Calf Handling Recommendations

Mat Boerson

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Feb 24, 2021, 8:49:42 PM2/24/21

to GrassWorks: Ask-a-Grazier

Hello All,

In the past I have opted to not bother new calves to weigh or tag, partly due to time constraints during a busy time of year and partly because I have been hesitant to interrupt cow/calf bonding (especially with first calf cows). I usually process the calf group at 3 or 4 months, but have noticed the last couple of years that they have a challengingly large flight zone. I've read about 'imprinting' foals by gently restraining them until they realize that the handler is not going to hurt them and this sticks in their mind.

I'm wondering what other folks are doing to process new calves? Is the process of weighing enough to gentle them, or do some folks take more steps? I certainly don't want to make them into pets, but would like future handling to be as low stress as possible.

Thanks for any thoughts!

Mat Boerson

Bouressa, Rachel

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Feb 25, 2021, 1:43:35 PM2/25/21

to Mat Boerson, GrassWorks: Ask-a-Grazier

Thanks for the question Mat!

I'm curious what others protocol is as well.

I don't have good handling facilities to handle the calves, so I tag and band when they're days old - still like baby deer hiding in the tall grass and sleeping a lot. If I miss that window, it's a lot harder for me to get a rope on them to handle them and they are FAST.

I know a lot of people prefer cutting to banding or waiting a little while before banding to ensure success. I don't have 100% success, though I'm getting better... and it saves me a day of it down the road.

I've never had much luck with my babies imprinting to me, though each year I think it's the year for me to have a halter calf, they decide otherwise.

Happy grazing gang, this year's calves will be coming in no time!

Rachel

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Rachel Bouressa

Grazing Planner

Golden Sands Resource Conservation & Development Council, Inc.
1100 Main St, Suite 150

Stevens Point, WI 54481
715-343-6215

www.goldensandsrcd.org

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Golden Sands is a 501(c)3 regional conservation non-profit working to make Central Wisconsin a better place to live and work through cooperative efforts.

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Highland Spring Farm

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Feb 25, 2021, 2:55:09 PM2/25/21

to Bouressa, Rachel, Mat Boerson, GrassWorks: Ask-a-Grazier

For awhile we eat tagged at birth or as soon as we could but as Rachel said, missing that 24-36 hour window and it was IMPOSSIBLE. They are crazy fast. We do run them through some gates/corral monthly so we try to catch them up at that time if we can to get them tagged. Then I read an article that there’s no reason to ear tag calves so we stopped for a year or two. I decided we didn’t like that because we move cattle around to different farms too much and I was always afraid we’d mix some up. It was also easier to figure out who was missing if they had numbers so now we’re back to tagging as soon as possible and have culled cows that tried to kill me when we do that. If we didn’t have a group of registered animals and/or kept them all on the same farm until weaning, I could see skipping ear tags altogether.

We found it much easier to tame them down at weaning but daily pasture moves and lots of time walking through the herd helps and some eventually get curious.

I find banding and vaccinating easier to do later so we do around weaning time but preferably not at weaning.

Highland Spring Farm - www.HighlandSpringFarm.com

Oregon, WI 53575

414-659-2676

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On Feb 25, 2021, at 12:43 PM, Bouressa, Rachel <rachel....@goldensandsrcd.org> wrote:

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Gene Schriefer

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Feb 25, 2021, 3:19:55 PM2/25/21

to highlands...@gmail.com, Rachel Bouressa, Mat Boerson, GrassWorks: Ask-a-Grazier

Similar to Kevin, I tag/vaccinate/castrate in Fall with a vet, and wean later at a pregnancy check. Daily moves, get’s them pretty calm, moreso if mom is calm around me. Calves primarily need tags for processing and tracking purposes for USDA HAACAP plan.

Tagging at birth is just one more labor thing I don’t have time to do, unless one were selling registered breeding stock, is it worth the effort?

Gene Schriefer

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Laura Paine

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Feb 25, 2021, 3:32:34 PM2/25/21

to Gene Schriefer, highlands...@gmail.com, Rachel Bouressa, Ask-A-Grazier, Mat Boerson

Hi everyone,
I think tagging is a good idea for a couple of reasons. When we had our herd (we retired a couple of years ago), we’d make an attempt to tag and get a tape weight shortly after birth, and if we didn’t manage that, get them tagged in fall when we castrated. The most important reason to do this in my mind is being able to track the performance of your dams and use that information for herd improvement. If you don’t know who’s calf it is, how can you ID the breeding lines that produce the best calves? That’s why I also believe in investing in a good handling facility with a scale. We would run calves through the system periodically to keep track of weight gains and also to get them used to being handled. Stress in cattle is an important cause of low weight gain and poor meat quality.

Laura

Laura Paine

Outreach & Learning Hub Coordinator

Grassland 2.0

GrassWorks/University of Wisconsin CALS

https://grasslandag.org

https://grassworks.org

lkp...@gmail.com

608-338-9039

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Mat Boerson

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Mar 1, 2021, 1:21:20 PM3/1/21

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Thanks all for your insights! I think I will try to get up early during calving season this year to get tags and weights on the calves. We still have plenty of room for improvement in our breeding stock so being able to more easily track daily gain will hopefully make for more informed decisions. We'll see if the calves are any easier to get into the catch pen.