Heavy rainfall over the past week has brought the grazing season to an abrupt end for many suckler herds.

Where February-, March- and April-born calves have been housed, suckler farmers will be considering weaning these animals over the coming weeks.

Before weaning, think back to previous years and the methods used to wean calves. Were there problems with calf health afterwards and did any cows have issues with mastitis?

If so, think about how you will approach weaning this year and the actions required to avoid such problems from reoccurring.

Outlined are five tips to managing spring-born calves through the weaning period after housing.

1. Do not house and wean at the same time

Weaning is a hugely stressful period on calves and cows - so is housing, due to the sudden change in diet, social groupings and surrounding environment.

Therefore, the golden rule is do not house and wean calves on the same day or within a few days of housing.

Leave calves to settle inside for at least one week before starting to wean. Calves should be eating silage and concentrates by this time, reducing the effects of further changes in diet.

2. Priority weaning

In many cases, there will be cows that still have plenty of milk. These calves can stay on cows until milk yield starts to tail off.

In contrast, there will be some April- and May-calving cows that will struggle to maintain milk yield on average-quality silage without 2kg to 3kg/day of supplementary concentrate being fed.

These animals are more likely to start losing body condition, which can be difficult to regain over winter. First-calving heifers often fall into this category.

In such cases, these cows would be better off being weaned earlier than normal and placed on a maintenance diet of silage.

The 2kg to 3kg/day of concentrate would be better off fed directly to the calf to drive liveweight gain, rather than feeding to the cow.

3. Use calf creep to lock calves off cows

Make good use of creep areas to gradually wean calves indoors. Start by locking calves off the cow during the day and overnight.

During this time, offer cows a high-fibre, low-quality forage such as straw to reduce milk production.

Restrict calves to a quick suck in the morning and evening over the first couple of days. Then restrict to once per day suckling for the next few days. By the end of the week, calves should be locked off cows completely.

4. Penning cows and calves side by side

Where calf creep space is limited, the alternative is to split cows and calves into two groups once animals have settled inside.

Put cows in one pen with their calves penned beside them, so cows can see and smell their offspring.

Calves should not be able to suck cows through dividing gates, so an additional gate may be required as a temporary fixture.

Again, feed cows straw or low-quality silage, while giving calves good silage and concentrates. Keep slats clean to reduce the risk of mastitis in cows as they dry off.

5. Worming

When it comes to worming, calves that were dosed in late August and early September should be covered for parasites and can be weaned first.

Where calves are due a worm dose, do not dose and wean within a week to 10 days of each other, depending on the dosing product used.

Either worm the calves and delay weaning or wean calves and delay worming. Once dosed, calves will come under additional respiratory stress as they cough up dead worms. Weaning at the same time is a recipe for disaster.

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