We took the flaps off yesterday which meant another sort and run through the squeeze. Several flaps fell off in the crowding pen behind the chute and the manufacturer suggests that you can remove flaps from the noses by filling the chute and taking them off along the cat walk. However at the time I was sorting replacements off into a different pen so it was easiest just to catch them all.
Contrary to my expectations, the mother offspring bond was alive and well in the cow. The majority of the calves were shipped and the remaining replacements held across the corral fence from their mothers. Between 2/3rds and 3/4s of the cows were congregated at the fence bawling most of the evening. Although they vocalized most of the night there were periods of quiet and the bawling was not as desperate sounding as per usual weaning. The one calf that had lost her nose flap right away was the only calf terribly upset. She continued to pace and bawl every time I checked on them. In the morning, I rolled out a bale for the cows in an adjacent pasture. They all followed me out but once they had their fill they were right back in there and this afternoon they are laying outside of the heifer pen relaxing and all is quiet... for now.
We drove to the auction market this morning. The calves had been placed in a feed pen with water and straw and were laying down looking comfortable and relaxed. These looked quite different from another set of calves that had just been pulled off their mothers... There was constant vocalizing and pacing and searching.
Final verdict. After having the flaps in for a solid week, out of 71 calves one lost her flap.
I thought the calves were stressed during the flap period adjusting to not being able to nurse. That period lasted about 2 to 3 days and then they gave up trying to nurse entirely. The cow calf bond was not interrupted so in the end the calves are only half weaned. In my opinion.
Is there less stress? That makes it hard to quantify. They were stressed to put the flaps in and then stressed all week not being able to nurse... but not nursing was a low level of stress... a stress of frustration , not of abandonment. But never the less, a stress.
However, the calves that are now separated from their dams are not in near as much distress as they would have been by an abrupt separation.
So in Conclusion, I would say that in Nose flap weaning you are trading off a high stress weaning over a period of 5 days for a low(er) stress period of 10 days.
Would I do this again?
Possibly. To me it has merit if you are planning to keep your own calves and are getting them in anyway to vaccinate them, then applying a nose flap at the same time makes perfect sense. I do think that the calves suffered less using the nose flaps but the clincher is being able to find enough help to run them through the squeeze twice. It is very labour intensive.
I hope you enjoyed my expose of my nose flap experiment.
Contrary to my expectations, the mother offspring bond was alive and well in the cow. The majority of the calves were shipped and the remaining replacements held across the corral fence from their mothers. Between 2/3rds and 3/4s of the cows were congregated at the fence bawling most of the evening. Although they vocalized most of the night there were periods of quiet and the bawling was not as desperate sounding as per usual weaning. The one calf that had lost her nose flap right away was the only calf terribly upset. She continued to pace and bawl every time I checked on them. In the morning, I rolled out a bale for the cows in an adjacent pasture. They all followed me out but once they had their fill they were right back in there and this afternoon they are laying outside of the heifer pen relaxing and all is quiet... for now.
We drove to the auction market this morning. The calves had been placed in a feed pen with water and straw and were laying down looking comfortable and relaxed. These looked quite different from another set of calves that had just been pulled off their mothers... There was constant vocalizing and pacing and searching.
Final verdict. After having the flaps in for a solid week, out of 71 calves one lost her flap.
I thought the calves were stressed during the flap period adjusting to not being able to nurse. That period lasted about 2 to 3 days and then they gave up trying to nurse entirely. The cow calf bond was not interrupted so in the end the calves are only half weaned. In my opinion.
Is there less stress? That makes it hard to quantify. They were stressed to put the flaps in and then stressed all week not being able to nurse... but not nursing was a low level of stress... a stress of frustration , not of abandonment. But never the less, a stress.
However, the calves that are now separated from their dams are not in near as much distress as they would have been by an abrupt separation.
So in Conclusion, I would say that in Nose flap weaning you are trading off a high stress weaning over a period of 5 days for a low(er) stress period of 10 days.
Would I do this again?
Possibly. To me it has merit if you are planning to keep your own calves and are getting them in anyway to vaccinate them, then applying a nose flap at the same time makes perfect sense. I do think that the calves suffered less using the nose flaps but the clincher is being able to find enough help to run them through the squeeze twice. It is very labour intensive.
I hope you enjoyed my expose of my nose flap experiment.
