Menu
Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
New posts
New media
New media comments
New profile posts
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Members
Current visitors
New profile posts
Search profile posts
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles and first posts only
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Forums
Cattle Boards
Feedyard Board
Mob Feeding bought calves
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Help Support CattleToday:
Message
<blockquote data-quote="regolith" data-source="post: 846681" data-attributes="member: 9267"><p>One of the big drivers for getting calves onto grass early is disease control. The calves I bought in 2005 arrived with rotavirus and I've seen the bug every year since, a couple of times to the extent that I stopped using the shed even for the youngest calves.</p><p>Whether you can run them on grass will depend on your climate. They need shelter, regardless.</p><p></p><p>The very young calves, I might leave them on the area for a week or even two - they're not eating much and they get a fairly big area, I just don't want them to soil it badly enough that the cows won't want to eat it a few weeks later. Once they're eating a significant amount they get no more than three days in a paddock. I move them before they've picked out all the best leaves.</p><p>Part of the reason for that is that I've got a herd of cows coming in to graze behind them and I want the herd to get high quality feed. The other reason is just keeping the calves growing to their potential. If you leave thirty calves on 2 ha for a week you can look at the grass and see that there's lots there, but the calves are going hungry because they've saved the least palatable clumps to last and now they still don't want to eat them.</p><p>Once they're weaned I'm moving the group every day to a fresh paddock, they just skim the top off it and they're moved on. That has the advantage also of getting them used to the routine of walking through a gate every day. The amount they eat becomes unsustainable at around four to five months old for having them grazing in front of the cows, and then I allocate them a paddock and break feed it with electric fences, moving them every second day usually. They're not pushed to clean up the grass even at this stage, not till they're around a year old.</p><p>The simple answer regarding worms is that I don't really think about them. This regime effectively prevents the build-up of high worm burdens - I don't return calves to the same pasture when the grass has regrown, the cows have grazed it at least once if not twice before the calves see it again. I use a combination wormer very young - when I vaccinate at six weeks old, then at two - three month intervals when I remember or if I see a couple of dirty tails.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="regolith, post: 846681, member: 9267"] One of the big drivers for getting calves onto grass early is disease control. The calves I bought in 2005 arrived with rotavirus and I've seen the bug every year since, a couple of times to the extent that I stopped using the shed even for the youngest calves. Whether you can run them on grass will depend on your climate. They need shelter, regardless. The very young calves, I might leave them on the area for a week or even two - they're not eating much and they get a fairly big area, I just don't want them to soil it badly enough that the cows won't want to eat it a few weeks later. Once they're eating a significant amount they get no more than three days in a paddock. I move them before they've picked out all the best leaves. Part of the reason for that is that I've got a herd of cows coming in to graze behind them and I want the herd to get high quality feed. The other reason is just keeping the calves growing to their potential. If you leave thirty calves on 2 ha for a week you can look at the grass and see that there's lots there, but the calves are going hungry because they've saved the least palatable clumps to last and now they still don't want to eat them. Once they're weaned I'm moving the group every day to a fresh paddock, they just skim the top off it and they're moved on. That has the advantage also of getting them used to the routine of walking through a gate every day. The amount they eat becomes unsustainable at around four to five months old for having them grazing in front of the cows, and then I allocate them a paddock and break feed it with electric fences, moving them every second day usually. They're not pushed to clean up the grass even at this stage, not till they're around a year old. The simple answer regarding worms is that I don't really think about them. This regime effectively prevents the build-up of high worm burdens - I don't return calves to the same pasture when the grass has regrown, the cows have grazed it at least once if not twice before the calves see it again. I use a combination wormer very young - when I vaccinate at six weeks old, then at two - three month intervals when I remember or if I see a couple of dirty tails. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Forums
Cattle Boards
Feedyard Board
Mob Feeding bought calves
Top