# Weaning calves and fencing...



## Jackie (Jun 20, 2008)

So I am selling my bull and I was thinking that was going to eliminate the need to do any fencing for about a year. I would just buy a new bulll late next summer/early fall and turn him out with my cows and heifers. ..no need to separate him out.


Well I am very new and it suddenly clicked into my head that I cant just leave the calves on the cows...they are going to need to be weaned. So these are my questions. Can I leave the calves with the cows and just use those nose clips? Does anyone have any experience with that? Can they share a fenceline? Will calves climb a fence? Someone just gave me about 650 feet of 4 foot high paige wire. Brand new rolls. Can I use that to make a big pen to wean them in? 

In a perfect world I would be able to just load the calves and drive them a few miles away, but I dont have anything a few miles away.


Ok...and how long do they need to be separated for? Like can I separate them for a month then toss them back in together or do they need to be apart for a LONG time? 

Pretty much every rancher I know sells his steer calves right off the cow, then puts the heifers they are keeping in a separate pasture far away where they stay until they are ready to be bred back for the second time...then they go with the cows. My place aint that big. There really isnt going to be separate pastures and the landscape of my property makes it very hard to crossfence. 

I have one heifer calf and 2 soon to be steer calves that I am going to need to wean...just 3. I am keeping both steers until they are butcher size. One I am eating, one I am selling. If that makes any difference at all.


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## PaulNKS (Jan 11, 2009)

You will need to fence them off somehow. The 650 feet of wire isn't going to provide much room for 3 calves. You will definitely have to be feeding hay full time. If there is grass it will be gone very quickly, not to mention we're getting into winter soon.

The calves will need to be separated for at least 30 days and sometimes longer. When we sell calves we sell them right off the cow, and truck them to the sale barn. 

You can wait to wean them until they are a good 500 to 750 pounds if they are a standard beef breed. Also, you can leave them on the cow and let the cow wean them...eventually. If you breed the cows, and if the calves aren't weaned, you would want to then wean them about 60 days before the cow is to calve again.


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## linn (Jul 19, 2005)

We have had really good results using calf weaners that go in the calf's nose. DH gets the calves up and runs them through the chute, putting a weaning ring in each nose and giving a blackleg booster at the same time. It is less stress on the cow and calf as they don't need to be separated and you don't have to worry about extra fencing.

Calf Weaner - ANIMART


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## ycanchu2 (Oct 21, 2011)

linn said:


> We have had really good results using calf weaners that go in the calf's nose. DH gets the calves up and runs them through the chute, putting a weaning ring in each nose and giving a blackleg booster at the same time. It is less stress on the cow and calf as they don't need to be separated and you don't have to worry about extra fencing.
> 
> Calf Weaner - ANIMART


I must be bit slow.....what's a DH?


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## linn (Jul 19, 2005)

DH=Dear Husband


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## Jackie (Jun 20, 2008)

PaulNKS said:


> You will need to fence them off somehow. The 650 feet of wire isn't going to provide much room for 3 calves. You will definitely have to be feeding hay full time. If there is grass it will be gone very quickly, not to mention we're getting into winter soon.
> 
> The calves will need to be separated for at least 30 days and sometimes longer. When we sell calves we sell them right off the cow, and truck them to the sale barn.
> 
> You can wait to wean them until they are a good 500 to 750 pounds if they are a standard beef breed. Also, you can leave them on the cow and let the cow wean them...eventually. If you breed the cows, and if the calves aren't weaned, you would want to then wean them about 60 days before the cow is to calve again.


well I think I will be weaning them in winter so I was going to be feeding hay anyway...even if it was spring 30 days extra of hay isnt going to kill me or them. My calves are only 7-4 weeks old now. So ya, its gonna be winter. Mine are dexters. Sooo I realize they are going to be smaller when they are weaned....my question is...how do you tell when yours are 500-750lbs? Do you just tell for lookin at em? Like I can pretty much judge how much a horse weighs, get out the weight tape and I am pretty close...but its not like i can walk up to a calf with a weight tape. Maybe I'll learn how to judge a calfs weight by looking at it.


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## Cliff (Jun 30, 2007)

Why do you need to wean them? It's much easier to let the cow wean them when she's ready.


