662 Reading- Course for Farmers. 



bedding, litter and dirt removed, and the young foal should be born 

 only on clean fresh bedding. Perhaps it would be safer to wash the 

 stump of the umbilical cord, which should never be cut but allowed 

 to break of its own accord, with a saturated solution of boracic acid 

 and then dust it with boracic acid powder. 



Feeding the young foal 



It often happens that the milk of the mare is insufficient to promote 

 healthy, vigorous growth in the foal and occasionally it becomes necessary 

 to raise a foal entirely independent of the dam. In such cases the best 

 addition or substitute for the milk of the mare is that of the cow. 

 The milk of the mare has more sugar and less fat than the milk of 

 the cow. One should get milk from as fresh a cow as possible, and the 

 poorer in fat the better, as mare's milk will average only about three 

 per cent, fat while the milk of most cows runs above that. Do not use 

 Jersey milk for colts as it is too rich in fat. 



A little patient effort will soon teach the colt to drink milk readily, 

 but we must be careful not to give it too much at first. A half pint is 

 enough for a foal two or three days old, but the ration should be repeated 

 often. If it is necessary to feed the foal cow's milk from the beginning, 

 the milk should be modified. To a dessertspoonful of white granulated 

 sugar add enough warm water to dissolve it. Then add three table- 

 spoonfuls of lime water and enough milk to make a pint. Warm the 

 mixture to blood heat. Let the foal have half a teacupful every 

 hour at first. This takes time but must be done. If the colt scours, 

 give a dose of two ounces of castor oil and discontinue the feed for a 

 couple of hours. As the colt grows older, the amount of food should 

 !'be increased and the frequency of feeding decreased, first to twelve, 

 then to nine, six, and lastly four times per day. The purpose is to give 

 ■the foal all it will drink, and to feed so often that it will not require 

 much at a time. 



As soon as the foal is old enough, it should be encouraged to nibble 

 at grain, preferably oat meal. It will begin to munch in the grain and 

 hay at three or four weeks of age, and should be encouraged to eat. 

 It will eat only a very little at first. If it is necessary that the foal have 

 milk after it is two months old, skimmed milk should be substituted 

 for fresh cow's milk. Never feed a colt sour milk. Never feed milk 

 from unclean vessels. Should there, be any trouble from constipation, 

 it will be well to add about one-half pint of oil meal per day to the ration. 

 Oil meal can be fed with profit' to growing colts, as it furnishes a large 

 proportion of muscle-forming and bone-forming food. The efTcct of such 



