Weaning is a stressful time for calves. There are social stresses associated with removal from the dam and disrupting social hierarchy, physical stresses of transportation and the marketing system, and nutritional stresses of changing feed and water sources. There is a lot of interest in finding the best way to wean calves when we are preconditioning.
Common options that have been researched include: abrupt weaning – which is stressful and completely changes the environment the calf is accustomed to; nursing prevention tools – which prevent suckling but maintain contact with the dam;…
