Weaning day at my dad's ranch. We did it this way for many years.

[Soapweed]

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This was weaning at my dad's place about fifteen or twenty years ago. We had a good sized crew, and sorted the cows away from their calves on horseback about a mile and a half away. Then the cows were ki-yiied to Dad's corrals where they were locked up and fed hay for three days. The calves were then turned onto an adjoining meadow to where they had last seen their mothers. Usually on weaning day, we would do two similar sized bunches in similar fashion--one before dinner and one after dinner. It was usually kind of a fun day. Dad and I always rode our best cutting horses to let just cows through the gate and hold the calves back. The other riders would hold the herd and let calves go one way down a fence line. A gate on a straight stretch of fence worked the best, so there was somewhere for the calves to go, too.

 

[PureCountry]

So if I understand your right Soap, when the weaning began they were a mile and a half from the calves, correct? Did you ever have fence crawlers get back to their calves? We used to wean and haul the calves home, and still had cows crawl/jump fences, and they'd be in our yard by morning bawling at the calves through the rails after covering 3 miles to get home.

 

[Soapweed]

So if I understand your right Soap, when the weaning began they were a mile and a half from the calves, correct? Did you ever have fence crawlers get back to their calves? We used to wean and haul the calves home, and still had cows crawl/jump fences, and they'd be in our yard by morning bawling at the calves through the rails after covering 3 miles to get home.

The cows were driven home to substantial corrals, where they were locked in and fed rough hay for three days. The calves were left a mile and a half away, back where the cows were sorted from the calves. They would be let onto a nice adjoining meadow. They hardly missed their mothers, because they would be on fresh and nourishing aftergrass, and they would be just across the fence from where they had last seen their mothers.

 

[PureCountry]

Makes sense. The lack of strong corrals was our problem back in the day. Once we went to weaning in a different area with stronger corrals it worked fine. Tried the nose flaps in calves last year but in 1 week the calves had bad sores worn in their nostrils so we had to pull the flaps.