Woodman":ztcd6keg said:How long does it take to wean a calf? Then can you return it to the same field w/ its' cow?
Cattle GirlCattle Girl":1yn1bp6c said:Do they have to be far enough away so that they can't see or hear each other? Any suggestions if you have a rather small place? I was going to send the cow off to be bred for 45 to 50 days when the calf needed to be weaned. Any advice.
eric":1ow3e22v said:What do you guys do when you only have one calf to wean? Do you put her in a pen by herself, since this seems to stress some calves, which are probably stressed out enough just from being weaned. Should I put a heifer in with her for company? Or should I just let her tough it out? I bought her and her mama a few months ago and she will be weaned about 3 months after my other calves. I will be weaning 2 calves in June, and her in August. Maybe leave all 3 in the small pasture until the youngest is weaned?
[/quote]Alan":1oqt0r2a said:LA,
Cattle Girl
When the calf is old enough to be weaned is much to late to be getting the Dam rebred. Why not have her AI'ed when the calf is 6 to 10 weeks old
Why is it too late to breed the cow back when the calf is weaned? If you have a small herd, small enough that you don't care about calving seasons and have the facility to calve any month of the year it seems you can breed back at any time. But I'm novice enough I may be missing something.
Alan
eric":332555ui said:Alan, it seems most of these guys have rather large operations and rely on their cattle for their main income. Therfore, they have to plan their operations much more delicately that you or I it appears. They are the guys who will ship a cow off if she does'nt have a calf every yr, need their cows to rebreed asap after calving as time is money to most of these guys. They don't want to feed a cow that wont make them any money. They cant see wasting 4-5 months without a cow being bred. I am like Cattle girl and probably yourself, I want to calve when it is most convient for me and not necessarily when it is the most profitable for my operation. I am one of those "hobby farmers" that alot of these guys frown upon. I have another job and raise my cows for my enjoyment, not nesessarily for the $$. While I certainly don't care to lose money, its not the driving force behind my operation. I am not sure why folks resent us for that decision either, as we probably take as good of care of our animals as most of them do, probably better than some of them. Anyway, that is my opinion as to why he made that comment, as time means money to most of these guys!