Best way of drying off beef cattle

[JMTHORNLEY]

I’m interested in hearing how other people do it?

I strip calves and put cows on straw for a week with minerals and then slowly reintroduced silage.
What’s others ways and means?

 

[topground]

I will fit nose flaps from China to the spring born calves. They are currently running out with their dams on a diet of hay. The calves will be brought in after 10 days and the cows left where they are
No change of feed for either..

 

[AftonShepherd]

Cows on cubicles, calves creep through to a straw pen with their own barrier, all on silage - calves with a bit of cake mixed through.

First week of January we'll close down the creep gate and leave them to it.

 

[CopperBeech]

Towel

 

[Northeastfarmer]

Towel

Not a hairdryer?

 

[CopperBeech]

Not a hairdryer?

Meant to be trying to lower cattle emissions, had to go back to a towel.

 

[michael N123]

I just sorted the calf’s off put them in a different pen And left cows on cubicles

calf’s straight onto wholecrop add lib and barly/cake once a day will keep increasing to there on add lib

 

[Werzle]

I wouldnt want to be weaning with the temp as warm as it is, i have heard some horror stories lately regarding pneumonia losses

 

[livestock 1]

I stripped some cows out and dried them off properly this may tubed them but still had some with mastitis as they came up to calving again. There’s no guarantees. The withdrawal or tetra delta hasn’t helped

 

[jed]

Straw for a week to ten days if you can afford it

 

[Jonp]

Easywean nose flaps on spring calves for week or so. Calves back to shed on hay and small amount of nuts and barley.Cows left out on haylage till after lambing - brought in to calf in late April/may.

 

[Hummin-Cummins]

Straw for a week to ten days if you can afford it

Tried ours on straw last year and they melted in 10 days

 

[Extreme Optimist]

Put creep gates in here and has made such a difference. Put the cows on hay and the calves have good silage + 1kg. Think they more or less wean themselves. The calves spend a lot of time lying in their own area and appear to enjoy their independence..
When they are eventually split up, there is barely a squeak and no loss in condition of cows or calves.

 

[JMTHORNLEY]

Put creep gates in here and has made such a difference. Put the cows on hay and the calves have good silage + 1kg. Think they more or less wean themselves. The calves spend a lot of time lying in their own area and appear to enjoy their independence..
When they are eventually split up, there is barely a squeak and no loss in condition of cows or calves.

I agree this helps. Calves have their own creep area from the day they come in and they love it. I like the idea of them being able to hop out of the way of the cows get a little boisterous
I’ve found the same when calves are stripped off totally they hardly make a sound now