Am I alone?

[Black and Good]

Am I the only one that hates to wean spring calves when the weather is in a heat pattern? I always like it to be in the 50's to 60's at night and maybe the upper 70's during the day. Or do you all wean by the almanac no matter what the weather. Just wondering. B&G :compute:

 

[J&D Cattle]

Heat is the biggest factor for me and then time to do it. I'll be waiting another couple weeks due to the heat here.

 

[Deepsouth]

Heat is the biggest factor for me and then time to do it. I'll be waiting another couple weeks due to the heat here.

I agree. I have some ready to wean but I'm waiting until September till it cools down a little.

 

[torogmc81]

Same boat here too. Looking for less humidity just as much as lower temps

 

[Jake]

Some folks around here swear by weaning in the heat. Says it keeps them from walking and bawling so much. I will say constant heat is a lot better than waiting until the temp is swinging 60 degrees every couple of days in October.

 

[greybeard]

Heat is the biggest factor for me and then time to do it. I'll be waiting another couple weeks due to the heat here.

I agree. I have some ready to wean but I'm waiting until September till it cools down a little.

Same boat here--might wait till the end of Sept even maybe 1st week Oct.

 

[Rafter S]

If I waited with weaning calves until it was cooler, they'd be almost a year old. I wean in late July or early August, when the calves are mostly 7-8 months old. I give them shade, feed, and all the water and hay they want, and they do fine.

 

[Lucky_P]

Recent (in the last 10 years) work looking at heat stress and optimizing response to BRD vaccines have brought the 85/70 rule of thumb to the forefront.
If daytime temps are above 85, and it doesn't cool down to at least 70 degrees for at least 4 hours at night... you don't need to be doing ANYTHING with cattle. Working cows in conditions above the 85/70 point can result in dead cattle - and even if you don't kill 'em, the likelihood that they're gonna respond favorably, if at all, to any vaccinations administered is pretty poor.

I'd needed to palpate my spring-calving cows, start pre-weaning vaccs. on the spring calves, and castrate/vaccinate some of the calves born in the past month this past weekend - but with the current heat/humidity conditions, I wasn't gonna risk it. Will just rotate 'em another time around the farm, and hope it's cooler when they come back around in 3 wks.

 

[u4411clb]

If I waited for it to cool off to wean I would have calves with their own calves still sucking their momma. I have seen absolutely no difference from how hot a day or week is in weaning. Just put in barn with feed and hay and plenty of water for 5 - 7 days and then let them out in grass lot for a week or two and then turn them out in their own pasture.

 

[dun]

Some folks around here swear by weaning in the heat. Says it keeps them from walking and bawling so much.

Could be that when it's hot they keep the windows closed so don;t hear then bawling.

 

[Limomike]

Some folks around here swear by weaning in the heat. Says it keeps them from walking and bawling so much.

Could be that when it's hot they keep the windows closed so don;t hear then bawling.

:lol: :lol: could be.
If I waited on the weather for most anything I do, I would be waiting and waiting and waiting.....

 

[Deepsouth]

Recent (in the last 10 years) work looking at heat stress and optimizing response to BRD vaccines have brought the 85/70 rule of thumb to the forefront.
If daytime temps are above 85, and it doesn't cool down to at least 70 degrees for at least 4 hours at night... you don't need to be doing ANYTHING with cattle. Working cows in conditions above the 85/70 point can result in dead cattle - and even if you don't kill 'em, the likelihood that they're gonna respond favorably, if at all, to any vaccinations administered is pretty poor.

I'd needed to palpate my spring-calving cows, start pre-weaning vaccs. on the spring calves, and castrate/vaccinate some of the calves born in the past month this past weekend - but with the current heat/humidity conditions, I wasn't gonna risk it. Will just rotate 'em another time around the farm, and hope it's cooler when they come back around in 3 wks.

Thanks for the advice Lucky.

 

[pdfangus]

another reason I like fall calving....work em in early april and wean about the first of may....has been my MO for thirty years....then when we have a good year use grass to raise the heifers....dry years I have to feed em more....

 

[Black and Good]

Thanks everyone for the responses. B&G

 

[Jake]

Some folks around here swear by weaning in the heat. Says it keeps them from walking and bawling so much.

Could be that when it's hot they keep the windows closed so don;t hear then bawling.

:lol: Very well could be. There are some cattle buyers around here that refer to October as "dead calf month" with the temp swings and everybody weaning calves it's not hard to see why.

 

[WalnutCrest]

While we're considering moving to fall calving, for now, we shoot for getting calves on the ground from mid-March to early May ... and weaning everyone right after Thanksgiving. It seems to me that this approach should lead to fewer calving problems (I've learned that calving in a blizzard ain't the best of ideas) and fewer weaning problems (as described above by others). I can see why guys who show calves would want to do it differently...that just ain't my thing...getting the greatest number of weaned and healthy calves with the least amount of effort possible is.

 

[Chuckie]

I understand why they wean cattle by the moon. For the simple reason that just before the moon goes into a "new moon,'' it is dark at night, and they can't see their mother's that well in the field and will lay down and sleep. But if the moon is between a full quarter and a full moon, there is so much light that they stay up watching the cow bawling.