Good Management Sets Calves Up for Post-Weaning Success
Weaning and stress are oftentimes synonymous, but veterinarians and producers agree, and the industry continues to see, that whatever one can do to help alleviate stress during this transition phase pays off long-term in the performance and productivity of all classes of cattle.
Transitions create stress
Two major sources of weaning stress for calves are social transitions and environmental transitions, according to Clay Mathis, now the director of the King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management and a former Extension livestock specialist with New Mexico State University. He explains that calves rely on their mothers as a source of food and social direction. However, at weaning calves are forced to transition into a new social structure with peer groups.
Environmental transitions are also a source for calf distress. Two primary elements are new water sources and feedbunks. Calves also must adapt from pasture forages to the textures, consistencies, and flavors of grain-based rations, while getting used to the sights and sounds of tractors, feeders, and humans.
Dan Loy, Extension Beef Specialist, Iowa State University, shares, “The first 30-45 days after a calf is weaned is perhaps the most stressful period of its life. Good performance and health during this time can set the stage for an efficient and profitable feedout, or a long and productive life in the cow herd.”
Vaccination builds immunity
As Loy points out, most of the sickness and death loss due to respiratory disease happens during this time. But a consistent health-care program, including appropriate vaccinations administered in advance of weaning, bolsters the immune systems of calves to help them fight disease, including the costly bovine respiratory disease complex (BRD).
BRD costs the U.S. cattle industry from 750 million to over a billion dollars per year; more recent BRD research developments at Oklahoma State University indicate that cattle that have three or more bouts of disease produce lower-quality beef.
The two major groups of vaccines that should be considered to assist weaning are the clostridial diseases and those for respiratory diseases, including IBR, PI3, BVD, BRSV, Pasteurella, and Haemophilus, suggests Clell Bagley, a retired veterinarian who, as the Extension veterinarian at Utah State University, devoted more than 30 years to helping producers develop best management practices for their food animals.
He reminds producers that vaccines which call for a second (booster) dose will not stimulate a protective level of immunity in the animal for 10-14 days after the second injection. The initial dose merely primes the immune system, but gives very little protection. “The use of poorly timed vaccination programs results in a severely reduced level of herd immunity,” he says.
For successful weaning, this veterinarian’s advice for producers is similar to Loy’s: “Implement a good general management program and utilize a sound vaccination system as part of that management program.”
Weaning methods make a difference
Veterinarians can help producers develop a vaccination program that best fits their area, operation, and its marketing goals, and is supported by management practices and methods, like the examples outlined here, that help alleviate weaning stress:
Fenceline weaning. Many in beef cattle production agree that probably the most stressful component of the weaning process is the separation of the cow and calf. A calf spends more time walking and bawling and less time eating in the first week after separation because it is searching for its mother.
One alternative to reducing this behavior is to part cows and calves though a fence. Producers like Skeeter and Don Brumley of Brumley Farms, Orovada, Nev., fenceline wean all of their registered Hereford, Angus, and commercial calves with favorable results.
“When calves can be right next to their mommas and see them, it’s less stressful,” Skeeter relays. Usually by days 4-7, calves and cows are content enough to part for good.
“You have to find what works for your situation,” she adds. Their present-day facilities and pastures allow for this type of weaning method. But at their former location, they had to wean in a drylot situation.
“It may have been four days before the calves got to eating,” Skeeter recalls. But now, “because their moms are there, it seems like our calves get to eating better. And less stress means more dollars in the long run.”
University studies have also have indicated that fenceline-weaned calves exhibit fewer signs of distress, versus their traditionally weaned counterparts, and continue a close-to-normal growth rate or even gain weight during the weaning process.
If fenceline weaning isn’t possible, keep calves in the familiar setting and move cows to a new location, far enough away so they can’t hear their calves vocalize.
Two-step weaning. This practice uses a nose-flap, which prevents calves from nursing their mothers for a few days before being separated. Studies have shown that compared to traditional methods, two-step weaning reduces calves’ bawling and reduces walking by 80% and increases the time calves spend eating following separation by about 25%.
Pasture weaning. This method is advocated and practiced by researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and has been successfully used at the University of Missouri-Forage Systems Research Center since 1985.
Pasture weaning offers a cost-effective alternative to conventional dry-lot weaning by keeping calves in a familiar environment and on a familiar diet. Pastures are usually cleaner and healthier for calves, but do require preparation so that an ample supply of good quality forage is available for newly weaned calves.
Creep feeding. Familiarizing calves to feed, or creep feeding ahead of time, is another method that sets calves up and keeps them eating throughout the weaning phase. Blane Nagel shares that it takes his creep-fed calves half the time it takes non-creeped calves to get on a complete ration “for the simple fact they know what feed is.”
Nagel has weaned creep-fed calves without issue for some 20 years on his family’s Nagel Cattle Co., near Springfield, S.D. He reports their registered high-percentage Maine-Anjou calves hardly miss a beat at weaning making this management practice, as he says, “not a big deal anymore.”
Their bull, heifer, and steer calves stay on their creep-feeding pellets for two days during weaning, before they are gradually stepped over to a complete roughage ration over the course of 7 to 10 days.
Along with his home-raised calves, Nagel feeds newly weaned calves he buys back from bull customers in order to gain feedback and track carcass data on his genetics. While most of these aren’t accustomed to feed, they are vaccinated and healthy. They’re also weaned on a complete pellet and, with gradual feed changes, are eating the growing ration within 10 to 14 days (also see sidebar).
