When should I wean my South Poll calf from its mom?
The South Poll great mothering nature means less work for you, the farmer. But it also raises the question, When should I wean my calf from its mom?
At Never Tread, we practice regenerative farming methods which means we allow the calf and cow to self-wean. There are rare occasions when we help a yearling bull wean himself but it’s rare and the intervention between them and us is minimal.
A lot of conventional wisdom says that we must intercede in this natural process. But for beef cattle, like the South Poll, there is no need nor room for conventional wisdom. The mother cows usually kick their nearly yearling calves off about a month or two before they give birth again. We have, on occasion, had mother’s who don’t kick their calves off. But these cows are eventually culled if they do this for every calf. On occasion, these South Poll cows only seem to do it with one calf in particular – such as pushy calves who are also dominate within the herd of younger cattle. We don’t bother culling these mothers often but it does put them on the docket for consideration.
Anyway, we like the regenerative approach to weaning calves. There are many reasons but the number one reason is that animals are much smarter in their behaviors than we think they are. To assume they need our intervention with such a natural concept as weaning a calf is a wrong assumption, at least for this breed.
Other reasons include:
· Calves and mother cows know what a calf needs in nourishment better than we do. This means healthier calves, longevity in life, and overall healthier and less prone to disease cows
· Encouragement for mother cows to be able to use their instincts in rearing calves. When we interject ourselves, we won’t know if they have good mothering genetics or not
· Better regenerative practices by lowering the amount we handle the cows and interrupt their natural instincts
· A notable increase of stress with the mother cow and calf if separated. A notable increase in stress of calf if using nose rings
Of course, you may have a cow like mentioned above who can’t seem to wean a demanding yearling who clearly doesn’t need to be nursing anymore. We’ve had that only happen once and it was between a South Poll mother cow and a young bull. But during the time of the year where we separate them to better time calving season for the spring, we had to separate the mother and the adult bull.
She didn’t seem to mind so much, now that she only had to worry about nursing her young calf. But the bull bawled for a few days before he decided he’d rather play with the other yearling bulls and try his hand at challenging the herd bull too. When the duo met back at the same pasture a few months later, guess who was weaned and never bothered his mom again?
Although we try hard to never intervene at Never Tread and let the South Poll be, sometimes it happens, even on accident. But with minimal human intervention, the mother cow was never stressed during the process.
If you follow regenerative practices and raise beef breeds like ours, then following the mother cow’s instinct of naturally weaning is best. She will know when it’s best to focus on her pregnancy while she nurses her current calf – don’t worry about when you need to wean her calf.