Comments on: Weaning Grassfed Calves

By: Lara DeHaven

Lara DeHaven — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 14:51:38 +0000

Kay,
Thanks for your question. However, I find it ironic that you are asking a grass fed operation this question. With that said, 14 % protein grain should be fine for these young steers. I know that goats and lambs cannot eat the same feed because of copper. I would read the label on your feed and research what is in it. Most likely, it is fine. I just don’t know what are the ingredients of your feed to say definitively. I definitely would not put the calves on straight corn.
Hope this helps.
Lara

By: Kay M Zirkel

Kay M Zirkel — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 18:23:13 +0000

Hi, I am a Prime meat goat producer in WA state. I acquired two 4mo. old steer calves and am running them with my herd on natural pasture and organic mix grains ( 14% protein). My question is can these calves be fed the same grain I feed my meat goats or should I feed them on ground corn? The calves were started on corn and grass hay. I feed alfalfa/ orchard grass hay in winter, but my pastures are in good shape with a lot of grass. ( goats like weeds rather than grass). I have had the calves only for a week and they were banded and pulled off the cows just before I got them. Also should I mix dry milk replacer with the grain, if so how muck. Thanks Kay

By: Lara DeHaven

Lara DeHaven — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 15:25:12 +0000

Krystal,
We vaccinate for black leg and bruscellosis. We are a bruscellosis-free herd; however, wild hogs are carrying the disease according to the state of Texas. These are the two vaccinations we feel are a must for our cattle. Good luck with your herd in WA.
Lara

By: Krystal

Krystal — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 15:25:34 +0000

I also am very interested in hearing about the vaccines you feel are a must. In general we avoid all such, but I know there are some that are required for sales, etc. We would at least like to keep ours to a minimum as well. BTW, we’re starting a herd of American Milking Devon cattle here in WA.

By: Grass Fed Beef Basics | Welcome to the Ranch!

Grass Fed Beef Basics | Welcome to the Ranch! — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 16:58:57 +0000

[...] At Cross Creek Cattle Company we raise grass fed and grass-finished beef. We raise our calves with the herd along their mothers’ sides. Around eight months of age, we wean the calves from milk. To read more on how we wean our calves, read “Weaning Grassfed Calves.” [...]

By: Lara DeHaven

Lara DeHaven — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 18:27:23 +0000

Michael,
I appreciate your questions. We like to leave our calves separated for atleast a month. Usually that amount of time is sufficient to stop the desire to nurse as well as dry up the cows. We vaccinate for minimally. I will get back with you the exact names of the vaccinations. We choose to vaccinate for what is required to maintain good herd health.
Thanks,
Lara DeHaven

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 19:32:31 +0000

Thanks much for all the information. We are just starting a registered Devon herd and are getting ready to wean our first crop of calves. We want to return them to the herd as soon as we can. How long will it take to completely wean the calves from their mothers? Also, do you vaccinate at weaning and if so what vaccines do you administer? Thanks again.

By: Lara DeHaven

Lara DeHaven — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 02:04:19 +0000

John,
I appreciate you taking the time to ask your questions. However, I am a little confused about your first statement. We do not wean at three months and I re-read the article and can find no such claim. I did re-read the comments and I did tell someone that we have not raised any bottle-fed calf in our grass fed program. Traditionally (with grain) a calf would be weaned around 3 months of age and put on a grain feeding program. However grass fed beef is different.

Compared to traditionally raised cattle, we wean our calves at a much later date. Usually between 8-9 months, we will begin the weaning process. We do not feed them grain, but we do begin feeding alfalfa pellets to help them maintain their condition throughout the weaning process. By this age, the calves have already been eating grass at their mother’s side. They are offered as much grass as they can possibly eat and supplied additionally with the alfalfa.

I am sorry that you are getting so much differing information. If you want to raise your steers as naturally as humanly possible without their mother, then I would keep them on the milk replacer for months. Give them access to grass and hay. And eventually begin introducing the alfalfa pellets, but make sure that you do it gradually as stated in this article. You don’t want them bloating.

I hope this advice helps you out. You can always contact me again.

Thanks,
Lara

By: John

John — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 08:16:22 +0000

Hi! thanks for all the info here. I just bought 2 steer calves and am getting ready to aquire 2 more next week. I am doing milk replacer b/c I also cannot afford real milk. In answering the last question above, you state that at three months you introduce them to grain. Did you mean the alfalfa pellets. i thought you did not use grain? Since we got these calves so close to winter, we really focused on getting them to eat out of a bucket the milk replacer, and that works great. I was wondering what advise you could give me to get these calves through the winter with as much of their natural diet as possible. I am getting info that doesn’t make sense. i am being told that if i let them eat the grass that their stomachs can’t handle it very well and they will get sick. Also i am being told that I NEED to give them grain as the grass they could manage to eat will have no nutritional value for them and will only succeed at filling them up? All of this is info is very confusing b/c if they were in the wild they would eat grass so what’s the big deal? One calf is a little over a month and the other is just around a month.Tthe two coming next week are not even two weeks I believe.

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