Need some guidance on weaning.

Help Support CattleToday:

MikeC":216p66bx said:
Just wondering how many commercial producers have birthdates on calves and calculate 205 day adjustment weights?

If not, How would you make culling decisions/heifer retention decisions in order to improve your herd beyond the obvious visual imperfections?

I have every birthdate recorded but the only weights we get come from the salebarn when they are sold. If you know your herd well you know which cows are the most fertile, which ones wean the heaviest calf consistently, which ones calve early each year (these are usually your better cows unless you let opens hang around), whos walking a fine line between the pasture and the patty, etc. Knowing your best cows allows you to retain your best heifers. the first criteria is being the daughter of a best cow. after that you get a pass/fail based on disposition, visual appraisal, fertility, etc.
 
Dee":89hst81k said:
Cert, why do you wean show calves ealier? In order to have extra time to work with them, get them in shape, etc? Just curious, I have one show heifer this year, and am weaning the whole herd except that one in a few weeks. So now I am wondering if I am doing it backwards?

Dee, I calve in march. My show season starts in August with the state fair. First county in ohio is early July. I bring the show calves in over July 4th weekend. That way I can get them over the weaning stress, get them on feed and get a halter on them.
 
MikeC":1a8itwuj said:
So you're saying averaging it is as good as measuring it?

A 600 lb. calf at 205 days would have a WDA of 2.92 lbs/day.
A 600 lb. calf at 145 days would have a WDA of 4.13 lbs/day.

Assuming you have a 60 day breeding season, and these two calves are in the "Average" you would be "Fooled" by nearly a nearly 50% difference!

I'm sorry, but your methods wouldn't be enough info for me.
I would say that the cow that weaned the heavier calf is going to require more feed and is already at the end of the 60 day window and may be open the next year.
 
bobrammer":3j0dqmvb said:
I'm brand new, so please laugh quietly to yourself. How do you determine when to wean calves and what is the best technique? I'm on 42 acres. Thanks!

We raised Registered Angus and the bull test station pretty well dictates our weaning times. We want the bulls to be 45 days weaned when we deliver them to test. Our Jan/Feb bulls will be delivered early in October, so we'll be weaning them later this week. We're also going to wean the one March bull calf; he's young, but so is his mother and she can stand the break. We got them up week before last and gave them shots. When we wean them, we'll give them boosters, weigh them, and shut them up in the corral with hay and water. Their dams will be able to come up to the corral and smell of them through the fence as long as they're interested, generally three days. After they've started ignoring their dams and watching for the feed bucket, we'll turn them out in a small pasture near the barn and move their dams to a pasture where they can't see each other. We've had some rain (yea!), so there will be decent grass for them, but we'll start them on a growth ration and keep that up until we deliver them for test in October. We'll just leave the March bull calf with the heifers until December when his age group delivers to test. Vaccinations are very important. Good luck...
 
bobrammer":aumqbob5 said:
I'm brand new, so please laugh quietly to yourself. How do you determine when to wean calves and what is the best technique? I'm on 42 acres. Thanks!
Since you're new, we should probably keep it relatively simple so that you don't have to absorb too much information. In my opinion, the best advice for someone in your position was this:

certherfbeef":aumqbob5 said:
....look at the condition of the pastures and the BCS of the cows.
My pasture took a hard hit just the past 2 months. Pulled the calves to give the cows a little longer break. Some extra time to bounce back with some condition before the winter.
On a year with adequate moisture, I would have left the calves a little longer. Cow won't eat as much if she isn't working twice as hard. Look at your feed supply for the winter. If you have more than enough, maybe keep the calves a little longer.

You don't need a hard and fast plan for weaning. What works this year might not work next year. Aim for six or seven months. But be flexible enough to go longer if you can. Or to wean at four months if you need to.
 
Texan":2lzz12lu said:
bobrammer":2lzz12lu said:
I'm brand new, so please laugh quietly to yourself. How do you determine when to wean calves and what is the best technique? I'm on 42 acres. Thanks!
Since you're new, we should probably keep it relatively simple so that you don't have to absorb too much information. In my opinion, the best advice for someone in your position was this:

certherfbeef":2lzz12lu said:
....look at the condition of the pastures and the BCS of the cows.
My pasture took a hard hit just the past 2 months. Pulled the calves to give the cows a little longer break. Some extra time to bounce back with some condition before the winter.
On a year with adequate moisture, I would have left the calves a little longer. Cow won't eat as much if she isn't working twice as hard. Look at your feed supply for the winter. If you have more than enough, maybe keep the calves a little longer.

You don't need a hard and fast plan for weaning. What works this year might not work next year. Aim for six or seven months. But be flexible enough to go longer if you can. Or to wean at four months if you need to.


This is some of the best advice I have heard in a long time. One benefit to knowing the age is if or when we all have to go to RFID and sorce varification you will need to know the age for those reasons.


Scotty
 

Latest posts

Top