Weaning Rings

[doublesranch]

Can anyone share their experience with me, on weaning products? Here's my situation: I currently have 2 fenced in pastures, with a 3rd pasture that is not yet fenced and won't be useable until July or August. In one of my pastures, I have 4 heifers that won't be old enough to breed until August 1st. In my other pasture, I have 2 cows - one cow just had her baby this past Saturday, the other cow is due to give birth next month. I also have a yearling bull calf in this pasture with the "mamas". The trouble started last Friday, the day before Abbey gave birth. All of the sudden, the one-year old bull decided he was going to start nursing, again. We could not keep him away from Abbey's udders! I was worried that he would eat the good colostrum needed for the new baby, so we got some cattle panels and built a temporary corral for the bull. He is now separated from the mama cows, but I don't want to keep him in jail for that long. Someone recommended I try a Weaning Ring on him. I've looked on the internet, and there are several types and made of different materials. The most popular one, it seems, is made of metal and has spikes on it! Won't that hurt the cows' udders? I need to figure something out soon, as in less than 2 weeks, I will be getting 2 new cows - a 6 month old steer, and a 1-year old steer. I had planned on putting them in the "mama cows" pasture, to even the cow/pasture ratio out, but now I am concerned that they, too, will try to nurse the mamas!

Any ideas or experiences you can share with me would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Susan

[zephyrhillsusan]

Hi, Susan.  (Great name! )  Sorry you're having this problem.  

Here are some links to posts I did about weaning rings.  You'll see the kind I used, which seems to have worked quite well.  

Here's one more.  This is just our one experience.  Macree is back in with Siobhan now, and I'm watching carefully, but no sign at all that she's even trying to nurse.  Siobhan's dam weaned her herself, so we never had to do anything.

When I realized that Siobhan was self-sucking, I tried to use the green ring for her, but it didn't stop her.  I've heard people say calves can get their tongues through those, but Siobhan was flipping it up.  There are calves that learn to do that.  I guess getting their nose poked is worth getting the milk.  

As far as any of the metal or plastic spikes hurting the cow's udder, that is actually the point.     Not to cause injury, of course, but to poke and hurt enough that she kicks the kiddo off.

Good luck, and I hope you get it figured out.

[dexterfarm]

never used a ring cant help you there. I did have a yearling heifer decide to start nursing from her dam when she calved. I pulled the heifer out for a few days to give mom and new baby time together. When I put her back in her mother no longer allowed it.

[doublesranch]

Susan, what a beautiful place you have! I really enjoyed reading your blog and having the pictures to illustrate the process of putting the ring on the cow. I am going to order my weaning rings today, and see how it goes. Thank you again for your quick reply!