Early Weaning Works

By Becky Mills
Progressive Farmer Contributing Editor

A few winters back, David Miller found himself with a valuable commodity -- 95 Angus heifers, all due to calve about the same time. That started him thinking about how tough it can be to get heifers bred back. Which led to him remembering some early-weaning research he'd read from Oklahoma State and the University of Arkansas.

Animal scientist Keith Lusby, now retired, did that early work. Miller, based at Melbourne, Ark., thought the research might give him an answer as to how to get those heifers bred back efficiently and cost effectively, without sacrificing gains on the calves.

"We weaned those calves at 80 to 90 days," he said. "All but four of the heifers bred back. The calves came out pretty good, too. The next year we did all 500 cows that way."

When Miller said "pretty good", that is probably an understatement. Miller weaned the mid-February born calves on May 15. A friend, whose herd has similar genetics and who Miller describes as a good operator, weaned his calves, also born mid-February, September 15. After backgrounding those calves for six weeks, they weighed 499 pounds. At the same time, Miller's calves weighed 535 pounds. When they sold in February, the Miller calves still outweighed the traditionally weaned calves by 20 pounds.

"I probably had $100 more feed in mine," admited Miller. But there were other benefits to the program.

HIGH CONCEPTION RATES

First, he said they saw a 96% conception rate on his heifers with a 45-day breeding season. His friend had a 76% conception rate on a 65-day breeding season. These conception rates are based on natural service.

While he hadn't tried early weaning before 2009, Miller was no amateur at handling high-risk calves. He used to background cattle and already had pens and bunks in place to do the job. He started the early-weaning process with the mindset to give the calves every chance to succeed.

"Thirty days before we weaned we unrolled a bale of hay in the pasture and put distillers grain on top of it. The calves see their mamas eat and they start eating."

KEEPING STRESS LOW

He also fence-line weans, cutting down on stress to both the calves and their dams. He said within a day or two the calves will quit bawling and are leaving their dams to eat and drink.

Fence-line weaning is a practice Nathan Long endorses. The Clemson University animal scientist said: "Anything you can do to decrease stress will benefit these younger guys. Put an older steer in with them to teach them to drink out of a water trough and eat out of a feed bunk. That can help train calves regardless of when they are weaned."

FEEDING STRATEGY

Miller pays close attention to the feed he uses for young calves. "You've got to be able to mix a really good ration, up to 20% protein. A 300-pound calf has a small stomach. If they only eat five pounds of food a day we have to know they are getting enough protein and energy."

He added they use cottonseed hulls for the scratch factor, adding soybean meal, corn and dried distillers grains. He also keeps a good bale of hay in a hay ring at all times.

Long agrees with the hay and said when it comes to early-weaned calves, giving them higher protein than a traditionally weaned steer could possibly help. He cautions against giving them too much energy, as that can lead to acidosis or bloat in young calves. To make the ration more palatable, he suggests using sweeter feeds like molasses, corn or soybean meal.

"Some commodity feeds like corn gluten can have a palatability problem which can be a negative when it comes to getting calves to eat initially," Long explained.

After 30 to 45 days in pens, Miller turns the calves out on a high quality mixture of grazing turnips and ryegrass. At that point they no longer get feed but they do have access to minerals with Rumensin. These early-weaned calves have done so well on winter annuals, he is in the process of swapping the herd totally over to a fall-calving program.

Long added that, for some producers, feeding grazing calves 1% to 1.5% of their body weight per day can be beneficial. It all depends on the rate of gain a cattleman wants to achieve, as well as the type and amount of forage available.

Miller said if he finds himself early weaning spring-born calves when winter annuals aren't yet available, he leaves them in a pen and feeds them. He said they don't do well on fescue and bermuda in his area.

EARLY PRECONDITIONING

Vaccination timing is always a question with early-weaned calves. Maternal antibodies in their dam's milk can interfere with their immunity. Long said it is usually recommended that early-weaned calves be vaccinated as is normal for the operation's usual schedule. If the operation usually vaccinates calves one to two weeks pre-weaning, then that is what should be done with early-weaned calves. Then be sure to give boosters as recommended.

He added: "Caution should be taken about vaccinating at weaning since these early-weaned calves will be under greater stress than calves weaned at the normal time."

David Miller's son, John, said they have vaccinated calves before and after weaning, depending on scheduling. This past year they castrated and gave the calves their shots when they were a month old. Two weeks after weaning the calves get boosters.

While early weaning does mean the calves need more attention and feed costs are higher, the Millers said it is worth it.

COW CONDITION

There is, of course, their original motive for early weaning. They put the bulls in with the heifers and cows as soon as they wean the calves.

"Everybody tells me the cows will cycle within 72 hours of pulling the calves," said Miller.

Long agreed. "Research shows that removing the suckling pressure from a cow causes her to come into estrus sooner."

John said the early-weaning program also leaves cows in better shape and that helps on cull prices. He said he's curious if they will see added productive longevity with the program. David added the program lets them run 20% to 30% more cows due to a drop in nutrient requirements from pulling calves off their dams sooner.

On the other hand, Long said, if an operation's forages are compromised from a drought, it gets calves off the cows and conserves the grazing they do have. "Weaning drops the nutritional requirements of the cow over 30% for both energy and protein," he explained.

The early-weaned calves don't seem to suffer, either. While Long said calf gains tend to be lower for early-weaned calves, the Millers haven't seen that in their herd. In 2012, they weaned calves at 90 days, fed them in a dry lot, and weighed them when they were around 230 days old. The steers averaged 666 pounds; the heifers 620 pounds.

It also looks like the benefits of early weaning follow the calves to the feedlot. That is good news for the Millers since they sometimes opt to retain ownership. Long said, "There are indications that there is an enhanced immune response in early-weaned calves entering the feedlot. There also may be enhanced carcass characteristics in early-weaned calves. Some studies show increased marbling."

(VM/CZ)

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