New calves are easy to load

Thanks to Dawn Hnatow for co-authoring this article! A few weeks ago we discussed fenceline weaning as one low-stress way to wean calves. The next question folks ask is, “What should we do with our calves post-weaning?” Conventionally, stockmen will look after their calves’ nutritional needs and monitor their health, but otherwise leave them alone. From the low-stress perspective that is not enough. Let’s consider it from the calves’ perspective: They’ve been separ

Weaning may be the biggest stress that a calf endures in its life. When calves are abruptly separated from their mothers, they bawl, they don’t eat, and they pace their pens and fence lines, walking an average of 25 miles a day in one test. They also become more vulnerable to respiratory infections. How do we reduce that stress? And what is causing the stress? Is it the loss of the milk or the loss of mother? Those are questions that Joseph Stookey and his colleagues at the University of

In Part 1 of this series we talked about choosing the right animals for successful grafting. So, you’ve got a good, loving cow and a ripping good replacement calf. Now is when the work starts. If you have ever observed a normal birth, you know that the cow typically stands up, turns around and begins licking the newborn calf. She will pay particular attention to the mouth and face, the navel area, and the area beneath the tail. I suspect that during this process the cow becomes intimately bonde

Here on the ranch, calving season is generally a pretty happy time. My business model includes buying pregnant cows. These are cows that I don’t really know very much about, as in, we might have an estimate about what month she might calve in, and we know what color she is, but beyond that – pretty much nothing. Even with that, we have very little trouble with these cows, perhaps because we provide them with a safe, low-stress environment and let them act like cows. All that said, on occ