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## Jackie (Jun 20, 2008)

Cliff said:


> Why do you need to wean them? It's much easier to let the cow wean them when she's ready.


Well, I left the bull in with the cows so they were probably bred back on their first heat. So I should have new calves when these ones are 10 months old...approx. I dont know for sure, but i read that a cow needs a break between calves. Will she wean them herself in time for the next calf? I have seen a picture of a wild horse nursing a 2 year old, a yearling and a new foal! lol! I am sure a cow would have more sense than that, but what if she doesnt?


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## ycanchu2 (Oct 21, 2011)

linn said:


> DH=Dear Husband


Duh....Thanks


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## linn (Jul 19, 2005)

Jackie said:


> Well, I left the bull in with the cows so they were probably bred back on their first heat. So I should have new calves when these ones are 10 months old...approx. I dont know for sure, but i read that a cow needs a break between calves. Will she wean them herself in time for the next calf? I have seen a picture of a wild horse nursing a 2 year old, a yearling and a new foal! lol! I am sure a cow would have more sense than that, but what if she doesnt?


A cow needs about 2 months dry before she calves. You probably won't need to wean the calves for quite a while. Cows do not always wean a big calf. We have caught a yearling nursing along with the new calf.


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## PaulNKS (Jan 11, 2009)

Jackie said:


> well I think I will be weaning them in winter so I was going to be feeding hay anyway...even if it was spring 30 days extra of hay isnt going to kill me or them. My calves are only 7-4 weeks old now. So ya, its gonna be winter. Mine are dexters. Sooo I realize they are going to be smaller when they are weaned....my question is...how do you tell when yours are 500-750lbs? Do you just tell for lookin at em? Like I can pretty much judge how much a horse weighs, get out the weight tape and I am pretty close...but its not like i can walk up to a calf with a weight tape. Maybe I'll learn how to judge a calfs weight by looking at it.


With a Dexter, it's a little different. Yes, I just look at them to judge or guess the weight. But,.... with large herds, the calves all go at the same time, so that is why there can be the difference in weights.


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## Cliff (Jun 30, 2007)

Jackie said:


> Well, I left the bull in with the cows so they were probably bred back on their first heat. So I should have new calves when these ones are 10 months old...approx. I dont know for sure, but i read that a cow needs a break between calves. Will she wean them herself in time for the next calf? I have seen a picture of a wild horse nursing a 2 year old, a yearling and a new foal! lol! I am sure a cow would have more sense than that, but what if she doesnt?


So just don't worry about it till the calves are 8 - 9 months old. Then if one isn't weaned you can separate it. It really won't happen that often that you'll need to worry about it much though. We have a big herd (anywhere from 50-70 at any one time) and I can only remember a couple of times in the last 10 years or so where we've had to pull an older calf off it's mother.

Trust in nature and that the cows know what to do. Just pay attention to what's going on just in case.


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## SpaceCadet12364 (Apr 27, 2003)

We let mom wean. Some wean at 5mos some wean when new calf arrives. If cow is not being pulled down let her do it.


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## Jackie (Jun 20, 2008)

Cliff said:


> So just don't worry about it till the calves are 8 - 9 months old. Then if one isn't weaned you can separate it. It really won't happen that often that you'll need to worry about it much though. We have a big herd (anywhere from 50-70 at any one time) and I can only remember a couple of times in the last 10 years or so where we've had to pull an older calf off it's mother.
> 
> Trust in nature and that the cows know what to do. Just pay attention to what's going on just in case.


The reason I am worrying about it now is because I have about 5 weeks left and then I can forget building a fence until next April/May. The ground is going to be frozen. I basically just wanted to know if 4 foot high page wire will keep them contained.


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## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

The best fencing I've found to wein calves in is a stock trailer while they're on their way to the sale barn! Seriously, I don't deal with the weeks worth of bawling and trying to break in to mama. I just load them up when they're weining weight and sale them unless I'm keeping one for beef. Then, I put the calf inside the barn when it's cool enough for them to stay in there 24/7 and try to move mama a pasture or two away. After 3-4 days you can let baby out and "usually" he don't break out of the pasture and get to mama. One trick: I get mama and baby on feed a few weeks before so baby realizes what the granular gold is in the barn for him while he's going through the trama of weining.


