The Bagpipe - American Highland Cattle Association

44
MANAGEMENT
WEANING STRATEGIES
William Lipsey
Putting on nylon halters and allowing the calves to drag them around for several days is an easy, low stress beginning
to halter breaking.
For every cattleman there are certain terms, activities and occurrences that take place every year, sometimes
everyday, that could be described as the basics of cattle raising. Calving, breeding, feeding, weaning, giving shots,
etc. all become second nature to the experienced cattleman. However to the “new comer” in the business, some
of these things are mysterious and confounding.
Weaning is one of the most stressful times in a cow and calf’s life and can be one of the loudest for their owners.
Generally calves are born in the spring and they nurse their mothers until they are taken away in the fall. Why? First
of all, these are not dairy cows, they only produce a calf and the milk to raise them. Typically the calf nurses for 4-8
months until it is old enough and big enough to digest “regular food” (hay and grain). At this point a calf is actually
getting a larger percentage of its nutrition from grazing, rather than its mother.
Why not just let the calf continue to nurse until it weans itself? First off, they often won’t wean themselves,
sometimes you see a calf nursing on one side of a cow and her yearling on the other. Secondly, as mentioned above, after
about 8 months of age, the calf is getting a fairly small percentage of its nutritional needs from nursing, yet milking
takes a great toll on a cow, greatly increasing her nutritional needs. Unfortunately, neither the cow nor the calf
understands the benefits and both will bellow and blat like it’s the end of the world. Just remember, in order to have
properly developed calves and good healthy cows, weaning is a necessary evil.
Following are descriptions from several established breeders of when and how they wean their calves and what
other procedures are done at that time.