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Weaning is a time
of extreme stress for both dam and calf. In most commercial operations,
calves are completely separated from dams. Often placed directly on a truck
to a feedlot or into "backgrounding" pens, they are then conditioned to
eat from a feed bunker and water trough. Unfamiliar feed, the stress
of weaning, and the manure-laden dust found in feedlots causes disease,
requiring antibiotic treatment, and sometimes the loss of the calf.
It is our belief that there is a better way, and we have experimented with how to minimize stress during weaning. We now separate dams from calves with a two-strand electric fence. Calves and dams can sniff noses through the fence, which seems to satisfy both that the other is OK. Pasture management is critical to the system. Calves go directly to the short, thick grass that we have managed through the second half of the growing season as "calf grass" . This high quality feed is relished by the calves. We observed that when we wean on lower quality grass, the calves spend more time along the fence line bawling for their mothers than they do eating. By managing calf grass, the period of separation anxiety (bawling, pacing) for both dams and calves is reduced to a few days. Recent research has borne out the accuracy of our observations.
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WEANING | ||