10 steps to preparing weanlings for sale

Farmers who operate suckler-to-weanling systems will be coming into their main selling season. Autumn-born calves will be brought forward for sale over the coming weeks as special sales get under way, while spring-born calves will be sold later in autumn.

How well cattle are managed between now and selling is vital. Get it right and you will hopefully add value to your weanlings by attracting bids from several buyers. Get it wrong and you will undo all the work you have put into your herd over the past year.

For instance, weaning calves off the cow and taking them straight to the mart is not in your best interest, nor in the buyer’s interest. It will put calves under pressure and leave them susceptible to taking pneumonia.

Experienced buyers at weanling sales will generally avoid such animals as they will lose weight and are at a higher risk of developing respiratory illness. The Suckler Cow Welfare Scheme did a lot of good in preventing this from happening but, since its conclusion, some farmers have reverted back to this practice.

Calf health will also affect the appearance and potential sale value of weanlings. Calves that are wormed properly and vaccinated against viral pneumonia and IBR will be better equipped to handle weaning and the stress of moving through the sale ring. These animals generally thrive in their next holding.

Animals that have not been adequately wormed will be less able to cope with the stress of moving through the mart. When mixed with different cattle, they are more prone to disease and a loss of thrive, which can take four to five weeks to overcome, and a veterinary bill.

Experienced buyers rarely get burned twice when buying cattle, so presenting your animals in the best possible condition for sale will help you to attract repeat buyers. It will also gain you a good reputation of selling genuine and healthy animals which will be important should the weanling trade come under price pressure this autumn.

The following steps are a guide to best practice for a weanling system and will help to ensure you present your calves in the best possible condition for sale.

1Worm calves properly

You should not bring calves to the mart if they are coughing, have dry hair or have very loose dung. Autumn calves should have been wormed at least twice this year and ideally given a third dose two weeks before the sale date. Good worm control will depend on your worming programme and the persistency of the product you use.

Spring calves should have been wormed at least twice by August. Plan for a third dose two to three weeks pre-weaning, or combine with a pneumonia vaccine.

Early in the grazing season, stomach worms are the main problem. Lung worms are more of an issue in mid to late summer. If calves have a persistent cough, lung worms are the likely cause. But be careful how you treat weanlings with a heavy lung worm burden.

Using an avermectin (clear) product can cause a rapid kill of worms, putting the calf under severe respiratory pressure as the animal tries to expel the dead worms. This can lead to the calf developing pneumonia and, in extreme cases, it can cause death.

Instead, use a levamisole product or a white drench to worm calves around two weeks prior to weaning. A well-planned routine will include products with good levels of persistency to cover worm control from pre-weaning until sale.

Using the argument of cost to not worm calves does not stack up. Most wormers will cost between €3 to €5 per dose, which is less than 2kg of liveweight in a good weanling. Calves that are suffering from a worm problem will not be putting on weight. Lost liveweight gain will cost you more than a worm dose.

2 Vaccinate for pneumonia

Vaccination on its own will not prevent pneumonia. But, when combined with good management, it greatly reduces the risk of respiratory problems. Calves with healthy lungs will stand out in a sale yard as they are less likely to display heavy breathing, or suffer from mucus discharged from the muzzle.

If you are using a pneumonia vaccine that requires two shots, you should give the first shot now and the second (booster) shot in four weeks’ time. This gives the vaccine time to take effect before weaning. You may be able to combine this vaccine with an IBR vaccine.

Vaccinating for pneumonia will cost around €15/head for the double shot programme. But it is money well spent to safeguard calf health. If you are planning to sell weanlings for export, live shippers will generally pay more for cattle from farms that they know have been properly wormed and vaccinated.

Feedlot agents will also look for vaccinated animals as these animals will settle into their new environment. On such farms, these animals will likely be offered a high level of concentrates on their arrival, so buyers want healthy weanlings that can thrive from the start.

3Wean early

Having calves weaned well in advance of selling is a big advantage when you arrive at the mart. Calves that are coming straight off the cow will be restless and bawling as they look for their dam. This puts stress on the calf and if it has been standing in the holding pens for several hours before sale, it will appear dull and empty by the time it comes into the sale ring.

Calves that have been weaned at least one month prior to sale will have recovered from the stress of weaning and be regaining body condition. This gives you some time to have the animal looking in prime condition again. These calves will be more settled in the mart.

In most suckler herds, once a calf reaches around seven to eight months of age, the milk yield of its dam is low. The calf will be getting most of its nutrition from grass and concentrates so there is no massive benefit in keeping calves on the cow for much longer than this. Wean the calf and get it ready for sale.

