How Do You Wean and Dry your Dexters

[prairieboy]

We have never raised cows before. Our experience has been steers.

What have you found to be a good program to wean calves and then dry up your cows.

How long does it take for the cow to be dry and not be able to nurse her calves?

[prairieboy]

Opps,

I also wanted to ask about the need for antibiotics at dry up time.
I know that routine antibiotic use is common in the cattle industry, but many of us
are into the Dexter breed because they do so well in a more natural setting.

For those that agree with the natural view, do your cows do OK at dry up without drug use?

[kansasdexters]

Hi Prairieboy,

We've never had to treat any of our Dexter (or Kerry) cows during or after weaning. We keep our cows with heifer calves separate from our cows with bull calves. We typically wean heifer calves off their dams at 6 or 7 months of age, using "across-the-fence" weaning where the cows are moved from the pasture where they have been with their heifer calves for several weeks, to a pasture directly adjacent and separated by cattle panels attached to 5-strand barb wire fencing. They can see their calves, touch noses, lay next to them, but they cannot nurse them. We leave a couple of yearling heifers or an old grandma cow with the weanlings to serve as their leader. Within a day or two, the weanlings aren't calling for their dams anymore -- they are hanging out with their fellow weanlings and grazing peacefully. We usually give them a bit of sweet feed in the evening and brush them, so they are relaxed and well fed.

We leave the steer calves on their dams until they are about 9 months old. That is how we get the best weaning weights (400 to 500 lb). By the end of 9 months of full lactation, some of the cows have already started to wean their calves themselves. We put the weanling steers with the yearling steers (on our best pastures) and move their dams back in with the main cow herd. The 9-month steers don't usually put up much of a fuss since they get to enjoy fresh new grass and being with the yearlings steers.

Most of our cows will have a swollen udder for about a week or so, and then it will quickly recede and they will go through their "dry" period" before calving again in about 8 to 10 weeks. However, we have had two cows that did not appear to go dry -- their udders stayed rather full looking and then they really didn't swell much before the new calf was born. I was concerned that there wouldn't be enough colostrum, but there was plenty of colostrum for the new calf and both of these cows had a normal lactation cycle during the following months. I will be weaning their calves off a little earlier this year, just to give these cows a better rest period. But both of these cows have kept their body condition throughout the grazing season and bred back without any problem.

Hope this helps.

Patti

[Honeycreek Dexters]

here we use the fence line method, never had to use drugs everybody does fine, less stress on all. calves cry for 2 days but not much and not all the time.

[wdd]

Commercial Dairies infuse antibiotics into each quarter at dry up because of the close confinement of Dairy animals, the cross contamination that can occur with the milking equipment, some of the conditions that the dry cows are exposed to on large Dairies, as well as the leaking that many Dairy cows have during dry up. Low grade mastitis that occurs in many Dairy cows can lead to lower production, damage to the udder, and full blown case at calving if unchecked. Commercial beef operations don't follow the same proticol since the beef animals haven't been bred for such high milk production and there isn't the cross contamination you have with Dairy animals. Grazing/access to pasture, low stocking rates, and hand milking of Dexters or minimal cross contamination problems negate the need to do this with Dexters unless you had a cow with chronic mastitis, then treatment may clear the problem up before the next lactation. Minimizing antibiotic use with your animals can prevent long term problems with resistant bugs.

[prairieboy]

Thank you! All this is good and very useful information.

Genebo, just about every publication from the universities and extension offices tell me that I have to use antibiotics at weaning or the mama cow will die... (I am exaggerating just a little)

These are the same sources that tell me that the very day I wean my calves I must get them on a high energy, high protein pelleted diet or they too shall perish.

And now you, a successful and long term Dexter have to ask why use antibiotics....I really do like that

One thing I have noticed about Dexter owners that is a real plus is that they tend to be forward thinking, off the beaten path type of people. I thank you all for the advice!

