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Early WeaningCalves and Lambs
What is early weaning?
• Weaning earlier than normal (ideal) during conditions that warrant the practice
• Before 6-7 months for cattle
Why early wean?
• Feeding a calf through a cow is very inefficient
• Allows better allocation of limited feed resources.
• Cows not only get by on less, but ME and P content is reduced.
• Help maintain herd fertility– Longer recovery
Why early wean?
• Better utilise your high quality pasture
• Better utilise supplementary feed
• Save water
• Increased marketing flexibility
When should you early wean?
• It depends!!!!!!
• “Spread” of calving
• Let condition of the cow guide your decision
• Marking of the weaners (knife, ring, dehorn)
• Imprinted/educated on what you are going to feed
If early weaning!!!
Feed for growth
Not maintenance!!!Nutrition, Nutrition, Nutrition!!!!!!
Early weaning calves
• At 7 months no benefit from being on the cow
• As light as 70kg and 2 months old
• The younger/lighter the calf, the higher the energy and protein levels
• The younger/lighter the calf, the more issues
Early Weaning Calves
• Younger than 6 weeks (70-80kg) – sell
– wean & feed (Hard work & $$$)• Milk powder
• High quality pellets + pasture hay/straw
• Coccidiosis risk.
• Delay marking / branding / dehorning
Early weaning Calves Cont.
• Older than 6 weeks– (80-120kg)
– protein of 18-20%. This needs to be a true protein (so no urea, biuret, and ammonia)
– 12-13ME
– Sell
– Wean & Feed.• High quality pellets and Roughage
• DDG
• Protein meal
• molasses, corn steeped liquor, distillers syrup
Early weaning Calves Cont.
• Older than 12 weeks (120kg plus), – 14-16% Protein
– 11.5ME
– Sell
– Wean & Feed• Grain/ Roughage
• Molasses diets / roughage
UDP/By-pass protein
• Protein meal CP (%) Approx. by-pass protein (%)
• Cottonseed meal 41 30–40 • Sunflower meal (SFM) 40–45 20 • Formaldehyde-treated SFM 36 50–70 • Copra meal 22 70 • Linseed meal 32 40 • Soya bean meal 50 30 • Peanut meal 42 30 • Canola meal 35 30
Legume grains
• Lupins 32 25
• Field peas 16 25
• Faba beans 26 10
Own mix
• Grain needs to be processed– Roller/Hamer mill/wet
• Oat varieties – digestibilities can be low
• Sorghum grain – least preferred
• Additives
• Feed test
Early weaning Calves Cont.
• Like with like
• Plan marking
• Lighter they are, the smaller the mob
• Shy feeders and sick - separate
General advice
• Set up a hospital pen
• Shy feeders – problem
• Correct ration formulation (including buffers)
• Low risk feeds (pulses)
• Careful feeding introduction and management avoids acidosis.
• Shade
• Dust Control
Health
• Drench
• Vaccinate
• AD&E
• Fly control
• BRD
• Ionophores/Rumen Modifiers
• Talk to your Vet
Other things
• Site location
• Don’t set and forget
• Monitoring performance
• Get feed tests
• Get help designing a ration
• Self feeder/trough
Creep feeding
• Get calves eating quicker
• Less shy feeders
• Use limited resources better
• Heavier earlier
• More saleable/marketable
Benefits of Early weaning
• Reduce overall DSE rating by ~35%
• Young stock are not competing for pasture base
• Ewe/Cow not required to use feed/reserves for milk production
• Provide best feed/better quality feed to young stock rather than dam/offspring units
Early weaning lambs and calves
• Milk production peaks • 3 to 4 weeks after lambing• 7-10 weeks after calving
Preparing lambs for weaning
• Recommended optimum weaning age is
12 weeks – 14 weeks after first lamb is
born for a 5-6 week joining period
25
By 8th week lambs are
consuming MORE
pasture than milk (as a % of total intake)
Optimum
Weaning
age
Pasture Intake
Milk Intake
Daily Milk Production
(single bearer)
Weeks Post Lambing
Ew
e M
ilk P
rod
uctio
n; L
am
b M
ilk/P
astu
re In
take
(m
ls/g
ram
s)
Under poor pasture
conditions lambs
will begin grazing
earlier
Milk production
peaks in weeks 3
& 4 post lambing
Preparing lambs for weaning
• Lambs can be weaned earlier but need
to ensure high quality feed is available
• Minimum liveweight targets of
• 15kg (merino) and
• 18kgs (crossbreds) can be used
27
Preparing lambs for weaning
General recommendations include:
•Lambs reaching 45% of the ewe standard reference
weight (mature weight)
• 50kg ewe = 23kg lamb liveweight at weaning
• 60kg ewe = 27kg lamb liveweight at weaning
•50g+ growth rate/day
• small increases in growth rates can dramatically improve
survival rates
• faster growing and heavier weaners accumulate more
body reserves
28Source: (Making More from Sheep Module 10)
Weaning weight matters !
29Source: Hatcher et al.
(2008)
Lighter
weaners are
twice as
likely to die
15 flocks
Southern and
Central Tablelands
30
60
70
80
90
100
10 15 20 25 30 35 40
We
an
er
su
rviv
al (
%)
Liveweight at weaning (kg)
50g+ growth rate/day from
point of weaning on will
improve survival rates
for light weight lambs
Source: Lifetime Wool
Based on a
55kg SRW
Post Weaning Growth Rate and Mortality
31
50g/h
/d g
row
th
rate
targ
et
Source: Hatcher et al.
(2008)
15 flocks
Southern and
Central Tablelands
50g+
growth
rate/day
Weaning Options
For every day of weight loss during weaning
it takes 3 days to put it back on !!
Consider
• Returning lambs to their lambing paddock
• Split weaning – wean heavier lambs, wean lighter lambs later
• Cross-weaning – lambs aren’t with their dams but have adult
ewes with them post-weaning
• Running 5% adult sheep with weaned lamb
mobs
• Yard weaning – 3 to 5 days, reduces stress
32
Creep Feeding
33
34
Creep Feeding
Imprinting
36
37
Ewes will
teach lambs
to identify
and use
feeders
Imprinting
Imprinting
• Sheep are neophobic (scared of new or novel things)
• There are benefits with pre-training lambs
prior to weaning - a lifetime recognition and increased
acceptance
• Minimum of 3-4 feeds (50g/ewe) over 10-14
days prior to weaning
• Target 90% of lambs feeding
38
Preparing lambs for weaning
Control No Dams With Dams
Day 1
Day 5
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
%Percentage Eating (Days 1 and 5)
Green et al (1984)
Source: Green et al. (1984)
% Lambs Eating
on Days 1 and 5(averaged over 5
feeding periods over
18 months)
Not given
wheat
prior to
weaning
Given wheat
prior to
weaning
without mum
Given wheat
prior to
weaning with
mum
Consider a variety of grains
Possibly best to feed a ‘shotgun’ mix
Trial with ‘wheat’ eaters (previously exposed to
wheat) offered wheat, barley, oats and cornvs ‘non-wheat’ eaters
• Wheat intake greater
• Took 7-9 days for other cereals to be eaten
• ‘non-wheat’ group took 10-12 days to begin eating wheat - longer for other grains
(Mottershead et al 1985)
Geoff Duddy0427007490geoff@sheepsolutions.com.auwww.sheepsolutions.com.au
Jeff [email protected]
Brett [email protected]
