Weaning Calves quicker with Best Success
- Thread starter tdarden3k
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M5farm
Well-known member
If I am keeping some for replacement heifers I pen the calfs where the cows can smell them but not see them and they will beller for a couple of days. if i'm selling some I will load and go and they still beller a couple of days.
We do fencline weaning. The calves and cows are adjacent to each other for a couple of days. After those few days they've pretty much got over the worst of it, they might bawl the first night (the calves) and the second day (the cows) by the third day that's all stopped. We then move the cows to a pasture that they can see each other but not get near each other. After a couple of days of that the cows are moved to one of the hay fields that are out of sight and earshot of the calves. We start the calves on a little grain and gradually ramp them up to about 1 - 1 1/2 % of their weight. Then at 45 days or so we cut them off cold and turn the retained heifers out to pasture and the rest of them go to the salebarn. The calves are all broken to hotwire at a tender age so we just use a single strand of hotwire to seperate the cows and calves during those first couple of days.
Let them wean naturally...their mothers will wean them when they are ready. All my replacement heifers I kept this year..about 21 of them I just left them with the cows. No separating, no separate lots, no bawling, no stress. Right now with these heifers at about 12 to 13 months old, their mamas have new babies at their side. Their yearling calves are just like any other cow in the herd....no conflict.
It does take a leap of faith, because it is something we don't hear much about, but it has worked well for me.
It does take a leap of faith, because it is something we don't hear much about, but it has worked well for me.
SRBeef
Well-known member
I think we should leave the calves on the cows longer rather than shorter times, but depending on local conditions. I have been weaning spring calves at about 205 days but will be leaving them on longer, maybe another 30-45 days.
But in Wisconsin it can be tough to keep condition on a late 2nd or 3rd trimester cow with a big calf still on her in the dead of winter out in the pasture. It is a trade off between calf and cow benefits.
Most important long term is to have that cow at or close to a BCS 6 at calving time so she will calve successfully then breed back quickly.
I see some cows weaning calves themselves at less than 200 days or some that never seem to self wean.
Fenceline weaning spring calves at about 240 days seems to me to be about where I want to be in the north.
Jim
But in Wisconsin it can be tough to keep condition on a late 2nd or 3rd trimester cow with a big calf still on her in the dead of winter out in the pasture. It is a trade off between calf and cow benefits.
Most important long term is to have that cow at or close to a BCS 6 at calving time so she will calve successfully then breed back quickly.
I see some cows weaning calves themselves at less than 200 days or some that never seem to self wean.
Fenceline weaning spring calves at about 240 days seems to me to be about where I want to be in the north.
Jim
MarkM
Well-known member
Banjo,
When and how do you wean the bull calves?
When and how do you wean the bull calves?
they all get banded around 4 to 500lb unless I just sell a few bull calves off the cow. If I keep a bull as a future herd bull then at some point he needs to go somewhere. As far as weaning, I left him with his mother up untill about 2 months ago or about 10 months old. Just being on grass and or hay and still with their mother I think their maturity is delayed somewhat (the heifers)...thats just my opinion. Agmantoo, seems to think this way too.MarkM":1pguzlxt said:
ousoonerfan22
Well-known member
Banjo":2nigolze said:
You guys must not be in the drought the last two years? When there's not much grass by the time the calves are in the 450-550 pound range they start sucking their mothers down.
MarkM
Well-known member
Banjo":pg2x8ci9 said:
So, you are in the same camp with agmantoo that does not have an issue with the bull calves breeding the heifer calves too early?
You band them and leave them with the herd unless they are herd bull prospects?
Thanks,
Mark
Yea pretty much I am.......I hear of heifers getting bred at 4 months or 6 months but I don't have that problem. All the heifers I keep seem to always be towards the last ones to calve. They don't seem to mature as fast as those that are fed/pushed real fast. A lot of this is uncharted territory so to speak. But I think about those herds of buffalo 200 years ago where the males and females and young bulls and heifers all run together. If the heifers all got bred to young and weren't able to have their calf then they would have all died out long before the time they were almost exterminated by the buffalo hunters. As Greg Judy says....mimick nature.MarkM":24f4eqot said:
Naturally, the banded bulls are no worry.
inyati13
Well-known member
Banjo, I have thought about what you have stated above. In addition to Bison (buffalo), there are wild cattle all over the world. Cape Buffalo in Africa. Gaur, banteng, water buffalo in Asia. No one is helping them wean their calves. Nature has ways to deal with inbreeding but it is not totally eliminated in nature. The guy with the most cattle in the county where my operation is located (I do not subscribe to his methods) has told me he pays no attention to inbreeding. He sells only feeder cattle for slaughter. He said he can not tell the difference for several generations.
I like fenceline weaning and that is what I do. I like my feeder calves to be ready for survivial at the next level. On feed and vaccinated.
I like fenceline weaning and that is what I do. I like my feeder calves to be ready for survivial at the next level. On feed and vaccinated.
At this point I'm not doing any severe inbreeding. My cows are crossed up 2 to 3 different ways in three different herds. However they are all related. I raise a bull for breeding every year or two mostly for cleanup. Its been difficult for me keeping my own bulls because I have a significant bit of beefmaster in some of my cows and those homeraised bulls multipliy those beefmaster qualities...like the big ears, large sheath, horns. etc. that the salebarns discount heavily for around here.inyati13":1pagh8ao said:
Also, I don't know how to avoid inbreeding completely if you want to keep heifers and you want to keep the bull they are out of. With more than one herd I'm able to prolong it. I guess the answer would be to AI, but I don't want to go that route.inyati13":20dhoh5j said:
inyati13
Well-known member
Banjo":26r00blr said:
Banjo, you are selling cattle for hamburger and steaks, is inbreeding going to matter? As long as the cattle you are producing are making good gains and selling well, I don't see any worries! The guy I mentioned above seems to be doing better than anyone around when it comes to making money. He does not have a high school education. No one gave him anything and he has acquired over 500 acres in Kentucky and the family farm over in Ohio.
greybeard
Well-known member
You have any problems with the 12-13 month olds still trying to nurse along with the new calves? I saw lots of that happening around here in 2011's summer drought.Banjo":3mmumznj said:
No, not to say that problem don't exist in some herds. I saw one trying to nurse about 2 months before they started calving, but when I looked closer she was just licking the teat, her mama raised her leg after just a few seconds as if to tell the calf to stop and she did. They were all weaned a month to two months before the new calves came.greybeard":23upu27b said:
chippie
Well-known member
Banjo, unless you watch your cattle 24/7, I bet that the yearlings will be stealing milk when you aren't looking.
Our neighbor does what you do and I see 11 + month old calves nursing right along with the new one.
Our neighbor does what you do and I see 11 + month old calves nursing right along with the new one.
I see the same thing aorund here. I prefer to have the calves on the same vacintion schedule, by weaning it allows us to use MLV on the calves and more closely track what cows are doing their jobs better.chippie":11iijutl said:
Thanks for the replies .... Gentlemen and Ladies. So basically if I were to separate at 9-10 months via whatever method that I choose, I should be able to re-introduce the heifers back into the original herd to overwinter together 2 months or so later, and be pretty much assured that there will be NO re-hookups ???
