New style of weaning

[katrina]

We feed towards evening and that seems to help with the spooking. IMHO

do you ever switch back to morning chores with the calves after awhile?

No.... The reason we don't is because with school it's easier to have help after school.. It's a good break between studies.. :wink: And with hauling wheat hubby leaves in the middle of the night and he rolls back home in the afternoon. I don't know why ya couldn't though..

 

[Big Swede]

At first I was optomistic about the leg because she could get up and move around. It's broken above the hock on the back leg. But the next day she could only get up to her knees. I hauled her to the barn and am trying to take care of her but it isn't looking good. If she doesn't progress this week I'll have to put her down.

 

[myersfarm]

I put up a electric fence between one of my 40 acres of wheat and the cows ...... the calfs would go under fence and graze....they after a while they eat wheat so far back they would just lay down up on the hill and not come down to nurse....after a few days they weaned themselfs.....then i put them in the field with another string of electric wire...best set calves I ever raised

 

[4Diamond]

We had a group of weaned calves get spooked and ran through 2 woven wire /barbed wire fences last week. We feed morning and night. Luckily no calves were injuried and we were able to pen them back up.

 

[Bob M]

I have been retired for a number of years but I liked our method of weaning even though it took some extra help. The night before we weaned the cows with their calves were put in a pasture joining a meadow with fresh aftergrowth.

We tried to have 8 or 10 on horseback the next morning when we opened a gate into the meadow. The cows were drooling over that aftergrowth and headed for the gate the minute it was open. The herd was held on one side of the gate which was on a straight fence. As the cows went through the gate the calves were headed down the fenceline on the opposite side of the gate,

The next step is where the cowboy on horse power was needed. The cows that had been enjoying the aftergrowth had forgotten about their calves but when you started rounding them up, they again thought about them and headed back to the pasture they had last seen them. It took a lot of hoop and hollering and fast action to get them headed for the lot a mile or so away where bale feeders had been filled with rough swamp hay.

After they were put in the lot we went out and opened the gate into the meadow, The calves may have remembered their mothers but are as interested in the aftergrowth. Towards evening if you went out to check on them one third would be up by the gate where they last saw their mothers, the rest grazing,

We kept the cows in four days after which they were ready to get off that rough hay and happy to go to pasture grazing. By this time the calves were used to their new life style. We drove them to the corral and preconditioned them with whatever shots were recommended after which they were put back in the meadow and taught to eat cake. The first few days a rider or two would round them up after we had put out cake in a circle and then we tore up the bags they came in into small pieces which we placed along the cake line every 8 or 10 feet Calves are inquisitive. They'd sniff at the papers long enough to hold their attention and soon they were nibbling on th cake. We worked them up to 2 pounds of 20% cake which they were fed along with grazing and all they hay they could eat until pastures greened up in the spring. We didn't run anything over the scales until they were sold. They probably gained a pound to a pound and a half during the winter and two pounds in the summer.

I had the privilege of sitting by Big Swede at a Smoker last week. It was noisy and hard to talk, so maybe this will give him a clearer picture of the way we weaned than I was able to accomplish there.

 

[Hanta Yo]

Weaning time around here has always meant bringing in the herd, sorting, vaccinating, locking up the calves with their mothers right across the fence for a few days and then taking the cows away.

This year I planted a mix of oats, turnips, radishes and sudan grass right beside my weaning pen. Instead of turning the cows out, we turned the calves out and locked the cows up for 3 days in the weaning pen. The calves went to grazing immediately which was really neat to see. I also put creep feeders with the calves with a ton of weaning pellets made by Purina in each feeder. It took about 2 days for them to figure out the feeders but now they are using them really good. On top of the pellets we filled the feeders with Accuration/corn mix. Accuration is a complete supplement with a limiter that controls the amount of corn consumed. We weighed the steers at weaning and will weigh again in a couple of months after I run out of grazing or get snowed under to figure cost of gain. Our goal is for the steers to gain about 2.5 to 2.7 pounds per day and I am hoping for a cost of gain in the $.60-.70/pound range.
This method makes me wonder why I ever did it any other way.

Big Swede, we've been locking up the cows for several years now as the calves do less damage to fences as cows. We feed them hay as well as pellets (depending on cost) just to get them weaned. We vaccinate and pour when the bawling is over and move them to their own pasture and kick the cows out in the opposite direction. Glad this is working for you.

 

[mrj]

Does anyone wonder why it took us so long to try these new kinder, gentler weaning methods???

We have weaned one bunch and will do the other this afternoon, using the fenceline pastures for both cows and calves. The water is in the fenceline, or close by. Pastures are fresh. I believe we started putting out hay for the calves right away and am not sure how long before we put them in the backgrounding lots. After a little over a week, a couple of cows and one calf (or the reverse, not sure) got through the fence into the 'wrong' bunch. Not sure how that was accomplished, as it is a good tight fence and there is no evidence!

Around 500 cows, mostly age five and under, have been preg checked and we are blessed with about a 9% open rate. Some in the are have had real problems this year. Weather may have been a factor.

We have also been very well blessed with wonderful fall weather. The only snow has been about a 5" one the weekend before Thanksgiving. Weather stayed pretty decent and it went off nicely, being mostly sucked right into our dry ground. It sure settled the dust at an opportune time, just after working cows and weaning was beginning.

I can't say last Saturday was great, though. Very windy and dusty as cows were preg checked. Guys (and gal!) were pretty well coated by dinner time! Wasn't as bad as what Soap and some others had, either, so guess we should appreciate that it could have been worse. And I'm very thankful that all I had to do was cook dinner INDOORS!

I lucked out with a 'day off' today, as the 'gal' on our crew made sandwiches to carry to the weaning location for today. I will fix and carry to them a hot meal tomorrow when it will be a longer day of preg testing, 26 road miles from home. And we all can be thankful for a little shack there to eat in. May be more pleasant indoors if the weather prediction is correct. No stove there yet, but can use a propane heater if it is very cold.

I'm following the lead of an interesting reporter for our local weekly newspaper. She always includes what she is especially thankful for the day she does the news. I've been a little lax in focusing on blessings instead of the burrs in the blanket of life, and it does brighten even a gloomy day when remembering blessings,even if we have to search our minds a little to find them!

mrj

 

[Big Swede]

Hi Bob, always look forward to and enjoy your posts on here. Your method of weaning sounds spot on to me. As long as those calves think that's where they belong it should work every time. I enjoyed our visit, noisy as it was. One of these days I'm coming to see you and we won't have to shout. I'll talk to you later.

Sincerely,
Jeff