4,777 answers about horses & farm animals
Horses and farm animals run on routine — feeding schedules, hoof and health care, safe fencing and calm handling, in all weather. This page gathers the horse and farm animal library of KinsLe Answers in one place, organized by topic from daily care to travel and senior animals. Every answer is original, written by KinsLe, and tied to a real KinsLe feature.
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372 answers in Young Pets — page 15 of 16
Choose keepers from records and structure, not from the prettiest face at weaning: start with the dam's file — her udder shape and teat placement, how she milked or raised twins, her mothering and her health across the season — because daughters inherit her working traits. Then judge each kid on correct legs and feet,…
Keep the litter together — a piglet weaned alone calls, refuses feed and fades — and give the group a pen where every piglet can eat at once, sleep side by side in a dry lying area, and get out of the way of a squabble. Deep straw and things to root through redirect their energy off penmates' ears and tails. KinsLe's…
Go in with the mare's worming history and egg-count results, your stocking density, and how the fields are managed — poo-picking, resting, new arrivals — because the programme your vet sets depends on all of it. Cover how the mare's own treatment and monitoring should run around foaling, which parasites matter most…
Newly outdoor young pigs need a low, solid shelter that blocks wind and sheds rain, bedded so deeply with straw that they can burrow right under it — the bedding, more than the building, is their insulation. If nights are cold, add a heat lamp or heated corner they can move toward or away from for the first week or…
Start in the first weeks, in the pen with the dam nearby: brief, calm sessions of stroking the back and legs, touching ears, feet and under the jaw, and gently opening the mouth, always ending while the cria is still relaxed. Rehearse the exact touches adult health checks need — halter, feet, teeth, the neck where…
A thriving duckling is bright, active and eager at the feeder, gains weight week on week, and feathers in evenly after the down, with legs that stay straight and strong. Feed a waterfowl starter crumb at first, with water always beside it deep enough to dip its whole head, then step down to a lower-protein grower feed…
Weigh each chick on the same day every week and record the weight beside a note of its feathering stage — wings, tail, back and breast — plus a same-angle photograph. A slow developer shows in the pattern: gains that flatten for two weeks while hatchmates keep climbing, or feathering sitting a full stage behind the…
Work in short, calm layers: hands before brushes, one tool at a time, and rugs introduced as a draped cloth before any strap is fastened. Pair sessions with an existing anchor like feeding time, keep the stable's daily order of feed, hay and water the same, and always finish a step while the youngster is still relaxed…
Young chickens learn the coop as home first and the dusk routine second. Keep them shut in the coop for a few days so it imprints as their roost, then, in their first evenings out, scatter a little scratch feed just inside the door about half an hour before sunset, call them in the same way each night, and walk any…
Feed the lamb like a sheep, not like a pet: keep bottles to a set routine, feed in the pen without cuddling sessions or hand-fed treats between times, and house the lamb with other lambs or calm sheep so his real social life is the flock. Do not play pushing games, pat his head in ways that invite butting, or let him…
Kids do not test a fence the way adults do — they climb it, bounce off it and pour through gaps that look far too small — so give the young goats their own secure nursery pen rather than trusting the adult field: fine mesh they cannot push a head through, no climbable rails or nearby launch pads, a strand of electric…
Start small and quiet: short turnout sessions in a small, safe paddock with sound fencing, good footing and no other horses, lengthening the time out as the foal strengthens and the mare settles. Keep other horses away until the foal is steady on his legs and the mare's protectiveness has eased, introduce company…
Keepers usually sit down with their vet over two kinds of vaccination cover for young calves, clostridial cover and respiratory cover, and over a short list of checks: navel healing, colostrum history, growth, and scour watching. Every item on that agenda is the vet's decision, made inside a herd health plan for that…
Chicks start at 90–95 °F (32–35 °C) in week one, dropping about 5 °F (about 3 °C) weekly: week two 85–90 °F (29–32 °C), week three 80–85 °F (27–29 °C), week four 75–80 °F (24–27 °C), week five 70–75 °F (21–24 °C), and week six 65–70 °F (18–21 °C), by which point most are feathered. Begin bedding with paper towels for…
A newborn foal should stand within about an hour, suckle colostrum soon afterwards, and then pass the dark first droppings, the meconium. Note each milestone time on a stable-door card as it happens, because memory blurs badly after a sleepless foaling night, and seek urgent veterinary advice if standing, suckling or…
Feed three rations in a set order as they grow: a starter ration from hatch to about six weeks, a grower ration from about six weeks until point of lay, and a layer ration only once laying starts. Point of lay commonly arrives around eighteen to twenty-two weeks depending on breed: starter supports fast early growth,…
Wean gradually, staged over days to weeks, and only move to final separation once the foal is confidently eating forage and hard feed and drinking on his own, holding his weight on feed rather than on milk. Begin with short separations while the foal stands beside a calm companion, lengthen them slowly, and keep mare…
Check the calf in this order: breathing steady, drying and warmth underway, the navel treated, a strong suck reflex, and early dung passed; then check the cow for bleeding or rejection of her calf. Make sure it takes colostrum in the first hours after birth. Start its birth record with date and time, dam, sire, sex,…
A foal's feet should be observed from birth, and each foot picked up and held briefly inside calm handling from the early days, with limbs never forced, so foot care feels ordinary long before trimming matters. The farrier should see the foal within its first month, or sooner if limbs look crooked or toes wear…
Work in order from the moment the kid arrives: dry it thoroughly and keep it warm out of draughts, dip its navel with a general disinfectant, and get colostrum from the dam into it as the first feed, ideally within the first couple of hours and certainly inside the first six. Then confirm the kid is suckling with a…
A healthy foal typically gains on the order of a couple of pounds a day in the early months, tapering as the months pass, while looking bright, nursing well, and growing steady and even. Judge the gain alongside the visible checks: ribs covered but feelable under a light hand, a smooth topline, and no sudden spurts…
In their first week, piglets need a warm, draft-free creep that the sow cannot lie in, with guard rails or a protected corner giving them an escape space when she moves. They need colostrum access in the first hours, and a weak or chilled piglet should be helped to a teat quickly, warmed in the creep and guided to…
Build the creep around the full set: lamb-sized gaps or adjustable bars that adults cannot pass, a dry, draft-free spot near the resting mothers, creep feed, low clean water, and dry bedding, with the mothers fed outside the entrance so the young learn the way in by following them to the barrier and slipping through.…
Fit the headcollar during calm handling first, and let the foal simply wear it. Only ask for steps once the collar itself means nothing. Practise the release yourself on a fence post first — your timing, not the foal's strength, is what teaches the lesson. Share each tiny session as an assigned duty through KinsLe's…
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