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Weaning
Jan 1, 2008 19:26:59 GMT -5
Post by jenrob on Jan 1, 2008 19:26:59 GMT -5
Hi all Dexter fans I live in S.E Queensland (Australia) on a small acerage property. We recently bought 2 cows and their calves (7 mth old steer and a 6 mnth old heifer) which we run on 4 acres (1 paddock of 1.5 acres and the other of 2.5). The larger paddock has Green Panic, Rhodes, Paspalum, Couch and Clover. The smaller paddock has some Rhodes, Clover, Couch and native grasses. The fence is 3 mm dog wire, 1.5 m high so the calves would not be able to suckle through it. My question is which paddock would you put the calves in? My gut feeling is the larger one as its grass is more lush. Also thought that the lesser quality pasture in the other would assist in drying off the cows. All four are doing well at the present so is there an optimum time for weaning i.e. now or when the calves are 9+ months? Jen
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Weaning
Jan 1, 2008 19:53:34 GMT -5
Post by shamrockhill on Jan 1, 2008 19:53:34 GMT -5
HI Jen,
I live near Warwick and I'm aware of all the feed that is available at the moment. (Beautiful)
I hate weaning time as there is always the risk of the mums getting mastitis. I agree with you putting the cows in the lesser quality paddock but it sounds like it's probably no going to make too much difference.
If you are concerned about the cows building up too much, you can put the calved back in for a drink in a couple of days and then seperate again. It's a bit of a nuisance but it does work. Or you could milk the girls and increase the intervals over a period.
The other option is to use weaning rings. They are great. They have spikes on them at irritate the udder when the calf goes to drink and mum will get sick of it and push the calf away. The calf will still get the occassional drink but mum will start to dry off more slowly.
Just don't leave the ring in too long as I have heard of skin growing around the clamp in the nose.
Other advantage to the rings is that you can give your paddocks a chance to rid itself of worms instead of contaminating both paddocks.
Hope this helps.
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Weaning
Jan 2, 2008 15:32:44 GMT -5
Post by shamrockhill on Jan 2, 2008 15:32:44 GMT -5
Hi Jen,
I forgot to add that some people wean at 4 months of age. I usually leave mine for 7 months. A lot will depend on the condition of the cow and calf. ie. If mum is poor, then wean because chances are the cow is not producing much milk anyway.
If you have a bull calf that is staying intact, then you need to be mindful of him covering his mother which is never good practice. And given that some little Dexter bulls have been know to start work at 5 months, well the rest is self explainatory.
And if you leave them too long, then you might struggle to wean if the mother is keen. I purchased a cow with heifer calf at foot. Mother was poor and the calf was 15months old. Too old to be feeding off mum.
I immediately weaned and had them seperated for a month which I normally find is enough. But as soon as they got back together, the calf jumped straight back on. So I seperated them again. This time the calf became sooo stressed that she lost a lot of condition. On the up side, mum kicked on and now looks beautiful.
You can leave the calves on for longer that 9 mths but remember that if the cow is back in calf, then she will need to put some energy back into growing that calf and providing milk when it arrives. Hope this helps.
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Weaning
Feb 9, 2008 13:42:29 GMT -5
Post by Clive on Feb 9, 2008 13:42:29 GMT -5
Hi
I don't wean now at all unless the cow is in calf again and then only about 6 weeks before calving or if the cow is loosing condition. Calves can stay with the cow till they're 12 months old, no problem. If you're doing beef from grass, then I have a pal who has figures for 50 animals that show that early weaning (say earlier than 7 months) ruins the beef output.
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Weaning
Feb 9, 2008 18:28:38 GMT -5
Post by Cloverbell on Feb 9, 2008 18:28:38 GMT -5
How cool is this reading your posts and seeing how far, far away you live and we're all just discussing the same things. Totally awesome (says the former surf chick)
Oh yeah. I try to leave the calves in the pasture/pen they're already familiar with and take the mamas to an adjoining, pasture. I'm also toying with the "moon signs" for weaning my next few because the owner-to-be requested it. Pattie Adams filled me in on the timing on that. Let me know if you're interested and I'll post her email to me. (If that's okay Patti?)
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Weaning
Feb 10, 2008 10:34:52 GMT -5
Post by liz on Feb 10, 2008 10:34:52 GMT -5
Lush Grass !!!! I am sooo jealous! We are under 2' (60cm) of snow, in Easter Ontario, Canada and it is still snowing. I don't even remember what grass LOOKS like! Liz
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Weaning
Feb 11, 2008 11:50:41 GMT -5
Post by onthebit on Feb 11, 2008 11:50:41 GMT -5
Dry Canadian air? It has been snowing or raining here since September!
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Weaning
Feb 11, 2008 16:35:06 GMT -5
Post by liz on Feb 11, 2008 16:35:06 GMT -5
Oh boy, in spite of your sense of humour Genebo, it sounds serious and scary! While I can't control the air current flow, I can control the good thoughts that I am sending your and your neighbours' way. Stay safe. Liz
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Weaning
Feb 11, 2008 20:06:36 GMT -5
Post by gene on Feb 11, 2008 20:06:36 GMT -5
genebo, hope you and all your friends and neighbors escape the fires. maybe there will be some rain come your way. i hope so. we had the fires and drought a while back. its no fun. good luck.
gene
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Honeycreek Dexters
member
All Natural Drug Free Grass Fed Beef, From Our Herd Sire Phoenix
Posts: 362
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Weaning
Feb 29, 2008 12:10:27 GMT -5
Post by Honeycreek Dexters on Feb 29, 2008 12:10:27 GMT -5
Hi jenrob whats a 3mm ? or a 1.5m for that mater. How big are your m's down there? here we have some small m's and we have some big M's but I've never measured them to see what size they were.
Just a little kidding around. :-)
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Weaning
Feb 29, 2008 17:42:41 GMT -5
Post by gene on Feb 29, 2008 17:42:41 GMT -5
honey creek, you need to consider though that their m's are our w's. just a bit for thought.
gene
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