IV 
MANAGEMENT OF THE WEANLINGS 
1. Weaning Age and Method 
Twenty-one farms in all, the majority number of those that report on 
the (weaning of the foal, favor the practice of separating the foal from the 
mother as early as six months of age. Among these are the Waddington 
Farm, Rookwood Farm, Iowa State College, Thos. Kiddoo Farm, Raboin 
Pioneer Homestead Farm, Longview Stock Farm, White Oak Stock Farm, 
Ritchie Stock Farm, Arngibbon Farm, Woodside Farm, Pentoila Stock 
Farm, University of Illinois, Selma Farm, Truman’s Pioneer Stud Farm, 
Oakdale Farm, Lakewood Farm, Missouri University, Leslie Farms, Ma- 
plegrove Farm, Gossard Breeding Estates, and Chestnut Farms. At the 
Irvinedale Farm and the University of Minnesota, the colt is weaned 
even as early as five months of age, while at Purdue University, Michigan 
Agricultural College, and Top Notch Farm, these three establishments 
are all of the opinion to take away the foals from their dams at from six 
to eight months old. Both the Santa Anita Rancho and Gregory Farm 
place the weaning age when 5 to 6 months. The earliest weaning age is 
shown by Hayfield Farm’s report giving it as early as from 3 to 6 months. 
At the Lefebure Sons’ Co., colts are weaned at from 4 to 5 months of age; 
at the Cornell University, from 4 to 6 months; at the Wisconsin Univer¬ 
sity, from 4 Mj to 6 months; at the Holbert Farms, at about 6 months, or 
sometimes longer; at the J. H. Serven & Son, from 6 to 8 months; at the 
Maple Lawn Farm, at 7 months; while Hooper speaks of the weaning 
period in Central Kentucky Farms being carried on in the month of Sep¬ 
tember. 
While the general procedure of weaning the foal is much the same in a 
number of instances, the survey bears out that the details do not super¬ 
pose each other in the different farms responding. The systems in vogue 
are exemplified in the discussion below: 
Chestnut Farms. “Foal taken away and mother isolated for a short 
time.” 
J. H. Serven and Son. “Take colts away from mare one day on start, 
then let suck, and make it a little longer each time until the mare is dry, 
so not to spoil bag.” 
Leslie Farms. When the foal is being weaned he is tied near the mother 
at the boxstall and fed separately. He is not allowed to suckle and the 
mare is milked by hand twice daily. By the time the mare is dry the 
colt knows enough to stand tied, and when the mare is taken to water 
the colt is led also by the side. In about a week after the mare is dry the 
two are separated from each other. 
Maple Lawn Stock Farm. “Gradually getting the foal accustomed to 
be away from the mare.” 
Pentoila Stock Farm. The mare is separated from the foal every 12 
hours, continuing this for the first week, and then, afterwards, they never 
see each other any longer. 
Rookwood Farm. The dam is removed from the foal once and for all, 
and twice or three times she is milked every other day. 
Raboin Pioneer Homestead Farm. “We run our weanlings in a large, 
open shed, and keep them through the first winter this way.” 
Santa Anita Rancho. “After becoming accustomed to grain ration, 
colts are liberally fed in large paddock, quite away from hearing of 
mares.” 
