Comments on: Weaning Grassfed Calves

By: Lara DeHaven

Lara DeHaven — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:48:16 +0000

Erin,

In our experience, calves do not grow out as well on milk replacer as on mother’s milk. If we ever have to bottle fed our calves, which luckily for us is few and far between, we do not keep them on the bottle for as long as we keep the calves on their mothers. Usually we wean calves at about 8 months, which is longer than traditionally raised calves. My husband just heard a seminar led by another Texas grass fed rancher and she keeps the calves nursing until 10 months of age. Keeping that in mind, I don’t think you could successfully bottle fed a calf for that extended amount of time.

We have never bottle fed a calf on the grass fed program because at about 3 months we introduce them to grain. It is not necessarily because we don’t think that it is possible, but because we do not bottle fed many calves. The cards are stacked against you by bottle feeding, but it is worth the try.

I hope that I have been able to answer your question. If not, please write back. We want to support anyone trying to raise grass fed beef.

Lara

By: Erin

Erin — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 05:29:42 +0000

I have a quick question for you. We are currently researching to buy a couple of calves to raise ourselves for grass fed beef. I am finding TONS of conflicting information online about how long to bottle feed, when to wean, whether to wean onto grain or grass/hay, etc. I want my animals to have as close to a natural diet as possible. From what I’ve read, we should bottle feed them for 3 months? How long do you keep yours on their mother until you wean them as described above? We don’t have easy access to REAL milk for the calves so they would be on milk replacer… any tips on that? We could feed them real milk for about a month, but then the cost would become prohibitive… so I don’t know if we should do milk replacer for 3 months then wean or real milk for 1 month then wean? I’m very confused and will be eternally grateful for any advice you could give me!

By: Lara DeHaven

Lara DeHaven — Wed, 12 May 2010 00:16:16 +0000

I would not mow it unless it is full of weeds. We only give alfalfa pellets when we are weaning calves. You do have to be careful not to overfeed the cattle. They can bloat. When it is necessary to give alfalfa pellets, I would give one pound per head and slowly work them up to more. It should not be more than 10% their body weight. Give hay free choice. Allow them to eat as much as they like just like grass.

By: Kurt Smith

Kurt Smith — Sun, 02 May 2010 03:43:40 +0000

I was just wondering a few things….i am getting ready to buy 3 weaned calves and put them on roughly 7 to 9 acres of pasture….the grass is pretty tall and was wondering if i should mow it down before i put them on there….and my other question was how much of the alf alfa pellets or hay can i feed if the pasture is getting low….is this something i can give a weaned calf for replacement of pasture or is this far too rich for them to have as full feed…I only have a limited number of acres right now so im just trying to get by with theses calves until fall….any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! thanks

By: Bodybuilding Tips – How to Develop Your Calves

Bodybuilding Tips – How to Develop Your Calves — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:53:21 +0000

[...] Weaning Grassfed Calves | Welcome to a Ranch! [...]

By: Lara DeHaven

Lara DeHaven — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 20:45:54 +0000

First. I want to thank you so much for your comment and question. You have pointed out some areas in my article that need clarification. We do not want them eating the grass to its nubs. Four to six inches of green grass is a minimum length we desire in our pastures. Otherwise, it takes too long for the grass to rebound. Seasonally, there are two different grazing goals. In the winter, cattle graze for food. They eat what they can. In the summer, the cattle graze for food obviously, but mainly their job is to help us manage the grass. We keep them in small pastures to ensure that they keep any of the grass from becoming overly mature. If you open them up to large grazing areas only, the cows will eat the tenderest and tastiest grasses and leave other still nutritious grasses. The latter will grow to be tough and begin losing some of its nutritional value. Therefore, we carefully monitor the small grazing areas to ensure that the cows are eating the grasses while not over grazing the pastures. They begin looking forward to moving again into a different small grazing area. I hope this answers your question. If not, don’t hesitate to respond.

By: Brent Gill

Brent Gill — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:34:32 +0000

Good morning, from Springville, California. I live in Tulare County, in the southeastern area of the Great Central Valley. I live on 65 acres of foothill range, and am raising a few grassfed cattle on this ground. You raise a point that I have been considering, which is the idea of either pulling a pasture down to the nubs (well, maybe not THAT low - but well down) and only then moving the cattle off, or pulling the cattle off and then going in and mowing. I only have a little irrigated ground, and the rest is dry pasture with cured grass during the summer.

The question: if you leave cattle on a specific piece of ground until the pasture is very well eaten down, you risk stressing the animals, at least a little, because they have been forced to eat forage they have been leaving until last, a lot like a child will leave the broccoli until they have no choice. How do you assure that your animals “eat their broccoli” without losing a little condition?

The obvious answer, I suppose, is very tight management of the herd. But it seems to me there remains the potential to stress the animals a bit, insisting they eat the specific pasture down short.
Thanks for your thoughts.