[ctownson]

We wean at about 3 months, with the mom and calf in different pastures. Both cry and moan for a couple of days until they lose their "voice". We never use antibiotics and the moms dry up within a few weeks. The first 48 hours is the worst with each calling for the other. Otherwise, this has been a pretty straightforward process for us. I have one we are getting ready to wean upon our return from the VA State Fair. He is almost 3 months old and is eating hay and grain now. I don't anticipate any problems with him at all.

charles
beavertree farm

[copperhead]

I'm coming in a little late, but....I usually pull my calves off at about 6 months and put them in a pen that they can't get out of and their momma can't get into. The momma will stay close by for comfort but the calf can't nurse. It's crying time for a couple of days, then mom starts grazing off a little farther away till she's not staying right by baby. I always wean at least two at a time, so that they have company. It I have a single calf I put an older calf with it. After a week to ten days I move Mom back to the pasture and turn the calves out in a seperate pasture where they can graze and go on about their business. I offer hay and a little grain while they are in the pen, then keep the grain offering to help gentle them down. I've never given antibiotics at weaning.
P.J.

[Clive]

We wean at 9 months by which time they aren't that bothered about it. If we're delaying getting them back in calf, then we'll leave them even longer. Its' a bit noisy for a day or two but that's all. We do it over the fence as well. Never had a problem with udders and never had to treat anything. Only time we wean earlier is if mom looks like she's struggling and that is rare.

Tests in the UK (just on one beef farm), seem to show that weaned early you get less beef and poorer kill-out figures. But I don't know what the calves were fed, so it might be a misleading test.

[MapleHillDexters]

Charles-

I have to ask, I have always heard of weaning at 5-6 months....why do you wean so early at 3 months? That seems so young, isn't there a possiblitiy of stunting the calf? Please share, I would be interested in learning something new.

[wdd]

I don't know why Charles weans early unless he finds the cows breed back faster when not nursing calves. However, Dairy calves are weaned at 2-3 mths or just as soon as they are eating concentrates and hay well. This cuts back on the labor of having to hand feed them. They seem to be able to function well and I haven't heard of any stunting of growth due to this practice as long as the calf is eating solids well and has the flora built up in the rumen to digest cellulose and ruffages.

[Clive]

I wonder when I will have to wean the twins? My last set of twins stayed with mom for 8 or 9 months and mom was in great condition. Hope this one is the same. Even though she's not a dairy type, far more beefy, she's got masses of milk so far.

[prairieboy]

This discussion has been interesting. Thank you.

I would like to think some more about the more natural way and simply let the cow decide when to wean her calf.

As I think about the Dexter/Kerry cattle roaming the wild, remote moors and hills they certainly had no one come and remove their calves at any age. They became the cattle that we desire to own today. But then, my Kansas farm is not the same as the desolate regions of the Dexter's origin is it?

Come to think of it castration bands, alfalfa, and granulized mineral are not indigenous to the Irish moors either and I sure do like using these. We will probably wean off at the 6-8 month age and see how our gains are. We can always shorten or lengthen this time in the future.

[ctownson]

We have been at the VA State Fair so I'm sorry I couldn't respond for a few days. Our weaning at 3 months is based on a couple of things. First, I always watch to make sure the calf is eating hay and grain and maturing nicely. This is usually happening by sometime in the second month when they are coming to the feed trough with the adult cows. If the calf is not making progress, we wait a few more weeks. Secondly, we show a lot of our animals, so weaning them early helps the logistics of that quite a bit. Finally, we do breed back at about this same time as we wean. I think having the mom devote her nutrition to the developing fetus is more important than producing milk for a calf that is eating grain and hay already. We have never had a problem weaning at 3 months, but again we monitor and watch each calf to insure it is progressing and would adjust if necessary. Just as an example, we took a 10 week old calf and its mom to the VA State Fair. This calf is eating grain at the food trough already, grazing in the pasture and eating hay. He is going to be weaned in another 2 weeks and I do not anticipate any problem.

[tiffin]

I do the same as genebo. I tried weaning with calf in a stall but when I thought things were all set and weaned, the calf shot out of the stall and right to nursing, ha. No more. The calves seem to nurse less and less and then mom weans them completely probably like genebo says around 9 months. It works for me.