4Gradual weaning

Plan your weaning routine so that you are targeting the animals that will be ready for sale first. Gradual weaning is a good idea as it spreads your risk of a disease outbreak.

For instance, if you wean all calves on the one day and there is an outbreak of viral pneumonia, all calves are at risk. Whereas if you wean half or a third of your calves on one day, there is less of a risk and fewer animals to manage should an outbreak occur.

Gradually weaning calves by removing cows from the group means you are leaving the calf in the same field with familiar surroundings, ie creep feeder and water troughs. By removing a small group of cows each time, the remaining cows will help to keep calves settled.

5Eating meals

Introducing concentrates from three to four weeks pre-weaning will help to reduce the check-in liveweight gain post-weaning. Offering meals should not be used as an excuse to neglect grass management. But if grass quality is poor or grass supplies are tight, by all means increase the meal levels offered to calves.

Start off by offering 1kg/head/day of meal pre-weaning and increase to 2kg/head/day around two weeks pre-weaning.

For bull weanlings, you can build up to 4kg/head/day post-weaning on good-quality grass. There will be an economic response to this level of meal feeding, especially in bull weanlings that are suitable for live exporting or top-quality U grade bulls suitable for a feedlot.

For heifers, be careful of overfeeding meal as they can become quickly over-fat which will discourage buyers from bidding. Where heifers are on good-quality grass, hold them on 2kg/head/day until sale. If grass quality is poor, increase to 3kg/head/day around a fortnight prior to sale. Assuming meal was introduced one month prior to weaning and calves are sold one month post-weaning, bulls will have consumed about 170kg of meal with heifers eating around 105kg at the outlined levels.

At €240/t, feed costs would be €41/head for the bulls. Assuming 0.25kg of liveweight gain per 1kg of meal fed, they will have gained 42kg. At a sale value of €2.50/kg, this will be worth €105 per calf, which more than covers the meal costs.

Offer meals in a trough that calves can access ahead of cows or on a laneway. This way you can see all calves coming in to feed and prevent stronger weanlings from overeating meal, which is likely in an ad-lib creep feeder. Grass is high in protein, so a 14% to 16% ration is sufficient with an energy value of 0.95ufl or better.

6Forward creep grazing

Allowing calves to creep-graze ahead of the cows has two benefits. Firstly it makes sure that calves always have access to the best-quality grass. This ensures calves are gaining maximum liveweight, especially when combined with the correct level of meal feeding.

Secondly, it breaks the bond between the cow and calf. This makes it much easier to wean calves and there is less of a setback in weight gain once the calf is actually weaned.

Simply raise the fencing wire at certain points of the field using higher fencing posts. The wire just has to be high enough for the calf, but low enough to keep the cow back. Alternatively, you can use a creep gate to allow calves access to the next paddock.

Some calves will naturally creep ahead of the cow from a very early age. Enticing calves with some levels of meal in a movable trough can help to get all weanlings creeping ahead of the cow.

In the weeks prior to weaning, you can restrict access to the cows by adding a second strand of wire at a lower height to prevent calves coming back under the fence. You will need a fencer with a good electric charge for this to work best.

7Priority grass

Giving calves access to top-quality grass will boost liveweight gain. There is no point in letting weanlings into swards of knee-high grass. They need to be eating short, leafy grass around 10cm to 12cm in height. Letting calves into fields of strong grass that has headed out will do little to improve growth rate.

8Know your market

Good-quality, well-bred and well presented cattle will always sell in any market. Be honest about your weanlings. If they are generally R grade cattle, they will not attract the attention of live exporters. Well-muscled U grade weanlings will be suitable for both exporting and the home finishing market.

Target the mart you know that your cattle will sell well in. Know what certain buyers are looking for before selling. Live exporters and feedlots may want cattle at a certain weight, so it is important you deliver what they want.

9Avoid stress

It is important to minimise stress from weaning until selling the weanling. Make sure you have all management tasks such as dosing, vaccinating, de-horning, etc, completed well in advance of weaning. This will prevent stressing the calf and increasing the chance of the animal developing pneumonia prior to your planned sale date.

10Keep weanlings in uniform groups when weaned

Some farmers will group weanlings together after they have weaned calves. This is to cut down on the number of grazing groups and make it easier to observe animals.

However, if you are grouping weanlings of varying size, age and weight there can be a lot of aggression with bull weanlings in the days after weaning. This will add to the stress levels in younger or lighter weanlings.

Keeping weanlings in smaller groups of even sized cattle is better for management. If possible, group calves together based on the planned sale date to make it easier when feeding meals.