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Previous issues of the BEEF Cattle letter
Issue # 144
July 7, 1999
MANAGEMENT OF EARLY-WEANED CALVES - Mark L. Wahlberg, Extension Animal Scientist, Virginia Tech
Beef calves are normally weaned from 6 to 10 months of age. However, they can be weaned as early as 60 days of age. Early weaning may be a wise management practice because of:
In last week's article by Dr. John Hall, the management of the cow in an early weaning program is discussed. In this article will be factors related to management of the early-weaned calf, including health and nutrition.
Cows require about twice as much protein and TDN (energy) in their feed when nursing a calf than when they are dry. As the calf grows he begins to supplement his milk diet with grazing. When feed resources are limited in either quality or quantity, the cow's milk production is reduced. Gains of the nursing calf can be greatly reduced because both pasture and milk supply are restricted. In this situation early weaning is a strategy that should be considered.
Creep Feeding is one alternative that is often considered. With creep feeding a supply of high quality feed or pasture is made available to the calves but the cows are prevented from accessing this feed. Calves are not weaned. If creep feed is made available beginning 2 or 3 months prior to normal weaning age, gains are increased 1/2 to almost 1 pound per day, resulting in 50 to 75 pounds more weaning weight. See the VCE publication, Creep Feeding of Beef Calves (publication number 400003) for more details about this management practice.
Although creep feeding may fix the problem with calf nutrition, the cows are still lactating and still have fairly high nutrient requirements. Creep feeding does not greatly reduce the nutrition problem in the cow, especially when drought conditions persist.
A second problem is forage quality. If grain type creep feeds are used, the pasture quality and supply shortage is not changed. Consequently, calves substitute grain (expensive) for forage (low-cost) in their total diet. In many experiments, it takes more than 8 or 10 pounds of creep feed to produce an additional pound of weight gain in the calf. Therefore, this practice is sometimes not cost effective, especially when feed is high and calves are low-priced. Of course, if creep grazing of high quality pasture is used, the extra pounds of calf gain are produced much more economically.
Early Weaning Health Concerns -- Calves can experience considerable stress due to weaning at a young age. They need to be properly vaccinated for the clostridial diseases (the typical 7-way vaccine) and perhaps for respiratory diseases. Consult your veterinary for recommendations. Calves can experience problems from coccidia and worms. A feed additive that controls coccidiosis should be included. Rumensin, Bovatec, Deccox, and CoRid are approved for such use. Deworming, especially if calves are 3-4 months or older, is highly recommended. Although not a health practice, at the time of weaning and processing all calves not kept for replacements should receive one of the approved implants to promote weight gain.
Starting on Feed -- Calves should be weaned in a fairly small pen with some type of shelter. Pens of less than 20 calves are best to reduce competition and allow good observation of all animals. Feed and water should be easily accessible and recognized. Because calves are still learning about feed and water, an older calf that is already weaned can be put with the new calves to serve as a teacher. The younger ones will follow the older one to feed and water and become adapted more quickly.
Rations for Early Weaning -- Calves will not eat much feed right after being removed from their dams. Consequently, the feed needs to be very palatable and highly nutritious. Quality is much more important than price when starting calves on feed. In Oklahoma a recommended starter ration is 64% rolled corn, 20% soybean meal, 10% cottonseed hulls, and 5% molasses, plus vitamins and minerals. A successful ration used in Illinois research is 30% chopped hay, 18% soybean meal, 50% cracked corn, plus vitamins and minerals. These rations contain roughage and are designed to be the only source of feed available. Consumption should reach 4 to 5 pounds per head per day within 10 to 14 days.
When offered long hay, some calves will fill up on it and not eat the grain mix. If long hay is the roughage source, it must be limit fed, and care must be given to assure consumption of the grain portion of the total feed offered. Chopping of the hay and making a total mixed ration solves this problem.
Young calves are still developing their rumen, and therefore cannot utilize some feeds as well as more mature cattle. Such feeds as urea or broiler litter that contain nonprotein nitrogen should not be used in starter rations for young calves.
Once calves are over the stress of weaning and are eating at least 1 1/2% of their body weight in the starter ration each day, they are ready for the next step. They can remain in the drylot and receive a growing ration based on harvested feeds, or go to pasture for a forage-based growing program.
If pasture is to be used, quality must be excellent. Calves will not gain well on lower-quality forages. In a North Carolina trial with early-weaned calves on pasture, the poorest gains were on a tall fescue-clover pasture, and the best gains came from grazing pearl millet. In this trial, calves were supplemented with either 1% of their body weight in ground ear corn, or corn was available at all times in self-feeders. Gains of the limit-fed calves ranged from 1 to 1.8 pounds per day, and the self-fed calves gained 1.5 to 2.2 pounds per day. Pastures used, ranked from lowest gain to highest gain, were tall fescue-clover (mostly fescue), bluegrass and orchardgrass with white clover, clover-fescue mix (50% white clover), and pearl millet. The calves, which weighed 330 pounds when weaned in July, were stocked at 4 head per acre, and pastures were rotationally grazed.
