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Post by quappelle on May 24, 2011 22:59:41 GMT -5
My Dexter cow calved for the first time at 20 months of age (accidentally bred before I got her). She was not handled at all before I got her except to run her into a squeeze, and although I have worked hard on her for several months, I don't believe she will ever be as tame as I want her to be. Long story short--I would like to wean the heifer calf as soon as possible and sell the mother so I can work without her influence on the calf. What is the range of weaning ages for Dexter calves?
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dexterlady
member
Wife, mother of two daughters and five grand children
Posts: 647
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Post by dexterlady on May 24, 2011 23:14:16 GMT -5
quappelle, I wean all my calves at four months , unless they look like they are a little on the small or underweight size, then I leave them until 5 months. I have a really small feminine black polled heifer from a first timer , and she looks kinda small for 2 1/2 months, so I will wait until she is four months, and if she is still small, I will give her another month with her mom. Most folks leave the calves on the momma for 4-6 months in general. Guess it just depends on the individual. Hope this helps...... Donna
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Post by ctownson on May 25, 2011 4:11:49 GMT -5
We wean a lot of our calves at 3 months if they are healthy and eating hay and grain eagerly. The earliest we have weaned a calf is just less than 3 months old; he was a bull calf that came up to the feeding trough and was eating grain, etc. like an adult. The more you can work with the calf now the better off you will be in the long term.
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Post by cddexter on May 25, 2011 9:37:01 GMT -5
You might try separating the calf, but somewhere the cow can see it and be next to it, and letting mum in twice or three times a day so the calf can nurse. That would allow you to spend time with the calf, cuddling, stroking, talking to it without the cow taking the calf off, so you become almost a second mum. Imprinting is a really strong instinct, so use it to your advantage. By three months, the calf will have picked up the mother's spookiness, and you'll have a lot more work to do. c.
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Post by quappelle on May 25, 2011 11:54:54 GMT -5
I am thinking it may be my best choice to possibly sell cow and calf as a pair. I have milked the cow a little bit from time to time, and her orifices are like pinholes. Because her orifices are so tiny, the teat has to have a lot of pressure on it so unfortunately this induces kicking. I milked goats for many years by hand and machine, and the hard milkers tended to pass this problem on besides taking a lot more time at chores to empty out. I am thinking I may be farther ahead to buy a calf from a more milkable dam as this calf may also have very tight orifices in her teats?
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Post by cddexter on May 25, 2011 12:17:09 GMT -5
any chance she is holding back? cows will do this if they don't like you or they are keeping the milk for the calf, and see you as a thief. pinhole teats are not that common in dexters, that I've heard of. Does it take a long time for the calf to nurse? that would be your first clue. either way, you may be happier with a different cow. c.
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Post by quappelle on May 25, 2011 16:13:59 GMT -5
Although our relationship has taken a backward step (due to her getting away from me a couple of times when I was leading her out in the open), I did milk a couple of cups out of her a number of times soon after she freshened,just to let her have the experience of being hand milked. I was doing this every day, using all of her teats, and definitely had enough time to figure out that she has very small teat orifices. Since she seems to have reverted to trying to break away from me all the time, I really am not up to soldiering on with it. Since she lived in a beef herd that did not get any handling except for when they ran them into a squeeze to do something to them, before I got her as a yearling, I think that although she would be considered docile for a beef animal, she is too spooky to be a milking cow. Also, I don't want to be married to her and want something that would accept others milking her at times. I know that I will have to make sure that a calf is socialized so that she will accept this. I am picking up a three and a half month old heifer calf on Van. Is. this week that will be newly weaned. Possibly I can set up a pen with the two calves in it and lead the one calf out to nurse the spooky dam. I really like the Dexters, and enjoy the training part. However, I now know that I am not up the the challenge of an animal that is so ingrained with the flight impulse at the slightest thing. I have had some Dexter people tell me that I cannot expect that a Dexter will ever lose that impulse, but I hope they are wrong.
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Post by Olga on May 26, 2011 11:15:15 GMT -5
I can definitely relate to the pain of milking teats with small orifices. Justus ended up with carpal tunnel from milking Maxine - because he was applying so much force to speed the process up. It didn't hurt me because I was OK with taking 20+ minutes to milk her out. The difference is especially clear when you find one with large teat orifices and it takes all of 5 minutes (max!) to get them milked out and then you hang around waiting on THEM to finish their feed!
Same for flightiness - it's pain to have to tiptoe around your milk cow's sensitivity! In Maxine's case, she is paranoid more than flighty. And very protective of the calf - to the point that we've had to put her and her calf in the paddock because it was taking hours! to round them up from open pasture (nothing like coming through the gate, carrying the milk bucket, and seeing your quarry doing a 180* and dissappearing into the woods).
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