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quiet wean nose flaps

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Bward

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Okay I am trying them.
Applied them on Thursday afternoon. Not to difficult to do once you get the hang of it, then takes about 2 seconds a flap. Then we put them all back together in a spent hay field. I had begun feeding them about a week ago.
Next morning I switched the hay type to premium and I put out lots of it to keep them occupied and the calves full. As I was taking the hay out I noticed several calves in the nursing position being unsuccessful and a few others bunting under the brisket or just standing beside their dams. At this point the cows are getting rather full in the udder and the calves are clearly demonstrating frustration.

Saturday morning. Despite putting out double the feed from the previous rations, all the hay is cleaned up and they are all waiting for me. I roll out the hay well spread out so the calves have ample room to eat. I do a drive by to inspect them all and find one calf has lost her flap. When I had put the flaps in Thursday, I noticed a few calves with a more narrow nose in which the flap was too easily inserted and was concerned that they might not last. This calf was one of them.
All is quiet for a while... as they fill up on hay and begin to relax, several cows are bawling. Doing that long repeating bawl that is often the call for a calf. Now I am in the yard behind the trees so I can't see whats going on... sometimes its just one cow, then sometimes there will be 3 or 4 bawling at the same time and then there will be periods of quiet.. rarely a calf will bawl.. its mostly cows begging for some relief...

I plan to leave these flaps in until next Thursday, then ship.

Will update later on the weaning progress.
 
While we all have our reasons for doing things differently, why wean them at all if you're shipping thursday?
 
why wean first? Good question! and the answer is... its too cruel to rip them from their mothers, load them on a truck to be unloaded, sorted and resorted and then stand all night on the cement with no food or water, go through the sales ring, back to a pen to wait for another truck ride to somewhere else. Its too much for them to bear all at once. Weaning is the single most stressful event for a calf to deal with.
Normally, I would wean them at home for several weeks or even months, however we got almost no rain during the summer and had only a third of our hay crop so this necessitates their early departure, because hay is 150 a ton. This year I had to wean them quickly so therefore the nose flap experiment.

I realize that there will be possibly more shrink doing it this way rather than shipping them right off the cow however, I feel this is the best way for the calf to have the best outcome in his long term survival.

I am expecting to see the cow calf bond a whole lot loosened after 5 more days of this... but time will tell and I will report on that later.
 
I tried them once but we ran into some stormy weather and had to get them home so it might not have been a fair trial. Think I will try them again on a package away from the ranch so they are weaned when they come home. The cows could stay a little longer and get trailed home.
 
Have used these before... Leaving them in for 7 days can be a challenge as certain brands fit tightly enough that they can begin to actually grow into the nasal tissue that divides the nostrils in that time period. Of course, this can also depend on the size of calf and yours appear to be fairly soggy. We found that 4 or 5 days works best without any damage to the nose while still having the desired effect. We always lost a few too.
 
I weaned my calves a little early this year - - - fed cows and calves hay for 2 days, third day I separated and fed both hay for two more days and the calves could get right up to the cows with a good fence between, stopped feeding the cows and they wandered off - - - It has been a week now the calves are in a separate lot with fence line contact but are not interested in getting with the cows. The calves are getting one small bale of hay every morning to keep them coming to me ( with 17 head they don't get much apiece )

I intend to move the cows first of the week and the calves are doing great and this will allow some of my harder working cows to put on a few pounds before cold weather sets in.

I do agree calves needs come first and I get top dollar for my calves as the buyers know the history of calves from here - - - they know how to eat from a bunk and have had all needed work done at least 2 weeks to a month prior to them leaving.
 
No offense, but those nose flaps look cruel in there own right. Those calves are big enough to wean and not have that much stress.
 
Question: no one uses these around our parts so this is a whole new concept to me. Do these nose rings hurt the calves nose when they go to nurse or does it hurt the cows udder when the calf nurses? Reason I'm asking is by no means would I want a cow to learn how to kick at her calf when it goes to nurse. Just wanting to know how these really work.
 
We don't use the nose flaps for weaning, but some of our good young cows get to wear them to prevent them from sucking other cows, thus stealing milk from a growing calf. It seems like the nose flaps have a two-fold purpose, by making it uncomfortable for both the sucker and the suckee. It seems a shame to sell a good young functioning producing cow, so with the nose flaps the problem is solved, and the cow can stay in the herd. The cow basically has a choice--she can wear a flap that might be a bit uncomfortable, or she can go to town. If a cow could think rationally, she would probably choose the flap or better yet, not suck other cows in the first place. :wink: Sometimes cows aren't very smart, but they remind me of how we humans aren't always completely smart about a lot of things, either. :roll: :wink:
 
Wyoming Wind said:
Question: no one uses these around our parts so this is a whole new concept to me. Do these nose rings hurt the calves nose when they go to nurse or does it hurt the cows udder when the calf nurses? Reason I'm asking is by no means would I want a cow to learn how to kick at her calf when it goes to nurse. Just wanting to know how these really work.
Click to expand...

They don't hurt either one. They just stop being able to suck. They have rounded ends that fit in the nostrils. If they are left in to long they can sore the nose a bit but that is not their purpose to be left past getting the calves off the cows.
 
That was one reason I put up the pictures, was so that you could see the flap in its construction. No pointy stabby parts to inflict discomfort on the cow. The calves are able to eat and drink water as usual... they just can't get their tongue around it to grab a teat.

Today is 69 hours post flap insertion. I am still missing only one flap... The manufacturer suggests about 95 % retention. The cows udders are beginning to soften from their previous beach ball tightness. I haven't seen any calves trying to nurse since yesterday... I believe they have given up.

I would say that the best advantage is that they are being weaned right along side their mothers in a clean grassy field... From my experience, once the calf has not nursed for several days it is she who decides that the relationship is over... it will be interesting to see how strong the bond will be after 7 days. The experiment continues....
 
I don't have an opinion on the flaps, but would like to say that those are some fine looking cattle.
 
Aw thanks Silver... they are not exactly where I want them but they are getting closer..
 

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