AUGUST 1 is the official birthday of the thoroughbred, but Lyndhurst Stud Farm is getting the party started early after welcoming its first foal of the season.

The foal arrived two weeks premature and property sub manager Jeff Kruger said both mum and bub were doing great. "Premature births aren't entirely uncommon, we're lucky we were on watch and could attend to the horses' needs right away,” Mr Kruger said.

Linked to the breeding season, August 1 marks the standardised birthday for every thoroughbred, allowing standardised age in horse events.

The foal to stallion Better Than Ready and mare Rock Me Fast, doesn't have a registered name yet but Mr Kruger said racing ran in the family.

"The father is a very fast, well-known race horse trained in Brisbane and his first crop will turn two this coming month and eligible to race,” Mr Kruger said.

The stallion ended his racing career in 2014, after an injured tendon. He was the winner of eight races in 16 starts and a course record-breaker over 1200m at Royal Randwick cup in 2013.

Better Than Ready is one of four stallions residing at Lyndhurst for breeding. Mr Kruger said the stallion has had a successful three breeding seasons.

"This year will be his fourth year to stud and he's had about a 90 per cent fertility rate of the past three seasons,” he said.

"We serviced around 130 mares and this year we are looking at pairing 150 mares with him.”

The early foal is the first born at the horse stable, who are expecting the arrival of over 100 foals this season.

"Between now and Christmas we will have 120 to foal, it does get busy this time of year as we are foaling and taking mares back to stallions for insemination.” Mr Kruger said.

The stud farm is on double time as the horses are on 24-hour birth watch.

"We have cameras in the paddock which are monitored all the time, looking for birthing signs,” the sub manager said. "Good signs we're looking for are if the mare is running milk and or looking for a place to lay down, 99 per cent of will give birth laying down.”

Each foal born to this 2018 breeding season will celebrate its first birthday in August 2019.

The farm works with horse trainers around the state who turn to them for foaling.

"A majority of our horses reside with us all year round, but we do get extras this time of year specifically for foaling,” Mr Kruger said.

The manager's family has worked for Lyndhurst Stud Farm for 60 years and said sourcing hay and fodder is becoming difficult in the drought.

"The cost of fodder is growing expensive, we're lucky our suppliers still have good quality source at the moment,” he said.

"We go through almost 20 large bails a week and this time of year we need a lot to raise the foals.”

The new filly is spending time in the paddock not leaving her mothers side, awaiting the arrival of some new playmates.