Gradual feed changes benefit rumen microbes
For many calves, similar to the majority of customer calves that Nagel receives, weaning presents their first introduction to new feeds.
“Not only is mothers’ milk and grass the primary feeds the calves are accustomed to,” says Loy, “the rumen bacteria are adapted to them as well.”
A change in diet requires the growth of different rumen microbes to digest the feed, and this can take from 1-2 weeks for the organisms to adapt, depending on feed type.
Loy recommends starting out with feeds that the calves are accustomed to. Calves are adapted to grass, so long stem hay for the first 3-7 days is a normal recommendation. If calves have been creep fed, as with Nagel-raised calves, the feeds used in the creep should be part of their grain mix at least for the first few days.
He also advises producers to monitor and manage feedbunks. Newly weaned calves should have enough feedbunk space (18-24") so that all can eat at one time. Complete starting rations or TMRs should be formulated to provide enough energy for sufficient growth, but enough forage to aid in the transition from forage to grain.
Employ low-stress handling, minimize environmental stressors
While feed is a major consideration at weaning, so is handling. If calves do need to be handled, for example to be ear tagged or transported, use low-stress handling methods, such as those advocated by well-known cattle handling experts Temple Grandin and Bud Williams. The way cattle are handled at loading and unloading can impact their stress level, as can the handler’s attitude.
Based on practical experience, Bagley reminds producers that dust and bawling can irritate the upper respiratory tract of calves at weaning, so minimizing this as much as possible is beneficial. Also, when the weather is warm, work cattle in early mornings, as they tend to hold their body heat, even well into early evenings when temperatures feel cooler to humans.
Dehydration can also pose a potential pitfall at weaning if calves aren’t acquainted with water troughs. Some calves may be afraid of them, while others may be too caught up in vocalizing to drink. Bagley recommends using a trough the calves are familiar with, or get calves’ attention by lightly streaming water into the trough.
To minimize fence walking in drylot situations and increase calf encounters with feed and water, Mathis’ advice is to place feed bunks, hay, and water troughs along the perimeter.
Furthermore, veterinarians highly encourage producers to plan and work ahead. Don’t add to an already stressful event – dehorn and castrate well ahead of weaning, when calves are younger and heal quickly. If not done prior to weaning, Bagley recommends producers wait at least 30 days after weaning.
Producers Confirm Vaccinations, Microbials, Help Ease Weaning Transition
Blane Nagel experiences very few health issues with his Nagel Cattle Co. calves post-weaning. They were set up for their transition to independency pre-weaning with two rounds of vaccines and creep feeding.
The customer calves which he buys back and feeds with his home-raised calves also experience very little hospital time in his family’s feedlot. These calves come in vaccinated – at Nagel’s request and suggested protocol. Even though they are bawling, they’re gradually stepped up and get to performing on feed.
“If cattle coming into the feedlot are healthy, it’s a big benefit to us,” Nagel remarks. “Healthy calves respond so much better to whatever you’re doing for implant strategies or vaccinations.”
While calves transition onto a complete roughage ration that includes silage, Nagel also gives them, what he calls, a “relatively inexpensive five-day micro-bug treatment.”
He believes, “Anytime you can enhance the right type of bugs in the gut, cattle are going to gain and convert and are less likely to get sick, especially in the stressful time of weaning.”
In the Texas Panhandle, Tim Spiva, owner of Triangle Calf Growers near Wildorado, just west of Amarillo, also believes in using microbial products, especially on 3-4-weight calves.
He’s used AgriLabs’ RESPOND™ Appetite Drench with Zymace™ when processing and RESPOND Paste when doctoring. RESPOND works in conjunction with antibiotics, and is designed to be especially useful during times of weaning, shipping, receiving, handling, and vaccinating, all scenarios which Spiva regularly encounters.
This yard preconditions primarily 3-4-weight bawling calves, “the best definition of high-risk calves,” describes Spiva, all received from northeast Texas to Florida. They keep calves 45 to 60 days before they’re turned onto grass or wheat pasture.
To get the health straightened out on calves like these, Triangle employs Titanium 3 to cover IBR and BVDV Type 1 and 2 in its initial vaccination and revaccination protocols. Spiva also incorporates a pasteurella vaccine at the recommendation of his veterinary consultant.
Referring to RESPOND, he shares, “We’ve always liked a bacillus-type product on our 3-4-weight calves. I really like the RESPOND Paste – it works well for us. Every calf that’s pulled and doctored gets a dose of RESPOND Paste. We just feel like we’re being proactive in getting their gut going.”
Spiva says he can treat 20 calves with the 300 mL tube – that’s about $1 per calf. When the tube is finished, he likes the fact he can dispose of it for biosecurity purposes. He says he wouldn’t want to reuse drench guns on sick calves.
This calf grower says he has a better chance with keeping calves healthy if he receives them within 48 hours of being weaned. “The fresher, the better,” he says. And he does have weaning advice for producers: Vaccinate ahead. “If calves had a shot while on mom and another when pulled off, that’d be all the better,” Spiva remarks. “Just get them vaccinated.”
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™RESPOND is a trademark of Agri Laboratories LTD. Data on file. ™Zymace is a trademark of R&D Life Science.