by John Yost

We are quickly approaching your neighbor’s favorite time of year. That being one where the air is filled with the melodious serenades of newly weaned calves and their separated mothers.

We know the bawling will end after a few days, but your weaning process can affect the calves’ performance for the rest of their lives. It doesn’t matter whether the calves are destined to find their way onto a truck headed to a feedyard, or if they will be staying on the farm to become a future replacement in your herd, you want to prepare them for the next stage of the production process.

We often think of weaning as an abrupt change. Cows with calves in the morning, then cows and calves on different parts of the farm in the afternoon. To be efficient with time, farmers may combine many of the weaning tasks into the same day. There isn’t a perfect system, but there is a system that will work best for each operation.

Recognize every procedure performed on the calf creates stress, and stress decreases production potential. Vaccinations, castration, dehorning, retagging, branding, changes to their diet, and a change (if only temporary) of location are all stress events the calf will need help to overcome. The goal should be to design weaning protocols to make this process a transition and not an abrupt change. 

We know calves will be through the chute at least once, usually twice, during the weaning process. If you vaccinate your cows before breeding, can you let the calves walk through the chute without being caught? While calves are sorted off so you can work their mom, can you expose them to the feed you will be transitioning to at weaning? 

Are you able, or willing, to begin creep-feeding the calves a couple weeks ahead?  Novelty — just like being dehorned, castrated or vaccinated — is a stressor. You may find the calves will work calmer if they have had a couple positive experiences in the handling facility before a processing day.

Feed is a great motivator to get animals to do what we want. Getting calves up on feed after weaning is highly important for future growth and ultimate carcass performance. It is estimated that up to 40% of a calf’s dry matter intake is milk as they approach weaning time. 

That milk provides a significant portion of the calf’s protein and energy requirements. By exposing them to their transition feed early, they will be more likely to stay on, or get back on feed, after weaning.

Develop a schedule

It is also important to organize the order you perform calf processing tasks. Stress limits an animal’s ability to fight off disease challenges and reduces their response to vaccinations. Consider laying out a schedule so all you are doing on weaning day is sorting cows and calves. The earlier you can dehorn and castrate, the lower the potential stress.

Consider speaking to your veterinarian about providing an analgesic to help the calves manage the pain. It is also recommended that you deworm and implant a few weeks before weaning. Anything you can do to have the calf at peak health, before the final challenge, will keep them progressing.

When it does come to the final days before sorting calves, there are several techniques you can implement to reduce calf stress. Nose clips can be placed on the calves a week or two before weaning to prevent them from nursing while still with their mom. You can utilize fence-line weaning, where the calves are sorted into an adjacent pasture or pen and allowed fence-line contact to ease the separation. 

Some have found success with allowing a dry cow or two to run with the calves. There are also a number of products on the market that you apply topically to the calf designed to reduce stress.

There is no perfect system to coordinate weaning. There is only the system that fits your management style. Evaluate your protocols and weaning calendar to see if there are ways to reduce the amount and frequency of stress events on the calf.  Work with your nutritionist and veterinarian to design the best feeding and herd health programs to prepare your calves for the next stage of production. 

Finally, don’t forget about yourself. Weaning isn’t just stressful to the calf, but it can be a stressful time for you, too. After all, the bawling does eventually stop.

Yost is the Ohio State University Extension educator for Agriculture and Natural Resources in Wayne County, and a member of the OSU Extension Beef Team. The Beef Team publishes the weekly Ohio BEEF Cattle letter, which is found at beef.osu.edu.