Effects Seen Later On -- Calves that are weaned at 2 to 5 months of age and put on feed should weigh at least as much at normal weaning time as they usually do. Gains of 3 pounds per day were recorded by researchers in Illinois on calves weaned at 150 days of age and fed a high grain ration. However, in Oklahoma, calves weaned at 65 days and grazing native range with a high protein supplement weighed 60 pounds less than those weaned at 7-8 months. This emphasizes the importance of feed quality to get early-weaned calves to gain weight rapidly.
Several trials in Illinois were run to compare calves place on high grain feedlot rations beginning at 5 months of age compared to calves that were older at the start of feeding. Cattle were fed to slaughter weight, killed at a similar backfat thickness, and carcass data was obtained. When compared to normal weaning age, early-weaned calves were heavier at slaughter, gained slower after 7 months of age but faster prior to 7 months, and had better feed efficiency. Carcass results showed early-weaned steers to have heavier carcasses, similar Yield Grades, and significantly higher marbling scores, with many more cattle grading high Choice and Prime.
The Bottom Line -- Early weaning (from 2 to 5 months of age) is a strategy to consider when cows are too thin or the feed situation is under pressure due to drought. High quality rations must be fed. If pasture is used, grain supplements must also be fed. When placed on high grain rations at this young age and fed to slaughter, finished weights are heavier, gains are more efficient, and carcass Quality grade is improved. Production costs are higher in intensively-fed early-weaned calves.
Disclaimer: Mention of specific product names is not an endorsement of those products, but is included for information purposes only.
References:
Harvey, R W and J C Burns. 1988. Forage species, concentrate feeding level and cow management system in combination with early weaning. J. Anim. Sci. 66:2722-2727.
Lusby, Keith and Roger Fent. Early Weaning for the Beef Herd. Oklahoma State University Extension Facts No. 3264, pp 1-3.
Myers, S E, et al. 1998. Comparison of three weaning ages on cow-calf performance and steer carcass traits. University of Illinois Beef Research Report pp 9-21.
Myers, S E, et al. 1998. Performance and carcass traits of early weaned steers receiving either a pasture growing period or a finishing ration at weaning. University of Illinois Beef Research Report pp 22-45.
Myers, S E, et al. 1997. Beef production systems comparing early weaning to normal weaning
with or without creep feeding for beef steers. University of Illinois Beef Research Report pp
55-66.
FORAGE SPECIES FOR SUPPLEMENTAL EMERGENCY FORAGE - Mark Sulc, OSU Forage Specialist
Many Ohio livestock producers are faced with or may soon face a need for supplemental forage to offset lost production from drought stressed forage stands. Our options for planting supplemental forage are limited to the summer annual grasses and legumes. Below is a brief description of these forage species to consider. Refer to the Ohio Agronomy Guide, 13th Edition, for more information on establishment and management of these crops. Feeding these forages should be based on forage quality analyses and ration balancing to meet the herd's nutritional and energy requirements.
Corn silage provides the highest yield potential and feeding value of all annual forages grown in Ohio. Yield potential and feeding value are still higher than for the summer annual grasses. If forage is needed before the ear is formed, corn can be green chopped. Without the ear, feeding value of corn will be at least equal to that of the other summer annual grasses, and forage dry matter yields are likely to be higher with corn. Nitrate toxicity is a potential problem with drought stressed corn, so be prepared to test for nitrates if the drought persists and limits corn growth.
Summer-annual grasses include sudangrass, sorghum x sudangrass hybrids, pearl millet and other millet species, and forage sorghum. These grasses grow rapidly, and when managed properly can provide forage of good quality. Summer-annual grasses are a good double-crop option when planted after a small grain crop. All these species can be planted up to July 15, and will produce a good crop assuming sufficient moisture is present for emergence and growth in the latter half of the summer. Pearl millet is essentially free of prussic acid poisoning potential, and the sorghum species vary in degree of prussic acid poisoning potential. Nitrate toxicity is possible with all summer annual grasses. Refer to the Agronomy Guide for how to reduce these risks.
Mixtures of summer-annual grasses and legumes such as field peas and soybeans are being marketed by some seed dealers. The legumes generally improve protein content compared with summer-annual grasses grown alone. The annual legumes included in these mixtures would be present in the first growth only.
Soybean can be grown for forage, although corn silage should be the first choice. Use of herbicide-treated soybeans for forage or hay is allowed for only a few herbicides, so check the label before using herbicides on soybeans to be used for forage. Harvest soybeans for hay to optimize yield and quality when seeds are filling the pods and the lower leaves of the plant are just beginning to turn yellow. If harvested for silage at this stage, soybeans should be mixed with corn in the silo to achieve acceptable fermentation. Mix one part soybean with two or more parts of corn in the silo. Soybean forage should comprise no more than 30 to 40% of the dry matter intake of the animal, because of its high oil content (assuming it was harvested when seeds were formed). This level will not be exceeded when soybean and corn silage are ensiled together in the proportions described above.