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## Cliff (Jun 30, 2007)

Honestly I wouldn't be building a fence for such a remote possibility, unless you just want another pasture fenced off for some reason. In the unlikely event that a cow doesn't wean her own calf sticking one of the weaning nose devices on the calf would suffice. I think you're worrying too much about something that very rarely happens.


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## bigbluegrass (Jan 11, 2011)

I doubt the calves at weaning would go over a 4 ft high fence. They may go under it if it isn't held down good or the ground is hilly. If you fence line wean them (Mom on one side and calf on the other) they will test the fence pretty hard the first week. You need to make it a really good fence. I usually feed mine a high protein feed during the weaning period to keep the protein level up and help them stay full. I normally separate them for a minimum of 12 weeks. The younger you wean them, the longer it takes. I would wean them at 6 to 7 months of age, that still gives your cows 3 to 4 months off.

I think you could make something with 650 ft of fence that could hold calves for 12 weeks if you are feeding hay. I am not familiar with paige fence. It looks like woven wire in the pictures. Good luck.


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## Cheryl aka JM (Aug 7, 2007)

Have you already sold the bull? I'd draw some blood and make sure them cows are pregnant first if I were you. I have two cows that were running with the bull that sired their first calves for about 5 months post calving. I sold the bull and a third cow, figuring all three cows would be bred by that time. I took the two cows I had still in to the vet get them palpated find out due dates so I could be ready......
They were both open!
I called the fellow I sold the bull and the third cow too....the third cow was pregnant and gave him a beautiful heifer calf about the time I imagined all three cows would be due. The last two cows that I had kept (both jersey/holstien cross) got lute shots to get them cycling again and left in with a bull calf (as it happens last years calf from the cow I sold!) and we've been drawing pregnancy tests on them sending in to biotracking. NOW both cows are pregnant and the bull calf is going to processor Oct 2nd.

Lesson learned.....
Make sure the cow is pregnant before you get rid of the bull!


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## Jackie (Jun 20, 2008)

Cliff said:


> Honestly I wouldn't be building a fence for such a remote possibility, unless you just want another pasture fenced off for some reason. In the unlikely event that a cow doesn't wean her own calf sticking one of the weaning nose devices on the calf would suffice. I think you're worrying too much about something that very rarely happens.



I have seriously never ever heard of a cow weaning her own calf. I have always been told/read that you need to wean them to let her dry up for at least 2 months before the next calf is due. I have thought it would be more of a remote possibility that she would actually care to wean the calf. But I guess I will take everyones word for it and not bother building a fence.


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## Jackie (Jun 20, 2008)

bigbluegrass said:


> I doubt the calves at weaning would go over a 4 ft high fence. They may go under it if it isn't held down good or the ground is hilly. If you fence line wean them (Mom on one side and calf on the other) they will test the fence pretty hard the first week. You need to make it a really good fence. I usually feed mine a high protein feed during the weaning period to keep the protein level up and help them stay full. I normally separate them for a minimum of 12 weeks. The younger you wean them, the longer it takes. I would wean them at 6 to 7 months of age, that still gives your cows 3 to 4 months off.
> 
> I think you could make something with 650 ft of fence that could hold calves for 12 weeks if you are feeding hay. I am not familiar with paige fence. It looks like woven wire in the pictures. Good luck.


Ya it goes by other names other than paige wire.. I call it page wire, some people call it field fencing, some people call it woven wire. Its sheep and goat fence. Comes in 330' rolls. Smaller holes at the bottom. Thanks for the info.


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## Jackie (Jun 20, 2008)

Cheryl aka JM said:


> Have you already sold the bull? I'd draw some blood and make sure them cows are pregnant first if I were you. I have two cows that were running with the bull that sired their first calves for about 5 months post calving. I sold the bull and a third cow, figuring all three cows would be bred by that time. I took the two cows I had still in to the vet get them palpated find out due dates so I could be ready......
> They were both open!
> I called the fellow I sold the bull and the third cow too....the third cow was pregnant and gave him a beautiful heifer calf about the time I imagined all three cows would be due. The last two cows that I had kept (both jersey/holstien cross) got lute shots to get them cycling again and left in with a bull calf (as it happens last years calf from the cow I sold!) and we've been drawing pregnancy tests on them sending in to biotracking. NOW both cows are pregnant and the bull calf is going to processor Oct 2nd.
> 
> ...



