Pulling calves off cows to cycle

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

In the past, there have been several threads on getting cows to cycle by pulling the calves off for 48 hours. This has been reported by many univ. but I have always been skeptical. First, I would worry about the health of the calves. Here's a 1.5 to 3 month old calf that has never eaten grain, depending on mom's milk & some hay/pasture. Than, what about the milk production on mom. I was always told, if you pull a calf off for weaning, after about 24 hours, the cows milk production will slow down or stop. (that's not quite true, though). But, I still think if you pull the calf for 48 hours, this is going to reduce her full potential of milk production for the next 5-6 months.
Than, I also thought that the "cycle" would be a "stressed" cycle and how well will she conceive.
Well, here's part of an article about early weaning calves during drought, by Glen Selk, OSU.
"Calves can be successfully weaned at 6-8 weeks of age and efficiently raised to a normal weaning weight in drylot. Early weaning will permit high conception rates and rapid rebreeding. While early weaning is certainly not recommended as standard practice, it should be useful in times of drought when purchased feed may be more efficiently fed directly to the calf than to the lactating cow. Early weaning may also offer cattlemen a chance to achieve high conception rates in cows too thin to rebreed otherwise. Ranchers that observe heats closely, (i.e. those doing A.I.) will notice that a large percentage of cows "early weaned" will have short (10 - 12 day) first estrous cycles after the weaning process. Subsequent cycles are normal.

So, that comment, makes ME think (as I have always thought) that you would be getting low conception rates if you breed on that cycle after "pulling calves for 48 hours".
What are your thoughts?

 

[Workinonit Farm]

So, that comment, makes ME think (as I have always thought) that you would be getting low conception rates if you breed on that cycle after "pulling calves for 48 hours".
What are your thoughts?

I tried this one year with a small group. The result I had was contrary to the study. The following season the majority of that group calved a "cycle" later than the rest in the herd. The "pulled" group (not weaned, just pulled for 48 hrs.) were proven cows, healthy with no trouble in the past. I did not notice any drop in milk production.
I chalked up the low conception rate to the disruption/stress of trying this method.
While what I did was not a controlled scientific study, I didn't find that this would work in my sistuation. It may work well for others though.

Katherine

 

[ffamom]

We have used a little different approach. We allow the calves to stay with mom during the night and nurse in the morning. Then we seperate the cows and calves during the day. If a cow wasn't cycling, she has always started after we did this. So far, we have had a 100 % conception rate (AI) on the 1st try. We allow the calves to creep feed during the day. I must clarify and state that we only have a small herd of ex show cows. Probably will not work with a large herd.

 

[milkmaid]

I can't comment on how well they'll breed back on the first cycle after pulling calves as I'm not sure...but I can comment on the milk production. Looking at it from a dairy standpoint, if the cow is being milked 2x a day at ~12 hour intervals and she misses one milking (obviously she's going to be really full), gets milked out completely at the following milking (24 hours past previous milking), the NEXT milking 12 hours later will have decreased production, sometimes the next one after that, but they rapidly return to previous production. Doesn't throw them off that much. Been there seen that.

I do know you "can" wean at 6-8 weeks of age - I do it with bottle calves, but never with calves on a nurse cow. The latter isn't that different from one of your beef cow/calf pairs, as I leave cow/calves together 24/7. Earliest I'll wean calves on a nurse cow is 10-13 weeks as they just don't wean well earlier than that.

 

[1848]

Seperating cows and calves, if even for part of the day helps the cows by keeping them in better condition. Which in turn helps them to cycle sooner. It helps the calves by making them rely on other nutrition to keep them growing. Their grazing ability can be supressed by good rich milk, so they aren't foraging as hard. It also makes weaning time easier. ;-)

In the human race it dosen't take simple measures like 48 hours to get them all worked up and ready for service. It takes a some chocolate, flowers, some sweet talk, a ring, a car, ...and......a comittment! :shock:

:lol: :lol: Just joking Ladies!

Of course 48 hours without the kids can make "some" difference

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Well you don't pull the calve's off for 48 hours you pull them off for 24 hours and they should began too cycle within 48 hours kinda like giving them a hormone implant. stops the flow of estrogen through the milk and sends it back into the system. never done it like my fences in the upright position ;-)