MANAGEMENT OP THE WEANLINGS 
103 
on one side they should be trimmed properly . . . Barbed wire should 
not be used for fencing the pasture; smooth woven wire is best . . . 
The animals should have plenty of fresh water and salt, and in hot 
weather they require shade.” 
Thomas and Shields 80 desire that weaning be done when fall comes. 
According to them, in the Savage farm and McKennan farm the colts 
are removed from the dams and the latter milked dry daily, while others 
let the colt suck twice daily for several days, and afterwards for some 
time once a day until the mare becomes dry. McGraw is cited, whose 
practice follows: “We wean a colt by taking it away from dam and milk 
mare for four days, twice a day, then once a day till dried up. I use 
equal parts spirits of camphor, tincture of belladona, and lard (no salt) 
on mare’s bag.” 
In feeding the colt after weaning, Thomas and Shields 89 state that 
“Oats is the usual food, together with timothy or prairie hay. Bran may 
be mixed equally with the oats; although this will not be necessary if 
clover or alfalfa is available. Some consider oats too hard for young 
colts to masticate and give ground feed and clover hay.” Several horse¬ 
men are quoted whose recommendations along this subject are certainly 
worthy of consideration. Thus Miller suggests “two quarts of rolled oats, 
one quart bran, one pint cracked screened corn, and a handful of rolled 
barley, to a feed, three times a day, with all the straight clover hay that 
a colt will eat twice daily.” He makes the remark that if any of the 
feeds be eliminated, clover should be excepted. Dodge says: “Feed the 
colts all the good oats and timothy they will eat up clean, and see that 
they get enough exercise to warrant such feeding.” According to White 
a few carrots fed three times a week to the colts will drive the worms and 
keep the bowels in normal condition. One horseman is quoted to say: “As 
to feeding them, I give them clover hay, with a small allowance of corn, 
and all the good oats they will clean up. I also like sowed cane, which 
I think makes an excellent feed for young colts in winter.” 
Carter 87 places the weaning age at from 6 to 8 months. As to the feed¬ 
ing and management of the colts after weaning, he writes: “After wean¬ 
ing feed a liberal ration of ground oats, bran, a small amount of oil 
meal, and roots, carrots preferred. ‘It is wise never to let the meat get off 
a colt that its mother has put on.’ If allowed to be so the colt will be pot¬ 
bellied, stunted and will appear as a yearling at two years of age. The 
second summer as a year old, no matter how good the pasture may be 
the colts should have little ground oats until coming two. At two they 
will get along on good pasture.” 
Axe 38 writes: “Foals are usually weaned about September or October, 
when they are 5 or 6 months old. In all cases the foal should be well 
‘done’ with corn, bran and chaff for 3 or 4 weeks before being weaned 
. . . We think that gradual intermittent process of weaning is most 
rational. To avoid painful distension of udder of mares weaning their 
foals the quantity and milk-forming quality of the food should be reduced 
and only a moderate measure of water allowed.” 
Weld and Du Hays 47 give the practice of weaning and feeding the colts 
afterwards as followed by French breeders: “At 6 months the colt is 
weaned. If it be a filly it remains in the canton where it was foaled, to 
be put to breeding when it reaches the proper age. If it be a horse colt, 
it is sold to the farmers of the raising districts. 
“There is but little trouble taken in weaning the colts. This passage 
from one period of life to another . . . takes place quite simply 
. . . They wean themselves in the trip from their birthplace to their 
new destination. The farmers in the neighborhood of Regmalard, who or¬ 
dinarily buy them very young, give a little cow’s milk on their arrival, to 
strengthen them, and to serve as a transition, but even this method is 
far from universal. 
