Natural weaning?
- Thread starter S.R.R.
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Victoria
Well-known member
I have read that in the "wild" Scottish Highlands will only have a calf every two years and the yearlings still drink from their mothers. When the cow is ready to have her next calf supposedly she will keep her other calf away. True or not I don't know, just what I read many years ago on a book on Highlands.
We've only tried natural weaning once with one particular cow. Her calf was in the corral to be weaned and jumped out. We got her back in and she jumped out again. The mother is our lead cow and is smarter than your average cow (maybe even your average person
) so we decided to see if she would wean it herself. Had it been any other cow we would have found a way to get that heifer calf to auction. The cow weaned her that day. She didn't even wait until her other calf was born. She kept her calf with her, although we have two other daughters of hers and she travels with them too.
I wouldn't do it with just any cow though and I certainly wouldn't do it as a method of weaning. Most cows will not wean their own calves. If you are thinking about going that method S.R.R. you will pay for it in a lower survival rate of calves and run down cows.
We've only tried natural weaning once with one particular cow. Her calf was in the corral to be weaned and jumped out. We got her back in and she jumped out again. The mother is our lead cow and is smarter than your average cow (maybe even your average person
) so we decided to see if she would wean it herself. Had it been any other cow we would have found a way to get that heifer calf to auction. The cow weaned her that day. She didn't even wait until her other calf was born. She kept her calf with her, although we have two other daughters of hers and she travels with them too. I wouldn't do it with just any cow though and I certainly wouldn't do it as a method of weaning. Most cows will not wean their own calves. If you are thinking about going that method S.R.R. you will pay for it in a lower survival rate of calves and run down cows.
warpaint
Well-known member
It is kind of amazing that the Long Horns did as well as they did eh?[/quote]
I raise Longhorns . Still wouldn't do it!
I raise Longhorns . Still wouldn't do it!
dcara
Well-known member
Doesn't CattleAnnie run range cattle? Maybe she will chime in here and tell us her experiances with natural weaning.
We didn't breed it out of them. It is a product of the increased reproductive rates we expect out of our cows. If we did it all natural we would have calves less frequently and high death losses. Equaling less profit. If we wanted a real train wreck we could put about 1000 cows together and say vaccinations are all a hoax.
