Early weaning is usually defined as weaning calves before they are 150 days of age. In some more extreme cases, they can be weaned even earlier at 45 days. This rarely happens so more commonly early-weaned calves are over 80 days old.
As I mentioned earlier early weaning can be of benefit to producers facing a drought. It can also be useful when cows are in a confinement system. Also as a body condition management tool for old and young cows.
It is a useful tool because once you take the calf off of the cow her nutritional demands go down. Once she no longer has the demands of lactation she can be maintained on poor quality forages with little to no supplement needed.
Manage their nutrition
One way to manage early-weaned calves is to manage their nutrition. While they are still on their momma milk is a great source of nutrition for that young calf. But we are talking about it being weaned. With the removal of milk from their diet, another source of high-quality nutrition will need to be provided. This is necessary in order to keep the same level of daily gain they had before you weaned them.
A problem with this is although young calves can start eating solid foods by 30 days of age their rumen is still pretty small at this time. Therefore a nutrient-dense, highly digestible diet with a fast passage rate is required. This will allow the calf to consume, digest, and absorb the nutrients needed. Diets containing residues or low-quality hay which are often poorly digested will slow the rate of passage through the digestive tract. This will limit intake thus it can limit the gain of that calf. A young calf needs to be able to eat small frequent meals since its rumen is smaller.
Since milk bypasses the rumen and goes straight to the abomasum it is a very digestible source of protein and energy for that calf. It is available to the animal immediately for bone and muscle growth as opposed to being available as a nitrogen source for the microbes in the rumen. Supplementing a protein source that is not easily digested by the microbes and is then available at the tissue level can help support gain. Distillers grain is a good example of a protein supplement that is a good source of rumen undegradable protein for a young growing calf.
Example
An example diet for a 300lbs calf that would support 2.0lbs/day gain would be 3lbs of dried distillers with 7lbs of a 50:50 blend of oat hay and alfalfa. Including zinc and copper is very good for boosting immunity. So providing a good vitamin and trace mineral package either free choice or blended in will be important for that calf. Water, as with other cattle types, is important for the health and well-being of the calf. It should be clean and accessible at all times.
Manage feed bunk space
Having the right amount of feed bunk space for your weaned calves is also very important. Providing at least 12 inches of bunk or feeding space per calf allows all the calves to eat without overcrowding. Your early-weaned calves are likely going to be smaller than traditionally weaned calves so make sure that they can reach the feed in the bunk. The same concept goes for your water tanks as well. Make sure the tank is banked well and that the tank fills to the edge quickly so calves have reachable water.
After weaning the goal is to increase their feed intake as quickly as possible. Though without adequate water access this process can be delayed along with other problems. This can lead to depressed immunity and growth.
Making sure that your pen and bunk line will effectively contain bawling pacing lightweight calves before you wean them will reduce some headaches. A pen that traditionally holds 500-700 pound calves may not necessarily hold a 300lbs calf as well. The smaller size calves can also cause a problem if you are going to be Fenceline wean them.
Fenceline weaning where cows are on one side and calves on the other may be a bit more challenging for early-weaned calves. This is because with their smaller size they may be able to crawl through the fence.
Having space to spread out in a clean pen can also help prevent any post-weaning illnesses that can occur. You should also talk with your local veterinarian about vaccination schedules and protocols that can be helpful to you. I go into a little more detail about this in a previous article “How to develop outstanding treatment protocols”.
Marketing your early-weaned calves
Even with a price slide for lighter-weight calves, early-weaned calves will usually not bring as much as a traditionally weaned one will. What will be helpful is these young calves are very efficient and with proper nutrition can gain as well or better than still nursing calves. Evaluating the cost of feed and the predicted value of the calf are important. This is especially true if early weaning is due to drought. Since in that case harvested feed sources are generally more expensive during that time.
Once they are weaned these calves may fit well in an annual forage grazing backgrounding program. Also after a short growing period, about 90 days, these calves can be put on a finishing diet. Traditionally they are very efficient during the finishing phase and have a higher percentage of upper 2/3 choice carcasses. It is important however to evaluate feed and labor costs against the predicted value of the calves at each marketing point.
Early weaned calves are a strategy that can be of use to producers in several different scenarios. Feeding, management, and marketing need to be evaluated prior to weaning. This is so the best options, as well as best management practices, are selected. The University of Nebraska at Lincoln has several publications that producers can look to for more information. An example of this is “Management of Early Weaned Calves”.