Horses
- Horses, A Family Affair!
It should be pretty apparent if you have been following our blog by now that everyone in the horse group at Purina Animal Nutrition is passionate about horses and interacting with them. If you are involved with horses you know that it is far...
- Nutritional Support For Lactating Mares
Foals are eating machines that rely on their mother’s milk to help them grow and develop. If you’re not mindful, they can drain a mare of her nutrients leaving her in poor body condition. Mares can lose a significant amount of weight during lactation...
- Nine Is Fine!
Number nine out of ten expected foals arrived yesterday, he got to go out and explore the world this morning. (He thought the human with the camera was the most interesting thing apparently) Our foals get 24 hours with mom in a stall before their first...
- Getting Closer....and Closer
The mares that we hauled down a couple of weeks ago are already starting to show some of the early signs of their impending parturition. I will be posting pictures throughout the next several weeks of what we watch for as indications of the beginning...
- Lucky Timing!
The weather really helped us out yesterday, it was a little chilly but we managed to get our 10 pregnant mares down to the barn. They spend the summer months on pasture where they can just hang out and be horses. We like to get them in to the barn where...
Horses
Morning at Longview
6:45 am. I really love to arrive early for work here at Longview. Even though it is still early the crew is already heading out to feed all of the animals. But still there is a peacefulness about it, and it offers me a great opportunity to think about the day ahead and make plans for how I will get everything done. I also wonder what will happen today because everyday is different here.
We are weaning at the farm, so I expect that in an hour or so I will begin to hear some whinnies from the pasture behind my office where the mares are brought. We like to do our weaning slowly, removing one mare at a time from the group, leaving the foals where they have been since birth - in familiar surroundings. Very low stress for the foals (just the way I like it) - many don't realize mama is gone until it is time to go back into the stall for the night but by then they are pretty mellow about the whole thing. The pasture where the mares are taken to is a considerable distance from the barns so whatever noise they make doesn't travel and they don't hear the foals calling in return. After about an hour or so all is quiet again.
Looks like another great early summer day here at the research farm.
- Horses, A Family Affair!
It should be pretty apparent if you have been following our blog by now that everyone in the horse group at Purina Animal Nutrition is passionate about horses and interacting with them. If you are involved with horses you know that it is far...
- Nutritional Support For Lactating Mares
Foals are eating machines that rely on their mother’s milk to help them grow and develop. If you’re not mindful, they can drain a mare of her nutrients leaving her in poor body condition. Mares can lose a significant amount of weight during lactation...
- Nine Is Fine!
Number nine out of ten expected foals arrived yesterday, he got to go out and explore the world this morning. (He thought the human with the camera was the most interesting thing apparently) Our foals get 24 hours with mom in a stall before their first...
- Getting Closer....and Closer
The mares that we hauled down a couple of weeks ago are already starting to show some of the early signs of their impending parturition. I will be posting pictures throughout the next several weeks of what we watch for as indications of the beginning...
- Lucky Timing!
The weather really helped us out yesterday, it was a little chilly but we managed to get our 10 pregnant mares down to the barn. They spend the summer months on pasture where they can just hang out and be horses. We like to get them in to the barn where...