Comfort Food

Weaning Gains With the Right Ration

Eddie Bradley gives calves a taste of weaning rations early, a trick that helps them actually gain 4 to 5 pounds during the weaning process. (DTN/Progressive Farmer photo by Becky Mills)

Weaning, no matter how it's done, is a shock to calves. It's such a shock that most won't even eat those first few days away from mama -- unless those calves belong to Eddie Bradley.

"They'll eat like crazy while they're still bawling. They'll even gain 4 or 5 pounds the first few days," said the Hiawassee, Ga., cattleman.

His secret is the little sneak taste he offers calves of the weaning ration long before they are actually weaned. He takes advantage of a 45-day artificial insemination (AI) season, when he gives cows a few handfuls of feed, penning them to cut out the ones in heat. The calves are happy to eat along with their mothers. At weaning, he gives the calves the same feed they've already had a taste of, which, in Bradley's words, "makes them easy to wean."

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While his calves are in the weaning pen (normally four days), he hand-feeds the 14% protein reconstituted commercial ration and offers them free choice grass hay. When they go to fescue, orchardgrass, bermudagrass and clover grazing, he continues to hand-feed the ration at around 1% of their body weight along with free choice hay and minerals.

"They gain around 2 pounds per head per day during preconditioning, depending on the grass," Bradley said.

He retains ownership on steers, so they stay on the pelleted ration for 60 days or longer, depending on when he can get them trucked to Iowa feedyards. His heifers stay on the same ration until he breeds them.

Alabama's Mike Duke handles feed introduction with creep feeding. The Munford cattleman said the approach is a big plus to holding down weaning stress.

"It absolutely helps," he said. "We may have some bawling for 24 hours, but they are more worried about eating and drinking than where their mamas are."

Duke has creep pens rather than just creep feeders. Calves enter through creep gates and graze on ryegrass, eat free choice bermudagrass or ryegrass hay, and munch on a ration of corn, dried distillers' grains and soy hull pellets.

"They get very independent from the mama cows," he noted. And since Duke and his employees check calves at least once a day, they also get used to being around people.

At weaning, Duke pulls creep feeders into a pen and holds calves there with fresh water and good-quality hay for three days. Next, he puts the feeders in a ryegrass pasture with concrete troughs. At first, he continues to supply them with their same creep ration, but he gradually transitions them to a total mixed ration of corn, distillers' grains, chopped hay and a mineral containing Rumensin.

"They have access to feed from the time they are 3 weeks old until they leave for the feedyard. We're trying to target a 2.9 pound weight gain per day of age [WDA] for the heifers, and a 3.2 WDA for the steers," he said.

(VM/CZ)

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