Katpau
Well-known member
Our ranch is a little over 2 miles from one end to the other and the corrals are in the middle. The house is a mile away up on a ridge near the west end entrance. I wish I could say I was smart enough to have planned that, but we put the corals down near the old original homestead where a large barn was located, and built the house where access to utilities was closer. It works out great at weaning. You can barely hear them down in the valley, if you stand outside, but not at all from in the house.
We start weaning by bringing everyone into the corrals and then sort Momma's out while leaving the calves in the small pasture surrounding the corrals. It is pretty quiet the first day, but sometime during that evening, they all realize they are separated and all hell breaks lose. The cows have access to a better pasture, but need to leave the fence-line by the calves and move up the road about a quarter mile. It usually only takes two days. Once we get them into the better pasture, we shut a gate behind them and open the gate on the other side of the corral so the calves can go into a pasture that was saved for that purpose. There is very little crying beyond day 3, but the morning after you first separate them is extremely stressful. I get stressed in any noisy situation, so I hate it. I hate parties, sporting events, crowded restaurants, concerts and anything that is noisy, so a group of screaming cows and calves really gets to me. I am so thankful to only have to listen to it for a short time each day when we go down to feed calves in the corrals.
We start weaning by bringing everyone into the corrals and then sort Momma's out while leaving the calves in the small pasture surrounding the corrals. It is pretty quiet the first day, but sometime during that evening, they all realize they are separated and all hell breaks lose. The cows have access to a better pasture, but need to leave the fence-line by the calves and move up the road about a quarter mile. It usually only takes two days. Once we get them into the better pasture, we shut a gate behind them and open the gate on the other side of the corral so the calves can go into a pasture that was saved for that purpose. There is very little crying beyond day 3, but the morning after you first separate them is extremely stressful. I get stressed in any noisy situation, so I hate it. I hate parties, sporting events, crowded restaurants, concerts and anything that is noisy, so a group of screaming cows and calves really gets to me. I am so thankful to only have to listen to it for a short time each day when we go down to feed calves in the corrals.
