Weaning Calves and Reducing Stress
It's a busy time on the farm right now as we’ve just started weaning. This is later than normal for us (3rd February) but we have gradually been moving the date back over the last couple of years.
Later weaning means that the calves are that bit older and stronger, most are between 9&10 months old. It also means they have more time with their mum and aunties to learn how to make the most of winter grazing. This is really important as it’s a challenging time of the year. I love to think of the herd passing on hints and tips!
We also need to balance the calves health with that of their mums. Each cow is pregnant as well as suckling a calf and, as you can imagine, this gets to be harder work the closer the cow gets to her due date.
One of the reasons we are able to shift weaning back, is that we've moved the calving date back also. This spring so we will start in mid-April rather than late March. The thought behind this is that, much as we love the idea that spring, and therefore serious grass growth, starts in March, it certainly hasn't the last 2 years. In fact, last year (2021) the grass didn't start growing properly here until about the 10th May.
A cow is working hardest 6 weeks after giving birth, so by then you want her on grass that is super nutritious. By the end of May we should be seeing great grass growth, even with a late spring. We prefer grazing well rested grass so there is some older, yellower leaves in amongst the lush fresh growth to provide roughage, otherwise it'll run straight through her!
We practice what is called fence-line weaning. The cows and calves are separated by a wire fence only. This means that they can see each other, smell each other and touch noses, thereby reducing stress.
We also bring the whole group into the barn 2-3 times in the week for an hour or so, so that the calves can have a wee suck which helps the cows’ udders dry off more gently. This has been really helpful in avoiding mastitis.
Each day the two groups are given a fresh patch of grass, and each day they become progressively more interested in the grass and less interested in their calf or mother.
We put a few older heifers and/or open cows in with the calves as nurse maids. They provide reassurance and stability - and I must say has worked even better than expected. After about a week the cows and weaned calves are siphoned off into separate paddocks.
Next year we should have close to 50 calves to wean, which is too many to pairs to mingle comfortably in the barn, so we are going to have to adapt how we do it.
Would love to let the cows wean naturally eventually - i.e. the cows have full control and kick the calves off a few weeks before they calve the next, as they would in nature. However, we may need to move calving back to a little later in the year to achieve that. We’ll observe how mid-April calving works for a couple of years and then see.
Current thinking for weaning next year is self weaning in the fields via a calf gate … will have to think on it. Watch this space! Would love to hear from you if you have tried anything similar and have some advice to share.