Calf Died

[Scotty]

Help me out here. A guy that leases a place next to me never weans his calves. I mean he sells his calve when the next one is born. He is a weekend rancher, if you will, and asked me what I thought the problem was. The calf was born during a dry time and lived about a week until it rained and got cold. I went out on a limb and told him that he should wean his calves befor the next one because I thought that it might not have gotten any colostrum. I guesse my question is was I right. If a cow never goes dry will she produce colostrum when she has her next calf. :?:

 

[dun]

You're right

dun

 

[kjerckie]

I learned something else! Good question Scotty. So how long should the last calf be weaned before the next birth, for cow to produce colostrum?

 

[dun]

Just a guess but I would think 30-60 days to get the quality and quantity that is needed. It's also tough on a cow to not go through some rest period. Continual milking decreases the volume and the quality of the milk over time.

dun

 

[jt]

i read or was told somewhere way back... take the calf off the cow at no later than at 7 months pregnancy.

jt

 

[Ann Bledsoe]

Dairies have always dried cows off 60 days before the next calf is expected. Recent studies have shown though, that for cows in reasonable flesh condition, a 30 day dry period seems to be adequate.
The only problems seen with the shorter dry period were with cows that calved early, and so were dry for less than 30 days.

The studies didn't record anything on the calves or the quality of the colostrum, only the effect of the short dry period on the cow's health and production.

Ann B

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

Am I missing something here about time tested "rule" of weaning beef calves at 205 days (give or take few days)?

Avoid problems...don't wean too early and certainly don't let the calf stay on the teat until he is 8+ months old.

At about 8 months old he is old enough for sure to fend for him/herself. Same with kids when they reach 18 years old....

 

[Texan]

Am I missing something here about time tested "rule" of weaning beef calves at 205 days (give or take few days)?

Avoid problems...don't wean too early........

So, Bill----I guess you don't believe in early weaning to give the cows a break in dry years with poor pasture conditions? That's one of the things we do to "avoid problems." Guess we break the "rule" sometimes around here. We can rough a dry cow through on sorry pasture and feed her weaned calf cheaper and more efficiently than we can feed the wet cow.

 

[ollie]

Am I missing something here about time tested "rule" of weaning beef calves at 205 days (give or take few days)?

Avoid problems...don't wean too early and certainly don't let the calf stay on the teat until he is 8+ months old.

At about 8 months old he is old enough for sure to fend for him/herself. Same with kids when they reach 18 years old....

My cows if given grass can and some years do raise calves till the oldest calves are 9 mos. or so. I get paid in pounds not adjusted 205 day weight. My cows don't have anything else to do anyway.

 

[Ryan]

We wean more on condition of land and cow, than age of calf. If the cow looks good, and lots of grass, we'll let the calf stay a lil longer, but if the cow looks bad, and/or there is not much grass, we pull them off early.

 

[trip]

we'v always felt that for a cow to maintain her ability to get anewborn calf off to a good start, she needs a good 60 days between weaning and calving

 

[TheBullLady]

It's just hard for a cow to recover any weight at all if you never wean a calf. If the neighbor is a "weekend rancher" as you suggested, I doubt that he's spending much money on supplements to keep her in top condition.

It's just hard on the cow, and I imagine she'll get to the point where she doesn't breed back because of poor condition.

 

[Rustler9]

We wean our calves anywhere from five to seven months but really try to get them at no more than six months. I always like to let the cow have a rest even if she's a big fat one. Last Saturday we pulled some off that were six and seven months old but I had one nice heifer that was as big as the others at five months so I put her in the corral too. I hate to see people let their cows go down like the weekend rancher.