- Location
- Lincolnshire
It's what Bank holiday weekend is for surely ?
Weaning calves quietly
- Thread starter hoff135
- Start date
Thanks for the replies. Gonna look into these flaps for next year. Take it theres no risk of any funny things happening like the cow rejecting her next calf?
Mind i put a jacket on a lamb and the ewe rejected it. Took it off and she still didnt want it. Ended up with her in an adopter for 4 days
Mind i put a jacket on a lamb and the ewe rejected it. Took it off and she still didnt want it. Ended up with her in an adopter for 4 days
choochter
Member
- Location
- aberdeenshire
Make sure the cows and the calves have full tummies.
Calves should be on silage and cake/barley twice a day and the cows on silage and maybe some barley just to tide them over. I let the cows go out and in to grass as well.
Calves should be on silage and cake/barley twice a day and the cows on silage and maybe some barley just to tide them over. I let the cows go out and in to grass as well.
My calves run into a creep area and a separate shed through a creep gate to get away from their mums. They get all their grub fed to them in this yard. They have this for about a month, then I just shut the creep gate up and job done. Generally very little noise.
They still bawl,Just separate and put up with noise. do it monday morning by Thursday it will be mostly quiet.As said you can not stop normal farming operations because of neighbours.,where will it end.Give a inch.
Quiet Weans don’t have spikes. If you buy a kind with spikes just point them to the calf’s nose. It’s the calf you want to not nurse, not really a reason to poke the cow in the udder.
Do the 3-5 days of weaning with the flaps so the calf is still with the cow when she feels full and that she must find her calf. By the end of the 3-5 days she’s over the initial big feeling of being full and on to drying up. Calves have started to get their minds off needing milk to survive. Then you go on to fence line weaning and just have to put up with them feeling separated. Good food in the cows face and a couple more mature animals in with the calves as a leader to comfort and most will carry on with their lives for 22 hours of the day. The other 2 will be spent mooing at you whenever you’re within site.
Frantic Farmer
Member
- Location
- West of the Cider City
Tried Quiet wean flaps this year , was very sceptical, but left them in for 3 days Then weaned and it did what it said on the tin !!! No sleepless nights ,
michael N123
Member
I just walk them all off in one go and put them in a pen the other cows can’t see and feed the cows as late as possible
- Location
- Limousin
More or less what we do, but we also have a small creep area just for the little calves where the mums can see them easily and call them out.
- Location
- County Down
+1 for the flaps. 
If you’re only doing smallish numbers the easy wean is the way to go. I don’t use them myself as the shed I use is far enough from the farm house and we tend to be weaning in batches of 30 calves/cows and I really couldn’t be bothered handling them all to get them on and off. I might consider it next time though as the new shed is set up for weaning more easily and it’s closer to the farm house.
If you’re only doing smallish numbers the easy wean is the way to go. I don’t use them myself as the shed I use is far enough from the farm house and we tend to be weaning in batches of 30 calves/cows and I really couldn’t be bothered handling them all to get them on and off. I might consider it next time though as the new shed is set up for weaning more easily and it’s closer to the farm house.
ollie989898
Member
They used to do this on a farm I worked on.
After a few days of being surrounded by several other calves the cows used to think better of it and were happier away from the lot of them.
- Location
- Hertfordshire
This is what I do - don’t wean them.
The cows and calves are on poor hay all winter. The cows gradually dry off and the calves transition to an all-hay diet. No fuss, no noise, no stress, very natural. These are native breed cows, working how they are meant to work
I either send calves of to a sale in which case it's one night of bawling from the cows if I'm lucky, if they're well in calve they don't even bawl. The rest just leave on their mother's and they kick them off themselves by the time they are 9 or ten months . Much better way
beefandsleep
Member
- Location
- Staffordshire
I house them all together for two weeks which gives the calves time to adapt to the ration they will be wintered on. Then I split them off to the next door pen and the cows go onto straw for a week or two. A bit of shouting but it’s mainly the cows moaning about the straw. If I have something late born, less than 6months old I might leave it on for another month before putting it with the other calves.
Matt
Member
- Location
- herefordshire, uk
quiet wean nose flaps. 5 days after having them in just take the calves from cows. cows make a bit of noise for a day then peace
We use the same method, ie neighbouring pens,but ours never make any noise. I assume that’s because the calves are a bit older 9-10 months usually. I can’t say I’m sure why this is but my instinct (as someone who has breast fed children) is that some cows may still be producing quite a lot of milk and get uncomfortable? At 9-10 months they are probably at the end of their natural lactation?
kfpben
Member
- Location
- Mid Hampshire
Wean abruptly and don’t look back. I tell the neighbours that there will be noise for three days.
Luckily they are very understanding, given their house is about 15 yards from my main shed! Most people have modern double or even triple glazing now which makes the noise less intrusive than it would be.
Luckily they are very understanding, given their house is about 15 yards from my main shed! Most people have modern double or even triple glazing now which makes the noise less intrusive than it would be.