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Health & Nutrition
Early Weaning due to poor BCS
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<blockquote data-quote="cypressfarms" data-source="post: 608442" data-attributes="member: 2653"><p>From my point of view you have a few options:</p><p></p><p>1. Calf is 3 1/2 months old. It could make it on it's own now, although it may suffer some (weight gain).</p><p></p><p>2. Put a "creep feeder" in so only the calf can eat feed. This will allow the calf to get his nutrients from the feed as opposed to moma. Moma's first priority is to feed the calf, then condition herself. So her condition will suffer.</p><p></p><p>3. Feed both moma and calf for quicker results. Moma needs to a certain BCS to cycle.</p><p></p><p></p><p>A couple of things you didn't put: What BCS score is moma cow now? If she was an 8 or 9 and dropped to a 6, then you don't have a serious problem (As opposed to if she were a 6 and now dropped to a 4)</p><p></p><p>Something else to look at: You said moma was a 3 year old, so maybe she's still growing. With a mature cow, if they cannot handle milking a calf and rebreeding with the rest of the cows <u>they are culled</u>. You don't want to have to feed this cow every winter because she is in poor condition.</p><p></p><p>Having said this there have been years when I've sold calves early because the herd BCS as a whole was suffering due to poor hay and I didn't want the cows to not cycle (thus delaying next year's calving). But this was a nutrition problem because of my management, not an individual cow who wasn't an easy keeper.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="cypressfarms, post: 608442, member: 2653"] From my point of view you have a few options: 1. Calf is 3 1/2 months old. It could make it on it's own now, although it may suffer some (weight gain). 2. Put a "creep feeder" in so only the calf can eat feed. This will allow the calf to get his nutrients from the feed as opposed to moma. Moma's first priority is to feed the calf, then condition herself. So her condition will suffer. 3. Feed both moma and calf for quicker results. Moma needs to a certain BCS to cycle. A couple of things you didn't put: What BCS score is moma cow now? If she was an 8 or 9 and dropped to a 6, then you don't have a serious problem (As opposed to if she were a 6 and now dropped to a 4) Something else to look at: You said moma was a 3 year old, so maybe she's still growing. With a mature cow, if they cannot handle milking a calf and rebreeding with the rest of the cows [u]they are culled[/u]. You don't want to have to feed this cow every winter because she is in poor condition. Having said this there have been years when I've sold calves early because the herd BCS as a whole was suffering due to poor hay and I didn't want the cows to not cycle (thus delaying next year's calving). But this was a nutrition problem because of my management, not an individual cow who wasn't an easy keeper. [/QUOTE]
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Early Weaning due to poor BCS
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