Once a calf
reaches 7-8 months of age and weigh approximately 500-600 pounds, they are the
ready to be weaned from their mother’s milk and moved onto pastures to eat
grass and forages.
Weaning Strategies and Procedures
Weaning of
beef calves can be done in quite a number of ways. However, the most common is
for the producer to take a look at his herd about this time of weaning. At this
point he pen the cattle as best he can, sort out the calves that they feel are
of appropriate size and haul them to the auction barn. Subsequently, these
calves are then weaned on a truck headed to another pasture or to a feedlot –
probably the worst place possible. Research has shown that cattle managed in
this manner have a dramatically higher rate of sickness and death loss due to
the stress with an overall group of cattle managed in this way highly likely to
lose money.
A program
for the minimizing weight loss, sickness, and death in newly weaned calves
should include:
- Immunization against common disease
- Parasite control
- Treatment of sick cattle
- Minimizing stress
- Adequate nutrition
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