Weaning calves

It’s important to decide when and how to wean beef calves, as this influences their weaning weight as well as the condition of the cows. It also affects the cows’ conception rates.

A key aim of beef production is to produce as many calves as possible. For this reason, weaning should be timed to enable a cow to regain condition after weaning and calve every year.

• Timing

Ideally, a calf should be weaned at seven to eight months old. But the right time to wean will depend more on the condition of the cow than the age of the calf. The calf should be weaned before the condition score of the cow falls below 2,5, if there is enough winter feed available and the cows maintain their condition.

• Early weaning

During years of severe drought and scarce feed supply, wean the calf early (at about six months), to allow the cow to recover before the onset of winter.

A calf should be weaned early only if absolutely necessary; if it is weaned at less than five months, it will be set back severely.

If the condition of the cow deteriorates considerably before the planned weaning time, you will have to choose one of two options:

– Wean early and supply concentrate feeding to the calf; – Provide a roughage supplement to those cows that are still suckling their calves.

Your decision will depend on the availability and cost of feed (mainly concentrate). The feed cost to rear early-weaned calves is relatively high, therefore concentrate should be fed to calves only during adverse conditions.

• Methods of weaning

Circumstances on the farm will determine the weaning method. Here are some options:: – Keep the calves in a kraal or well-fenced camp and remove the cows to a distant camp, preferably out of earshot of the calves. – Remove the cows temporarily from the camp, and while they are absent, move the calves to a distant camp. A cow tends to look for her calf in the camp in which it was last seen, so this method should prevent the cows from breaking out of the camp. – Exchange calves from two different herds. The calves will then at least have the company of cows. Some crosssuckling is likely to occur. – Separate the cows and calves with a strong, closestrand wire fence. This can reduce weaning stress.

– Fit weaning nose-rings to calves for a week or two to prevent suckling. When these nose-rings are removed, the cows and calves can be separated with relatively little stress.

• General

Castrate, dehorn and brand calves at two to three months of age, not immediately before weaning. This will ensure that the stress associated with these operations does not add to weaning stress.

Keep a few dry cows with the weaned calves to calm them.

Provide sufficient, good-quality roughage, water and shade in the weaning camps. To prevent excessive walking, the camps should not be too large.

• Source: ‘Beef cattle: weaning of calves’. 2010. Directorate Agricultural Information Services, Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Retrieved from www.daff.gov.za/daffweb3/Portals/ 0/InfoPaks/Beef-wean.pdf.

ADOBE STOCK ABOVE:The right time to wean a calf depends primarily on the condition of the cow, not the age of the calf.