All my cows got pregnant within 3 weeks of my bull showing up last year...actually one cow had a calf 2 weeks earlier than what my calendar said...and I didnt even have the bull then. She must have gotten pregnant the day he showed up. The bull isnt gone yet. I was going to let him go on sunday but i chickened out thinking that might not have been long enough for my cows to be bred back. Guy I am selling him too doesnt actually need him until next year so he is going to pick him up sometime in october. I am not familiar with the blood test pregnancy thing...I didnt realize you could do that with cows. can you just do it yourself?


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## G. Seddon (May 16, 2005)

Yes, you can; I believe you get results fairly fast. Read all about it here:

Home | BioTracking.com


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## Cliff (Jun 30, 2007)

Jackie said:


> I have seriously never ever heard of a cow weaning her own calf. I have always been told/read that you need to wean them to let her dry up for at least 2 months before the next calf is due. I have thought it would be more of a remote possibility that she would actually care to wean the calf. But I guess I will take everyones word for it and not bother building a fence.


Actually I think the 2 month thing is more a guideline for drying up dairy cows who milk so heavy. I personally wouldn't care if a beef calf on pasture was weaned up to the point that the colostrum came in for the new calf. Even then I've had it happen where they weren't weaned a couple times in the last few years, like I said, (and mind you this is out of anywhere from 50-70 mama cows) and everyone was fine. When I realized it was happening I did pull the older calves out of concern that the new calves wouldn't get enough. In one of the cases though, we realized a 2 year old heifer was still sneaking sips when nobody was looking. The next years calf did fine and grew well. We definitely pulled her though because that could turn into a real mess with the cow pregnant again.

Regarding your fence though, it never hurts to have an area that you can lock up a cow away from the others for other reasons besides weaning.


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## Cheryl aka JM (Aug 7, 2007)

The link G Seddon put up~ thats what I've been using. Draw the blood (get the cow pinned in good in a head catch or between a couple gates and do a tail draw. I think there are links on Biotracking how to do the blood draw) The test costs $2.50 the blood does not have to go overnight so is only about $5 to ship, I send it on a Monday and have results by Friday in my email.

I also agree with Cliff~ if you have the fence and the time might as well build the pen...just fence in a corner of the existing pasture...then if you don't need it fine, leave the gate open and the cows can come and go, but if you do need it great you've already got it!


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## PaulNKS (Jan 11, 2009)

Jackie said:


> I have seriously never ever heard of a cow weaning her own calf. I have always been told/read that you need to wean them to let her dry up for at least 2 months before the next calf is due.


Some do and some don't. You don't have to wean but it is best. Personally, I think leaving the calves until the new calves are born is poor management. BUT, I do understand that some people either don't have the space or resources to wean and leave the calves on the cows. Also, weaning can be just separating the calf from the cow, or like many stockmen do, just hauling the calves to town when it's time to wean.


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## Cliff (Jun 30, 2007)

PaulNKS said:


> Some do and some don't. You don't have to wean but it is best. Personally, I think leaving the calves until the new calves are born is poor management. BUT, I do understand that some people either don't have the space or resources to wean and leave the calves on the cows. Also, weaning can be just separating the calf from the cow, or like many stockmen do, just hauling the calves to town when it's time to wean.


It will very rarely happen that a cow will allow a calf to stay on her till the new calf is born. If you routinely wean you wouldn't know that I guess. We prefer to let nature take it's course and intervene if necessary instead of routinely interfering. It's just not necessary in the great majority of cases and creates unnecessary stress on the animals and a lot of work for the humans. We will carry well grown wean-able age calves to market if the prices happen to be good at that point, but the weaning of them isn't the point, the selling of them is


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## PaulNKS (Jan 11, 2009)

Cliff said:


> It will very rarely happen that a cow will allow a calf to stay on her till the new calf is born. If you routinely wean you wouldn't know that I guess. We prefer to let nature take it's course and intervene if necessary instead of routinely interfering. It's just not necessary in the great majority of cases and creates unnecessary stress on the animals and a lot of work for the humans. We will carry well grown wean-able age calves to market if the prices happen to be good at that point, but the weaning of them isn't the point, the selling of them is


In the past I've had many that didn't get weaned early enough and there are a lot of times that the cow will NOT wean the calf. I've been around cattle all my life. Like I said earlier, some will wean and some won't.


