Drought and limited forage availability are good reasons to consider early weaning. Weaning calves early can alleviate grazing pressure and reduce supplemental feeding of cows. Thus, money budgeted for feed may be more wisely spent on a calf ration instead of feeding cows to support lactation demands.
When a calf reaches 120 days, over half of the calf’s energy requirement comes from sources other than milk. Likewise, milk intake of spring-born beef calves declines approximately 90% from April to August. Consequently, calves eating grass to compensate for the gap in nutrition can take available forage away from the cow.
Removing the calf will not only eliminate their forage intake but also eliminate the nutritional demand of lactation on the cow. Cow intakes have been shown to decrease by approximately 25% when calves are early weaned, which could be the needed decrease to deal with limited forage availability.
Young cows may be first consideration for this management strategy. Early weaning calves from first-calf heifers can improve reproductive performance and devote energy to growth, securing the future of your cow herd in a drought.
Disadvantages to early weaning
- Increased management
- Need for facilities
- Increased feed costs and labor
- Calves can become fleshy
- Potentially reduce finished weights of calves
Advantages to early weaning
- Reduce grazing pressure on pastures from calves
- Decrease forage intake of cows
- Cows tend to have better body condition score (BCS) at calving
- Calves have better quality grades
- Calves have higher percentage Choice grade carcasses
- Calves have higher average daily gain (ADG) than counterparts on creep or just pasture
Consult your veterinarian and develop a health program prior to early weaning. Pre-weaning vaccinations will help equip calves to early wean successfully. Younger calves have yet to fully develop their own natural acquired immunity. Intervention with injectable vitamins and minerals may be necessary in calves that have been in high-stress, drought-impacted environments.
Work with your nutritionist to develop a receiving ration. Prior to weaning, acclimate calves to dry feed. At weaning, more focus on pen acclimation and intakes are necessary. Managing stressors like heat, dust, mud and commingling are also important.
Although not the ideal scenario for most cattlemen, early weaning can be a needed management decision for low forage availability, poor first-calf cow breed-back and targeting quality grade premiums.
