Short-term calf
removal is the term that describes the temporary physical separation of
the calf from its mother. This removes the nursing stimulus from the cow
for about 2 days. The care of the calf during that 48 hours is actually
quite simple. Most producers will make certain that calves access to some
"sweet" feed and plenty of fresh drinking water. The calves will eat very
little during this time. Removal of calves for 48 hours has shown to improve
rebreeding rates of moderately conditioned cows by 4-8%. This improvement
although, seemingly small in magnitude is large compared to the out-of-pocket
investment. Short-term calf removal can be used at the first of the breeding
season or in the middle or both depending on the labor situation.
Short term calf removal is not a powerful enough stimulus to "jump start"
very thin cows. Those that are in a body condition score of 4 or
less may need to have the calves weaned completely to allow the cow to
recycle early in the upcoming breeding season.
Those cows that calve in the BCS 6 or fatter can be expected to return
to estrus early in the breeding season and should have high rebreeding
rates. Although not harmful, the practices of early weaning, short-term
calf removal, or feeding extra feed will NOT show significant advantages
for these cows. Therefore producers will want to continue their normal
lactating cow supplementation programs until green grass provides the nutrients
that these cows need.
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