Weaning Colts Part 5: Alan Woodbury
- October 13, 2015
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- Lynn Kohr
Posted in: Featured, Horse Care
As you recall I asked my favorite veterinarian, Dr. Marshall Kohr and several breeders these same questions on weaning colts. Please refer back to past week’s articles for Dr. Kohr’s professional advice plus breeders: Clara Wilson, Cheri Wardell and Jill Lane, as they walk us through their weaning process. This week, I interviewed Alan Woodbury of Dickinson, ND. Founder of Woody’s Feed and breeder of high end barrel and race horses at Woodbury Performance Horses.
Alan Woodbury’s foaling season is a long and spread out one, due to all of his colts being embryo transfers. He starts foaling in January and ends in May. With this long of a foaling time, instead of weaning at a set time of year, he chooses to closely watch the body condition of each foal individually, keeping them bloomy, fat and shiny, and choosing for each foal their optimal weaning time. Being the founder of Woody’s Feeds, and highly cognizant of equine nutrition, Alan feeds very well, keeping his mares and babies on Woody’s Summer Heat, a high in fat beet pulp based complete feed. Along with Summer Heat, his mares and babies are on free choice round bales of grass hay and pasture. These babies learn to eat right beside their Mommas, so come weaning time, their feeding routine stays the same.
To wean he brings 2 mares and their babies in stalls for a couple of days and when the babies settle down and relax, he puts 2 babies in a pen together and hauls the mares away to pasture. He keeps the babies in pairs for 4 or 5 days then puts the babies together in big pens for several days, again watching closely making sure they relax and adjust all the while eating. After they are all together, adjusted, and eating well, he separates the fillies and colts into separate pens. During the entire weaning process, Alan handles all of the babies lots: brushing, haltering, rubbing on, enduring their trust in people.
Post weaning, he changes his weanlings over to Woody’s Futurity Blend Feed. While on free choice grass hay, he adds Stongid C, daily dewormer. Alan continues handling these babies; leading, tying, and grooming every day.
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Posted in: Featured, Horse Care
About Lynn Kohr
I am a barrel and pole horse trainer, giving springtime barrel racing and pole bending clinics and workshops, competing in barrel racing and pole bending futurities while marketing our horses for sale. I am a Mom of 3: Sage, Cedar, and Stratton. And wife of...