nathan arizona
Well-known member
I've got five calves that I separated from their mommas today. I've moved them to my little pasture which has a 1 acre area that's separated from the rest of the pasture. The calves are in the 1 acre lot and there's a hot wire on both sides of the fence that separates them from the rest of the pasture. Calves and mommas can see each other fine. I'd like to move the mommas back to my bigger pasture as soon as I can. There's a lot more grass there, it's where my squeeze chute is, and I'd like to have them preg checked as soon as possible. How long would you wait to move them? Also, I'd like to let the calves have access to the entire little pasture after I do this – they'd have access to a pond, so I wouldn't have to water them and there's still grass they could eat. My only issue is that the fence separating the two areas isn't in the best of shape. It's not broken anywhere, but it's in a swampy area and if the calves were motivated enough, I'm sure that they could get through. After a couple of weeks, does their desire to nurse start to decrease enough that they would be content in to stay away from momma? Or should I just keep them in the 1 acre area for the duration?