Preparing Pastures for foals

For any breeders expecting foals this season, it is now time to be thinking about the paddock management for broodmares and foals.

The main aim is to make sure that the pastures that foals graze on for their first year of life is as clean as possible. Planning often has to start twelve months in advance, with it best if the foal paddocks can be rested for 6 months before use. Six months is close enough for most of the strongyle larvae to have died off. If that is not possible, pastures should be grazed in the months prior to foaling with other livestock to clean up the larvae, or with horses that are known very low egg shedders.

Ascarids however, are harder than strongyles to remove from pasture as ascarid eggs can survive for 12 months, and are very sticky, remaining on fence posts, stable walls etc. However, most adult horses develop immunity to ascarids and so the main source of infection for foals and young horses is other foals and young horses from the previous 12 months. If there are ascarids on your property, it is best if the same paddocks are not used each year for the foals and young horses, as they will keep the ascarid lifecycle going each year.

Prior to foaling and moving broodmares into the paddock they will spend spring and summer in, mares should be checked via FEC to identify any high shedders which will need to be dewormed. Low shedding mares will not benefit from a treatment, nor will it influence pasture contamination much if they are not treated.

If pastures are clean and ascarids are not present, foals may not need to be checked via FEC until they are 3 to 4 months old. It does take time for eggs to be present in foals’ manure; foals do not start grazing grass properly for several weeks, and then there is approximately 6 weeks until any ingested larvae mature and begin shedding eggs. Checking foals at 2 months old will often give a false low EPG that will spike a few weeks later. Following a first FEC at around 3 months old, foals should be checked again prior to weaning (6 months old) and again each 3 – 4 months until they mature.