet and let's us do what we have to do without much fuss. I wish all of our charges were like that!! lol.
Tomorrow its back to Telstra and the wonderful world of whingeing customers. Lucky me!
Helen.
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