How old is a weaner

The ones we are looking at are just under 4 months old. They seem small BUT I think that is more that every year, when we go to look at weaners after having had our big ooomphy steers around for the last year, everything looks small in comparison and it was hard to beleive they were ever so tiny!

I think those early weaning systems aim for kg at weeks, some even earlier[:0]. At four months the thing I'd be asking is how much they weigh and when were they weaned. By 4 months they should well ove kgs we like o get them to at around 3months!! Fed only milk and grass. The bust feed ones would be bigger but we haven't weighed them yet.

Sign up for my monthly newsletter! Get all the latest news along with practical tips and expert advice. Calculators Vet talks Expert advice Ebooks Fun stuff. Log in Login. Log in. Remember Me Forgot your password? The cows will move to water and graze away for extended periods while the calves will group together on the fence.

After days the cows are moved to a more distant paddock. It is important that the calves find the water. A few older animals in the mob may help settle the calves and teach them the run of the paddock.

Creep weaning is a gradual "self weaning" process. It causes minimal stress to the calves but requires more preparation and supervision. As the calves approach weaning age, give them access to a good quality pasture, or supplement crop in an adjoining paddock. A specially constructed "creep gate" or opening in the fence line or gateway allows the calves to pass through but not the cows see Agfact A2.

The openings in the creep should be mm wide. The calves become accustomed to grazing away from the cows in the adjoining paddock. Close the creep gate off at weaning time, leaving all the calves on one side of the fence, cows on the other. After a few days move the cows away.

It showed clearly that yard weaning, compared to typical paddock weaning, resulted in better weight gain and reduced incidence of respiratory disease when these cattle were subsequently lot fed.

Researchers said that these benefits followed when the following specific conditions applied. The first four conditions are essential. Weaning is a suitable time to further develop the Herd Health Preventative Program. Practices include:. A well planned internal parasite program is important for weaner calves as they are very susceptible to worms - particularly Ostertagia. The drench program should be coordinated with the development of a "clean safe" weaning paddock.

The purpose of a clean safe paddock is to reduce the number of worms on pasture. The worms in the cattle are readily controlled by the use of efficient drenches. The steers and heifers are separated at the end of weaning. A preliminary cull of heifers may be done at this stage.

The replacement heifers and the cull heifers placed on different feeding regimes, one for growing, the other for fattening. The nutrition required by replacement heifers depends on age at joining. Those heifers, which are calved at two years of age, have about six months from weaning to reach target joining weights. What and how weaners are fed will depend on the production targets the livestock manager has set for the beef herd.

For example, a production target may be:. Once the target is defined for the herd, practices can be adopted to achieve the target in the most cost effective manner. More topics in this section. Weaning and the cow herd The weaning of calves instantly reduces the stresses on the cow. Drought situations In a severe drought calves can be weaned as early as six weeks if they are placed on a high protein 18 per cent concentrate diet and carefully managed.

Calf age at weaning Calves are generally weaned between months of age. The actual age depends on several factors: Feed availability - cows can continue lactation without losing condition in good years, but early weaning should be considered in drier years.

A male calf is a bull calf unless they have been neutered, which will then be a steer calf. A male weaner is a bull weaner unless they have been neutered, which will then be steer weaner. A female adult is a heifer until they have produced a calf, which will then be a cow. A male adult is a bull unless they have been neutered, which will then be a steer. By marking it as yes those animals will be imported as Cows and not Heifers. See Add Individual Livestock for more.