weaned early, calf doing better

[jawsmom]

Has anyone ever observed this before? We have a 4-month old steer calf.
He just wasn't growing like he should. Mama never had a great bag, so we
put out some creep and he did okay. Decided to ship her and wean him early.
No point keeping her if she can't raise a calf. ( Yes we disclosed why she was a
cull, she went for slaughter). Now, two weeks later on grass and a few cubes twice
a week, this calf is really starting to take off! My logic tells me he's getting better
nutrition from the grass than he was getting from her and eats more grass since he's
not nursing. Am I way off base or have any of you had similar experiences?

 

[Chuckie]

Calves get milk from mom in the beginning as nourishment. Then as they begin to age, they start to nibble at the grass and hay, if the quality of both is good, and the protein level is such that they get nurishment enough to grow. Actually, mom's milk is just not enough for the calf to grow on. I had rather have a cow (Angus example) with a milk rating between +10 to +19, than I had one with numbers in the 20's and over. That is enough milk to get them started. The calf doesn't kick it into gear until it starts eating clover, or what ever high quality food substance you have provided for it. Clover and Orchard Grass are an excellent choice in my opinion.

I just had a 3 month old heifer orphaned, and the pasture was not up to par, no rain, and she was not visiting the creep feeder that had been set up. So, I brought her home so that she would find the feed. She did, and she is doing fine. Even the ones that are still with their mom's, in a clover pasture, they really take off once they start eating on their own. The milk is almost a security or a snack when it comes to one a few months old. A cow that is a heavy milker is a hard keeper and she pulls herself down trying to support the snack for the calf.

I can see where your little steer would be doing really well now. He just needed some extra help growing.
Chuckie

 

[Chuckie]

Jawamom,
How is your calf doing now?
Chuckie

 

[hillbillycwo]

Weaned all of mine at about 5-6 months. We wean in the barn and those babies will go off feed for a week! No hay and no feed. They get to looking rough. Then it's like oh yea I am hungry and they really put the feed bag on and start growing. Is that common?

 

[dun]

Weaned all of mine at about 5-6 months. We wean in the barn and those babies will go off feed for a week! No hay and no feed. They get to looking rough. Then it's like oh yea I am hungry and they really put the feed bag on and start growing. Is that common?

The stress of weaning will normally put them off feed for a time while they're looking for mom, particularly if they aren;t already bunk/hay broke. Fenceline weaning eliminates or at least decreases the off-feed time. Our's start gaining within a day or 2 and don;t really go off feed at all.

 

[hillbillycwo]

I like that idea alot. However, My fence situation isn't good enuff for that YET. I will get to that point because as you said they never really come off feed. Mine don't get weaned until they start scrappin at the feed bunk with the cows. I weaned one lil bull that would get in the bunk and fight the bull for his share of the feed. It was too funny to watch. That bull would back down form him and let the lil fella eat.

 

[redcowsrule33]

Are you starting them out on the same feed they were getting with the cows? If not, that would be a good place to start. Change too many things (weaning, put in the barn and their ration) and you are looking for trouble. You can always put them on a better ration slowly once they are over the weaning and eating well. We "fenceline" wean our calves (put in a board pen that the cows have access to on the other side) and they get a bale in the same type of feeder that they're used to and they do fine, never off their feed. They are also exposed to that pen, the waterer, etc. for awhile ahead of time so they aren't in foreign territory.

 

[hillbillycwo]

Ya. They get the same feed as the cows. They eat that up. We limit that tho to prevent scours and gradually work them up in amount on it. This also gets them coming to being called fairly quickly and makes them easier to handle. The ones we weaned this spring didn't take a week to get at the hay as they had already been used to getting it. These last two groups though had never seen hay and had no idea what to do with it. But man they go through that OG/alfalfa hay once they figure it out!

 

[jawsmom]

Yea, he's kickin some serious butt now on growth. He likes the cubes better than the
pellets and that's fine don't have to have two feeds right now. I'm guessing by looking
at him that in the time we took mom to the sale, maybe not quite a month ago, he's
put on 75 lbs maybe more which is way better ADG than prior to weaning. I think he
may actually come close to catching up to his peers in another month. Appreciate all
the replies didn't mean to not answer. School started and it's overtime now for a
few weeks. If I can ever remember to take a camera out to the pasture I'll post a pic.