Brassica crops such as turnip and rape are fast-growing crops that are good options for grazing,
especially for sheep and beef cattle. These crops are highly productive, and can be grazed from
80 to 90 days after seeding. These crops must be treated more like "concentrates" than "forage" in
nutritional planning for livestock because of their high digestibility and low fiber content. They
are seldom used as dairy feed because they can cause an off-flavor in milk. Additional
information is provided in the Ohio Agronomy Guide.
FORAGE and FEED SAVER CHECK-LIST
* Feed cows a few pounds of corn: 1 pound of corn replaces 2 pounds of hay AND, it's a whole bunch easier to haul.
* Graze cows or creep graze calves on dormant grass and mixed hay fields - Ed Vollborn, Southern Ohio Grazing Leader, suggests that many of the clovers may already be dead anyway. If regrowth is too short to bale, let the calves harvest it.
* Control parasites: Make sure cattle aren't wasting energy fighting flies. Deworming 3 year olds and under is probably cost effective. Take fecal samples of the older cows.
* Preg check and cull now: Don't waist feed on cows that won't calve next year.
* Wean the calves: Enough said!
The grain and oilseed markets are sharply lower in Tuesday's trade. The hot weather over the long holiday weekend is scheduled to move out of the Midwest. This relieves the pressure on corn, in particular, during the critical pollination period. Corn futures have traded down the limit in Tuesday's session and soybeans have been down as much as 20 cents. Wheat is trading lower with the pressure from corn and soybeans. This price plunge coming on top of losses from last Friday is surprising me a bit. This is the period in which weather problems had a chance to give us at least some brief price rallies. But the corn crop, in particular, looks excellent. A large crop that will be combined with carryover stocks in excess of a billion bushels puts supply-side pressure on the market.
In the meats, the problems are coming from the rapidly declining cutout values in both pork and beef. Beef had run to as high as $118 and recorded the highest values we have seen in some time on the Choice grades and now the market is giving much of that back. The cutout values for those Choice grades were just above $112 at noon on Tuesday and the heavier Choice carcasses were down slightly on the day. There has been only limited trade in cattle with most of the cash prices $63-$64. Asking prices in direct trade are $65, but bids are $62-$63, and the last viable market was last Thursday in the $63-$64 range for most of the direct trade areas. In cash hogs, the prices are even worse with many of the hogs selling below $30 on a live basis. The cash market is as much as $2 lower around the various producing regions compared to last Friday.
In the futures complex after four limit-down days following the June 25 report, lean hog futures are trading higher in Tuesday's activity. This market is likely to give us a short-covering rally as some traders take profits. It will then go back and test the lows from Friday and today's activity again and try to rally back up into that huge chart gap that was left in the price plunge after the report. I would not do anything other than hold short hedges until you see some signs of bottoming action or see a turnaround day in this market. I do think it will rally and cover at least part of that price range over which it jumped as it moved limit-down for four consecutive days. In feeder cattle, we have a much better scenario, and that is being helped by some signs of stability in fed cattle and cheap corn. I would continue to monitor the hog situation, continue to watch for good price rallies to do additional forward pricing in the live cattle futures and fed cattle, and I think we are definitely going to get opportunities again on feeder cattle based on the price rallies we have seen late last week and in Tuesday's trade. I show the August chart again, which is where most of the volume is, and again we have an opportunity to forward price late summer and fall feeder cattle keying off the August on either a rally to the highs or on a close below still another trend line we could draw on the chart. Keep in mind that we have been down this road two or three times in terms of having opportunities to price on rallies or price on closes below trend lines, and to this point, any of those sell signals still look good.
In the feeder cattle, check the chart below and recognize that we may be seeing a rally toward the
life-of-contract high at $78.77, which occurred back on June 14, and this is being propelled by
the dismal price situation that corn producers are facing. We ought to think about forward
pricing late summer and fall feeder cattle aggressively on a rally back to that high. If you think
this market is going still further to the upside, and I don't, you can again use the trend line
approach, let the market run to the upside, and be prepared if and when we get a close below the
trend line later in the year. In the live cattle market, the fall and winter contracts have been hurt
badly by the phenomenal failure in the pork complex under the weight of much more supply-side
pressure than had been anticipated. I would look at a correction into and up toward the top of the
chart gap on the December live cattle futures. The top of that gap is at $66.15. Use a rally
toward that level as an opportunity to think about forward pricing. This market looks, technically
speaking and fundamentally speaking, much more negative than it did a few weeks back. Meat
production will stay high. It is unlikely that we will see the early June moves up toward $68
again in the December contract.
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BEEF Cattle is a weekly publication of Ohio State University Extension in Fairfield County and the OSU Beef Team. Contributors include members of the Beef Team and other beef cattle specialists and economists from across the U.S.
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