Post by nina on Aug 9, 2021 18:26:23 GMT -5
Young calves born into a herd will be protected and cared for by the herd, and will be treated more favorably the higher ranked their mother is. In your calve's case he would of been+ unwelcome and persecuted by the herd. Eventually the herd might accept him but he would be rock bottom and last for food choice and even to drink water. Even though there is a lot of pasture your steer probably would follow the herd so in the relatively smaller space the herd is in, he will always get the worse choices. I've had cows pick on a lower ranked animal just laying down resting. In the past I've tried for convenience sake to introduce an odd young heifer to an older unrelated group and had to pull them out and pamper for a while as they start getting behind. It's not the age you put him to pasture as you can do a group of weanlings together, but weanlings can't compete with older cows unless it's a family group. We have a neighbor that puts too many cows, (50+-) in a slightly too small pasture for the number of cows. Every winter 1 or 2 dies while 80 percent of the herd looks decent the other 20 percent are barely hanging on. What is different from the top cows with the bottom cows? Temperament and intelligence. What I've done in the past when I couldn't separate is to feed separately. I had a sale barn young heifer this year I had to pull out of the herd 3 times. I would feed her a couple weeks by herself and think she could handle joining the herd and a couple weeks later I would have to pull her out. Sometimes a really meek cow won't struggle at all to eat. To this day she is still a stupid pain though strong. I have feed troughs on either side of a very large barn, the cows can't see what the other side is doing. I have smart young heifers that know I will feed them on one side once the bigger cows are eating on the other side. They can wait until I pour feed out for the bigger cows knowing they can eat unmolested on the other side. The heifer that has struggled the most still hasn't figured that out. That heifer is probably getting 10 or 15 percent less feed than the smarter heifer. The bigger cows are getting more than they should. Economically it is better to have your cows sorted according to size if possible. This is why you can get a really good buy on a heifer that is out of sync with the herd, early or late born.