It’s almost that time of the year when the “cheep, cheep, cheep” and the “quack, quack, quack” will once again be the welcoming sounds at Big R Stores. Baby chicks of various breeds, fuzziness and cuteness will be arriving soon to your local Big R Store. Make sure to check your local store for breed availability.

• Chick Nutrition
• Overall Chick Health
• Selecting The Right Type of Chicken and Feed For Your Purposes
• Step-by-Step Chick Guide: From bringing them home and successfully raising them to adult birds.

• Ponderay:        Feb 4    @  11am
• Spokane:         Feb 18  @  11am
• Colville:          Mar 2    @    2pm
• Lewiston:       Mar 10   @  11am
• Mead:            Mar 24    @  11am

Since we cannot increase the feed intake drastically when the mare foals, she needs to be carrying some extra fat stores so she does not drop body condition drastically before we can bring her up to intake levels that fill lactation energy requirements.  Mares should be at about a body condition score 6 when they foal so that they have sufficient energy reserves for early lactation as well as to maintain condition for re-breeding. If she is in a significant negative energy balance (losing body condition) she is much less likely to rebreed easily and carry the next pregnancy.

To bring a mare along properly in her nutritional journey, here are some general guidelines to keep in mind:

• Good quality pasture or forage may provide sufficient energy thru late gestation, but may not provide adequate amino acids and minerals.
• A ration balancer product or a feed designed for pregnant mares may be used from month 5 to about month 10 or 11 of gestation to provide the missing nutrients.
• A feed designed for broodmares and foals should be introduced prior to foaling, so that the mare is properly adjusted to the feed well before she foals.  She is under quite a bit of stress immediately before foaling, so this is not the time to be introducing a new feed. This feed can then be increased after foaling to provide both the increased energy and the increased nutrients that are required for lactation, as well as providing nutrition for the foal when it starts to nibble on feed.
• Fresh clean water and free choice salt should also be available at all times.

The mare should also be vaccinated properly before foaling so that her colostrum, the rich first milk, contains antibodies to protect the foal.  Proper nutrition will also help immune response to vaccinations.

During lactation, a mare’s energy needs are easily doubled over her maintenance needs, and while a mare is producing milk for her offspring, her water consumption can exceed 50-100% that of a maintenance horse. Around 13-24 weeks after the mare has given birth, her milk production will begins to decrease, and the diet can start to be cut back slightly as nutritional needs are getting back to those of a normal maintenance horse.

Feeding the broodmare properly can help reduce the risk of developmental problems for the foal and help insure that the mare can be rebred in a timely manner to produce another foal the following year.

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Roy J.
Horsefeedblog.com

Are you anxiously awaiting that first foal of the spring? Do you have the foaling stall ready, the vet on speed dial, and the video camera on the battery charger? While you’ve been busy prepping, here are some of the amazing changes that have taken place (or are about to take place) in your mare:

• Energy requirements of the mare go up almost 30% over a normal maintenance horse – from 16.7 Mcal DE per day to 21.4 Mcal DE per day.
• Her protein requirements will increase 32%, and vitamin and mineral requirements also increase significantly during this time.
• The mare needs to be receiving adequate calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, copper, zinc, manganese and selenium to provide minerals for the development of the foal and to build the foals own trace mineral reserves. Trace minerals are also critical for immune support.
• Adequate protein/amino acid intake is essential – lysine, methionine and threonine, the first 3 limiting essential amino acids, need to sufficient in the diet for placental and fetal development.

• The normal mare will produce around 24 lbs (3 gallons) of milk per day. During an average 150 day lactation, this equals 450 gallons or 1.75 tons of milk!
• During lactation, a mare’s energy needs are easily doubled over her maintenance needs – from 16.7 Mcal DE per day to 31.7 Mcal DE per day!
• While a mare is producing milk for her offspring, her water consumption can exceed 50-100% that of a maintenance horse.
• Around 13-24 weeks after the mare has given birth, her milk production will decrease from 3% of her body weight to around 2%.

Winter’s extreme cold can certainly reduce egg production. But darkness is the main reason production begins to slow in late fall. 

Research shows that chickens lay best when they receive about 15 hours of light daily. In the northern United States, natural daylight drops to under nine hours at the end of December. To optimize egg production, supplemental (or artificial) lighting in the coop is a must for the next three to four months until the days get longer.

Setting up a simple light, controlled by a timer, solves the problem of waning sunlight. The same silver reflector lamps used for brooding chicks work well for winter light. A nine-watt compact fluorescent bulb is all that’s needed for a typical backyard coop. Plug the light into a timer and have it come on early enough in the morning to give the birds 15 hours of daylight, and egg production will be improved through the shorter days of winter.

Where to Place Lamps?

The distribution of light depends on lamp placement. Place lamps so that maximum illumination is spread over the largest area. In other words, don’t just light the nest box. Hang a bulb or lamp at the top of the coop to spread the light. Also, beware of dirty lamps. They can decrease light output by as much as 15 to 20 percent, so clean lamps at least once a week.

Other Tips for Winterizing Your Flock

• A little scratch grain can help relieve boredom from the extra hours spent in the coop during the winter months.

   Be certain to have a supply of fresh water; heated waterers save time and labor and assure the birds will always be able to drink
• Make sure a high quality layer ration like NatureWise® or Country Feeds® is always available. Your chickens need to eat to enough to stay warm and maintain egg production.
• Check that the coop is free from drafts, but don’t compromise ventilation as excessive moisture in the coop can lead to health problems.
• Put a little extra scratch grain down for your chickens morning and afternoon. The treat  will keep winter birds busy pecking and scratching for hours and will help prevent boredom and give them some extra energy for warmth.
• With the chickens spending more time in the coop, bedding may become damp.  Remove and replace as needed, or on a warmer day. Clean and dry bedding will also help the chickens stay warm and keep odors down.
• Let the chickens out into their run as chickens enjoy going outside, even if it’s cold, but most don’t like to walk on snow or in the rain.

With a little extra light and a little extra attention, your chickens will keep up their winter egg production and before you know it, it will be spring!

• A sub-clinical deficiency may be the result of a small deficiency over a period of time.
• Subclinical deficiencies may also result in decreased immune response, decreased reproductive efficiency and decreased performance.
• A clinical deficiency is present when there are readily observed or measured symptoms.

The diet below illustrates a diet that might produce some sub-clinical issues over time.  This is a fairly typical grass hay and oat diet and uses basic NRC requirements for an 1100 lb horse at light work.