We are having issues with a yearling sucking her mother. We want to discourage this habit, so the new calf will have enough milk. Does anyone have any suggestions short of removing her from the pasture ? Thank you.
I am having the same problem. I have three new calves born this spring and I kept two of my calves from last year (didn't send them to market) and now they are sucking the new moms and preventing my new baby calves from getting milk. I penned up the two yearlings for 10 days fed them hay and some feed and now they seem to have quit. Short of fencing them in another pasture, I don't know what you can do. But it only took 10 days of separation for me. HOpe this helps.
Thanks, Roy, but that didn't work with my determined yearling. We put a crown weaner in her nose and that solved the problem. She can eat well with it, but doesn't even try to suck. Hated to be that mean to her, but it was a last resort.
What concerns me is if these yearlings were still nursing their dam BEFORE that new calf was born, then new calf got cheated out of colostrum. That can be deadly to that new calf.
I don't know where you can buy them, but I have seen a plastic self weaner that is more or less 'disposable' which the beef producers are using. They run calves through, put it in the nose (it doesn't actually pierce the skin) and release the calf. The thinking behind this is to leave calves with dams for several weeks and wean them without the stress of actually removeing them.
With dairy calves we have used the nose piercing kind of self weaner to stop calves from nursing one another. A lot of times they wear it until the freshen.
If you are going to leave calves to run with dam after calf is seven months old, I would go ahead and use a self weaner on them at that time, so cow can go ahead and dry up.
Donna
Safehaven Nubians
David E. Raybon and Donna R. Myers-Raybon
1101 Sager Road
Dandridge, TN 37725
865-475-0919
I am having the same problem. I have three new calves born this spring and I kept two of my calves from last year (didn't send them to market) and now they are sucking the new moms and preventing my new baby calves from getting milk. I penned up the two yearlings for 10 days fed them hay and some feed and now they seem to have quit. Short of fencing them in another pasture, I don't know what you can do. But it only took 10 days of separation for me. HOpe this helps.
Thanks, Roy, but that didn't work with my determined yearling. We put a crown weaner in her nose and that solved the problem. She can eat well with it, but doesn't even try to suck. Hated to be that mean to her, but it was a last resort.
What concerns me is if these yearlings were still nursing their dam BEFORE that new calf was born, then new calf got cheated out of colostrum. That can be deadly to that new calf.
I don't know where you can buy them, but I have seen a plastic self weaner that is more or less 'disposable' which the beef producers are using. They run calves through, put it in the nose (it doesn't actually pierce the skin) and release the calf. The thinking behind this is to leave calves with dams for several weeks and wean them without the stress of actually removeing them.
With dairy calves we have used the nose piercing kind of self weaner to stop calves from nursing one another. A lot of times they wear it until the freshen.
If you are going to leave calves to run with dam after calf is seven months old, I would go ahead and use a self weaner on them at that time, so cow can go ahead and dry up.
Donna
Safehaven Nubians
David E. Raybon and Donna R. Myers-Raybon
1101 Sager Road
Dandridge, TN 37725
865-475-0919