No, I'm not a fan of weaning calves, i don't find it to be a very profitable practice in most cases. I'm trailer weaning 7-8 month old calves at about 650lbs.My $1250 (cdn) calves this year were about $1000 US but it sounds like half as many hay bales get fed/cow in your area so the $ works out much the same after feed is taken out.
My point is there's room to make a profit with cattle even when you have to feed 200 days a year when hay is on the expensive side but your operation may have a different make up and focus. To survive we have to be good at efficiently feeding cattle and maximizing the $/h we bring in before we start adding value that costs $. We're constantly trying to learn how to extend the grazing season to lower feed costs. On the flip side there might even be things someone with close to year round grazing could learn about the business from people who can turn a profit while spending about a third of what comes in per year on feed if they wanted to.