In the wild, mares only wean their foal after giving birth to the next. It is, therefore, the newborn that gently chases away the yearling that remains close to its mother and her new offspring. Breeders, on the other hand, separate the foals from their mothers at around six months of age. Thoroughbreds - like those of the Haras des Étincelles in the Calvados department - are weaned at five months, Selle Français at five or six months, and draft horses at six or seven months. Weaning foals earlier on farms helps preserve the mares that carry a foal each year. Their two small udders containing much less milk than those of cows, foals suckle forty to seventy times a day at the start of their growth and still twenty times a day at the age of six months.