Weaning and preconditioning calves is a stressful time for the calves, but a time when a lot of value can be gained with the right management. Preconditioning can allow calves to get over the stress of weaning, become bunk broke, and gain some weight all of which adds value to the calves at the time of sale. Calves that are weaned often spend a considerable amount of time walking the fenceline bawling, and more importantly not eating. During this time calves can lose weight, which means that for preconditioning to be cost effective, the calves must regain the lost weight and gain additional weight.
A recent study evaluated 3 different weaning methods and 3 different forage sources on preconditioning weight gain. Calves were weaned abruptly, fence-line weaned, or nose-flap weaned. Within each weaning method, calves were fed cool-season grass-clover baleage, bermudagrass hay, or grazed a pasture with a mixture of crabgrass, pearl millet and forage soybean for 60 days. The crude protein of the baleage, hay, and pasture were 14.9, 12.8, and 10.6%, and the estimated total digestible nutrients of all forage sources was approximately 55%. All calves were fed dried distillers grains at 1% of body weight.
There was no interaction between weaning method and preconditioning diet. Calves weaned using the fence-line method gained 1.85 lb/day compared with 1.76 lb/day for the nose-flap and abrupt weaning methods during the first 30 days. There was no difference in weight gain among weaning methods for the second 30 days or overall.
Calves fed hay gained faster in the first 30 days of the preconditioning period, but much slower in the second 30 days than calves fed baleage or pasture (Figure 1). There was no difference in gain between baleage and pasture groups in the first or second 30 days. Over the entire 60 days, calves fed hay gained less than calves fed baleage or pasture.
Weaning method and forage source can affect weight gain in the first 30 days, but more important economically is the weight gain of the overall preconditioning period. In this case, weaning treatment did not affect overall weight gain, but forage source did.
