ClO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 18, 1994
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MANAGING
THE CALF
UNTIL WEANING
There are some important and
profitable practices that can be
applied to the beef calf prior to
weaning.
While most calves bom in the
spring are turned out and forgotten
until fall, there are some opportun
ities to increase the value of the
calves prior to sale.
The first of these is the “CIT”
program. This means castration,
implanting, and tagging the calves.
There is tremendous economic
advantage to castrating male
calves, particularly at a young age.
Recent sale reports indicate
many weaned feeder calves will be
worth up to $BO per head more as
steers compared to bulls. The pro
cess is easy, and is best applied
when the calf is less than 2 months
of age.
Remember, the only way to
know whether the job is done right
is by removing the testicle through
surgical castration. Rubber bands
will have up toa 10-15 percent fai
lure rate, and this will contribute to
a lower value for your calves in the
future.
Growth-promoting implants are
one of the few things in the beef
business that will almost always
make money. Most research shows
that implants will increase the val
ue of a weaned calf through hea
vier weight by 15-20 percent. For a
500-pound calf, that is a return of
about $8 for an implant costing
sl-$2.
The implants available for
young calves are Ralgro, Calfoid,
and Synovex-C. There is a host of
other products available for older
calves with varying effective life.
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Beef Briefs
by
John Comerford
Penn State Beef Specialist
Two keys to the use of these pro
ducts are to use proper and
approved implanting technique
(all implants should be placed in
the middle third of the ear between
the ear cartilage), and use sanitary
conditions to the extent possible to
avoid infections at the implanting
site.
Bulls that will be used for breed
ing should never be implanted, but
there are some approved implants
available for implanting heifers at
a very young age. Check the label
on all implants to be sure they are
the right ones for you to use.
Ear tagging calves for identifi
cation, fly control, or both can be
done at the same time as castration
and implanting. If you have been
using insecticidal ear tags in the
past, you may want to switch to
one of the “new generation” fly
lags now available. This change
will allow you to keep any resis
tance from building up after conti
nuous use of a single type of
insecticide.
Identification of each calf every
year will be most helpful in eva
luating cow productivity. This
would include calving intervals,
calf weaning weights, and in heifer
selection. This identification will
be essential for any good record
keeping program.
Another practice often consid
ered is creep feeding. For most
beef cows, the peak of lactation
occurs by 90 days after calving.
This implies that about 80 percent
of the milk for the lactation will be
produced by 3 months after calv
ing, so the calf needs other forms
of nutrition.
There are four reasons produc
ers may want to creep-feed calves;
• The price of grain is low rcla-
FOR ROPE or PIN HOLD DOWN
tel
live io the price of cattle
• There is a drought or other
condition that results in poor milk
production
• To enhance a preconditioning
program for feeder calves
• To make more effective use of
pastures.
It, usually takes about 8-9
pounds of grain to produce a pound
of gain in a creep-fed calf. With
calves selling for $.BO per pound,
this means the creep feed should
not cost more than $. 10 per pound.
The most popular creep feed is
oats, so oats would have to cost
less than about $3 per bushel to be
cost effective. Other feeds can be
used just as easily as oats. One
good mix is 60 percent cracked
com, 30 percent whole oats, and 10
percent soybean meal.
If cows are milking well and
there is adequate pasture for both
cows and calves, prices for feeder
calves may be discounted if they
are overly fat from grain feeding.
However, drought conditions can
easily reduce milk production in
the cow, so supplemental feeding
calves by creep feeding may be an
efficient alternative to supple
menting cows in dry conditions,
particularly after the breeding
season.
Preconditioning feeder calves is
again gaining popularity as a
marketing tool for calf producers.
This refers to weaning, vaccinat
ing, and starting calves on feed
about 3 weeks prior to marketing
them.
Creep feeding is a method for
calves to make the transition to
grain more easily after weaning.
Since they are already accustomed
to eating grain, the stress of wean
ing and changing diets can be
reduced.
In rotational pasture systems,
calves can be “creep-fed” pasture
by flowing them to graze ahead of
the cows. This usually allows the
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calves access to the best possible
forage. It is usually done using a
“creep gate” in the fence line, or
simply by having paddock division
wires raised high enough to allow
calves to get under them.
The weight gain will not be as
great as with grain feeding, but this
is a low-cost way of getting some
extra pounds on the calf.
Another alternative scheme is
early weaning of calves. Again,
this practice has real merit during
drought conditions. The lowest
nutritional requirements for a beef
cow during the year occur for
about 60 days after she weans a
calf. She should already be bred.
guy. sell.trade on sent through the
Wz kM I 1
IH CONSTRUCTION
■■ EQUIPMENT
GENERAL 20-ton Tag-A-
Long Air Brakes $6900,
9-ton $1995, 1973 IH/
DRESSER 100-C Loader
ROPS Low Mrs $9700,
1970 MICHIGAN 35A Pay
loader 4X4 All wheel Steer
Cab 13/,I 3 /, yd Gas $6900,
1987 CASE 580-SE TLB
Cab 4X4 Ext-Hoe $26900,
1975 CASE 5808 Tractor/
Loader Cab $5900, 1984
DRESSER 175-C 2% yd
ROPS 2300 hrs $29900,
1988 KOMATSU D57-S
2’/,yd ROPS ISOOhrs
$47500/80, 70 CASE 430
Utility Tractor Gas PS 3pt
PTO 1200 hrs $4900, HIAB
HD Knuckleßoom $2995;
YORK RW Rake T $475
(609)466-2953
HD 6G Allis Chalmer Front
End Loader, Good Condi
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(717)437-2524 Evenings
Homelite Skill Saw, good
condition Paul Stoltzfus,
217 SGroffdale, Gordon
vi|le, PA 17529
This Is
A Rugged
High Speed
Unit For Ear Corn,
and there is little fetal growth at
this stage.
Basically, the cow can do well
on a maintenance ration. If there is
a lack of forage, a producer may
wish to wean calves as early as
120-150 days of age and allow the
calves to have access to the best
grass or other feeds that are avail
able. Cows can be maintained on
poorer quality hay, crop residues,
or by-product feeds. Care should
be taken to be sure (1) the cows are
bred or can be kept in good flesh if
the breeding season is not yet com
pleted before reducing the nutri
tional plane, and, (2) there is not a
severe weight reiduction in the
cows before winter feeding begins.
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14 9x24 $159, 16 9x246
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18 4x26 10 ply $350;
23 1x26 12 ply $490;
281x26 10 ply $880;
11 2x28 6 ply $149;
12 4x28 6 ply $159,
16 9x28 6 ply $249,
16 9x30 6 ply $249;
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18 4x34 8 ply $319,
20 8x34 8 ply $615,
15 5x38 6 ply $245, Ford 5500 backhoe w/
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New Holland, PA 17557
(717) 354-9611
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P O Box 407 RT 29
Palm, PA 18070
1-800-322-8030
Diesel engine CAT 3406
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turbo clean $15,950 1985
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