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## Cliff (Jun 30, 2007)

PaulNKS said:


> In the past I've had many that didn't get weaned early enough and there are a lot of times that the cow will NOT wean the calf. I've been around cattle all my life. Like I said earlier, some will wean and some won't.


So have I. What is "early enough?"


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## RockyRidgeFarms (Sep 5, 2012)

We also let nature do the work. With Dexters, they are such good mothers, that weaning for any reason other than milking, puts major stress on them. Their desire to keep and protect that calf is stronger than some of the other breeds we've had. However, they do seem to always know when it's time to cut 'em loose and fend for themselves. At that oint it's usually just the calf that's stressed. That little trick from an earlier posts work good at that point, keep a grain or alfalfa in a special spot for the claves to keep their mind off it.

One thing to try though, if you don't have room, is to drive around the area and maybe find someone who has the fencing and equipment still set up from an old operation and see about borrowing/renting for a month of so.


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## FarmerDavid (Jul 16, 2012)

linn said:


> We have had really good results using calf weaners that go in the calf's nose. DH gets the calves up and runs them through the chute, putting a weaning ring in each nose and giving a blackleg booster at the same time. It is less stress on the cow and calf as they don't need to be separated and you don't have to worry about extra fencing.
> 
> Calf Weaner - ANIMART


Do you pull these out after a few weeks or do they eventually fall out or just leave them in?


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## gwithrow (Feb 5, 2005)

I second the calf weaners....the ideal is to vaccinate, put the weaner thing in, and leave if for 6 weeks or so, then back thru the chute, remove the weaner and revaccinate....putting them in was easy...taking out should be easier..they do not go thru the nose, just grip it on either side...

so far they have worked well...we did have one cow who weaned her own calf....before, she got a weaner thing anyway....but that one cow will be the last to go, she is a keeper...and keepng the herd together is much easier...then you can separate later and sell or put up or whatever....no bawling...safer here for everyone to stick together as well.....and you can use the fencing as you need it later on....


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## Hexe (Mar 8, 2007)

I was in the same position as you when I started out and I ran into the same issue. Some research suggested that calves should be "manually" weaned and so I did. Lots of bawling, some success, some not so successful (so I thought) until I realised that the cows weaned the calves themselves IF they were bred. They'll do it about 60-90 days before calving. However, they always calve in spring and my theorie is that at that time (winter) they start to dry up anyway due to time already spent nursing, diet (hay only) and temperatures. I have Dexters and a Highland, the only time they've let the calves nurse longer is when they are open and you can tell that there is not a whole lot of milk, it seems that the calves nurse out of habit and comfort mostly.


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## ycanchu2 (Oct 21, 2011)

Hexe said:


> I was in the same position as you when I started out and I ran into the same issue. Some research suggested that calves should be "manually" weaned and so I did. Lots of bawling, some success, some not so successful (so I thought) until I realised that the cows weaned the calves themselves IF they were bred. They'll do it about 60-90 days before calving. However, they always calve in spring and my theorie is that at that time (winter) they start to dry up anyway due to time already spent nursing, diet (hay only) and temperatures. I have Dexters and a Highland, the only time they've let the calves nurse longer is when they are open and you can tell that there is not a whole lot of milk, it seems that the calves nurse out of habit and comfort mostly.


I have tried natural weaning this year for the first time ever. I'm keeping back about 20 heifers in 2 different herds. One herd of about 21 cows are already calving....about half have calved so far. There are 10 heifers still with them from last year and all of them are weaned. In the other herd there are 11 heifers that I am going to keep and I think they are mostly weaned too, but their mamas won't calve untill mid Febuary. I seen one trying to nurse yesterday but when I got closer she was actually just licking one of the teats it was only for a moment then her mama lifted her leg as if to tell her to stop and she did. I think its the way to go.
I had never thought about what you said about...IF they are bred....because if they weren't they would probably never dry up. Good post.


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