Pasture Intake of Whole‐Day Stocked Thoroughbred Foals With Growth

We investigated the changes in the forage and nutrient intake of thoroughbred foals on pastures with whole‐day stocking with age. Twelve thoroughbred foals were used and were allowed to graze on a pasture for 21 h/day from June to September. All foals were weaned just before 5 months of age. The pasture intake of the foals was measured using the double‐indicator method. During the suckling period, the total voluntary dry matter intake (VDMI) of the pasture for foals was higher at 4 months (2.1 kgDM/day) than at 2 months (1.3 kgDM/day). However, VDMI of pastures per body weight (%BW) for foals was not significantly different (approximately 1%BW). After weaning, the VDMI of the pasture for foals at 5 months (4.8 kgDM/day) increased more than that at 4 months old. Thoroughbred foals under whole‐day stocking during the nursing period were dependent on dam's milk for approximately 60% of digestible energy (DE) requirements even at 4 months of age just before weaning. After weaning, crude protein was able to meet the requirement only with grass, whereas DE was able to reach 89% of the DE requirement from pasture and can meet this requirement with approximately 1 kg of the concentrate.