Post by nicefarmer on Nov 16, 2012 21:50:31 GMT -5
Guidelines to determining the best calf weaning age
As a principle, the sooner calves are weaned the greater will be the potential turnoff of young cattle. Earlier weaning age is the single most important way to increase weaner throughput.
The keys to maximising the benefits of weaning age to throughput and productivity are to:
• Identify the time when the efficiency of pasture use will be greater for the calf alone than for the cow and calf together. This is normally around six months into lactation when the higher quality pasture required to maintain cows and produce a relatively small amount of milk is better consumed directly by the weaned calf.
• Implement a weaning strategy that ensures no check occurs in calf growth.
These management practices need to be in place when weaning as early as possible and without compromising the overall calf growth rate.
In southern Australia, current industry practice is to wean calves between six and nine months of age.
Weaning age and projected liveweight gains post-weaning depend on pasture availability and quality. Ideally, weaning needs to take place when pasture height and availability are best for maximum intake by the weaned calf and the pasture has a nutritional quality of more than 11.5 megajoules per kilogram of dry matter (MJ ME/kg DM) and at least 15% crude protein. When weaning in summer, use the best available dry pasture for the weaners.
In general, use the combination of age and weight of calves, and condition score of cows, as the basis for a decision to wean calves as early as possible. This is particularly important when there is a limited quantity of high quality pasture available. Determine your weaning strategy based on the following guidelines:
Complete Article Here : pakagri.blogspot.com/2012/11/determine-weaning-age-for-beef-calves.html