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Managing Early Weaned Calves                                                      By Karla H. Wilke, UNL Cow/Calf Systems and Stocker Management

                                                                                              The Midwest Cattleman · September 9, 2021 · P16



         Early weaning is typical- occurred, the cow, now with- other  source  of  high-quality  is a very digestible source of
      ly defined as weaning before  out the demands of lactation,  nutrition needs to be provided  protein and energy, available
      calves are 150 days of age.  can be maintained on poor  if the same level of daily gain  to the animal for bone and
      In extreme cases beef calves  quality forage and little to no  is desired.  Although young  muscle growth, as opposed to
      may be weaned at 45 days  supplement. Higher quality  beef calves begin eating solid  being available as a nitrogen
      of age, but more commonly  feed, which may be in limit- food by 30 days of age, the  source for the microbial pop-
      early weaned calves are over  ed supply, can be reserved for  rumen is still small in the  ulation in the rumen. Supple-
      90 days of age. Early wean- the rapidly growing calf.                 young calf.  Therefore, a  nu- menting a protein source that
      ing may be advantageous in         Nutrition                          trient dense, highly digestible  is not easily digested by the
      times of drought, when cows           Milk is a great source of       diet with a fast passage rate  microbes and is then avail-
      are in a confinement system,       nutrition for the young calf.      will allow the calf to consume,  able  at  the  tissue  level  can
      or as a body condition man-        With the removal of milk in        digest, and absorb the nutri- help support gain without
      agement tool for very young        the diet through weaning, an-      ents needed. Diets containing  the calves depositing fat in-
      or old cows. Once weaning has                                         residues or low-quality hay  stead of lean growth. Distill-
                                                                            which are often poorly digest- ers grains, a by-product of the
                                                                            ed, slow the rate of passage  ethanol industry is an exam-
                                                                            through  the  digestive  tract  ple of a protein supplement
                                                                            and therefore, limit intake,  that is a good source of rumen
                                                                            which in turn can limit gain.  undegradable protein for the
                                                                            A  mature  cow  has  a  large  young growing calf.
                                                                            rumen and has the potential          An example diet for a 300-
                                                                            to consume enough low-qual- pound calf that would support
                                                                            ity feed to meet her needs  2.0 pounds/day gain would
                                                                            in most cases.  A young calf  be 3 pounds of dried distill-
                                                                            needs to be able to eat small  ers and 7 pounds of a 50:50
                                                                            frequent meals, as the rumen  blend of oat hay and alfalfa.
                                                                            is so much smaller.               Zinc and copper are very im-
                                                                              Because milk bypasses  portant minerals for boosting
                                                                            the rumen and goes straight  immunity so providing a good
                                                       Photo credit Troy Walz  to the abomasum via closure  vitamin  and  trace  mineral
                                                                            of the esophageal groove, it  package free choice or in a
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