weaning bull calf

[sporder]

at what age do you like to wean bull calves. is it better to wean them early and get them on grain to build them up or will they do as well with mother. dont have a creep feeder so unable to feed calves extra grian because they dont get a look in with the older cows. does it do them more harm than good feeding grain to try and increase size. have read it can effect their fertility.

 

[Frankie]

at what age do you like to wean bull calves. is it better to wean them early and get them on grain to build them up or will they do as well with mother. dont have a creep feeder so unable to feed calves extra grian because they dont get a look in with the older cows. does it do them more harm than good feeding grain to try and increase size. have read it can effect their fertility.

What are you going to do with the bull calves? We raise our bull calves on the cow and grass until they're 7-8 months old. We wean them, introduce them to grain and deliver them to the bull test station about six weeks later. It doesn't seem to hurt their fertility. They do grow well and commercial cattlemen seem to like them.

 

[sporder]

this is my first calving season so intend to raise this bull calf to see what he turns out like. idealy i will sell him on prob to dairy farmer as a cover for his ai. ( have quite afew dairy farms in my area). only have small horned hereford herd which produced 4 calves this year and hopefully 6 next. just feeling my way into it at the moment.