News Update
Aug. 25, 2008

Early Calf Weaning Could Be 
Cost-Control Strategy

High fuel and feed costs are pressuring beef producers’ bottom lines, but there are options to help relieve the financial pressure, a Kansas State University (K-State) researcher told producers at K-State’s Beef Conference Aug. 7-8 in Manhattan, Kan.

“Early weaning is a cost-control strategy that beef producers might consider,” said cow-calf nutrition specialist K.C. Olson. Producers may think of early weaning as a last resort, Olson said, but a better approach is to consider the strategy before the situation is dire.

“Economic damage is almost certain when decision-making is delayed,” he said. “The decision to wean early, for example, is most often made when the cow is perilously thin and feed costs are out of control.”

Early-weaned calves are no more prone to health, nutritional or environmental problems than calves weaned through conventional weaning programs, Olson said. And, there are well-established benefits in calf performance, forage conservation and cow nutrient requirements.


Weaning calves at 30 to 150 days of age, rather than at the more typical 240 days, takes them off of pastures, which both reduces the stocking rate and halts lactation in cows. Halting lactation trims a cow’s nutritional needs and, therefore, her forage needs earlier.

Because calves are functionally monogastric at birth, some producers may have concerns about whether a calf’s rumen can handle grain consumption early in life. But, Olson said, studies have indicated that the rumen develops as it needs to.

Beyond that, the things to think about when it comes to managing early-weaned calves are the same things a producer would plan for in traditional operations. Vaccination, parasite control, stress management, disease monitoring and treatment, diet composition, and intake management are all important with early-weaned calves — just as they are for later-weaned animals, the researcher said. Considerations for pen layout, sanitation and animal comfort are still necessary, too.



“All aspects of nutritional management of early-weaned cattle should be geared toward encouraging dry-matter intake,” he said. “Overcoming the reluctance to eat is arguably the most important aspect of weaning management.”

Early-weaned calves are even more selective about what they’ll eat than traditionally-weaned calves are. This makes the composition of feed critical to a successful transition, he said. Palatability factors — such as moisture content, particle size and ingredients — are key to the process.

A clean and abundant water supply is also important.

“Early-weaned calves are small compared to calves weaned at conventional age,” warned Olson, who told conference attendees that he’d seen plenty of cattle-watering devices that were the proper height for 600-pound (lb.) calves, but not for 400-lb. calves.

Because calves are not accustomed to eating from bunks, he suggested that an extra feedbunk and watering device be added to calf pens, placed perpendicular to the normal feedbunk. When calves circle the pen, they will encounter the feeding and watering devices.

“Once a few calves encounter and use bunks and waterers, those behaviors will transfer quickly from one individual to another within the pen,” he said.

Many producers assume that early-weaned calves are lighter in weight and not as marketable, Olson said. However, numerous studies have shown that early-weaned calves fed concentrate diets in confinement have body weights equal to or greater than those of conventionally-weaned animals at the normal weaning time.

“But the real advantage of early weaning is linked to the performance of the cow,” he said. Data from several studies indicate that after calves are weaned earlier, cow pregnancy rates are higher, the postpartum interval is shortened, and significantly more cows cycle within 85 days of calving. Cow body weight at normal weaning time also was higher in cows whose calves were weaned early.

Olson cited several studies in which cows lost one body condition score, or about 100 lb. of body weight, over the course of 60 days. He estimated that producers could save up to $140 per cow during winter 2008 if they prevent this cow weight loss by weaning calves 60 days earlier. Even selling a lighter calf immediately after weaning could bring a greater return ($40-$80) to producer labor and management than waiting for a conventional weaning age.

— Release provided by K-State Research and Extension.

Gudmundsen Sandhills Lab Open House is Wednesday

The Gudmundsen Sandhills Laboratory’s ninth annual open house is scheduled to be Wednesday, Aug. 27.


Activities are planned from 8 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. MDT at the Wagonhammer Education Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln facility near Whitman. Presentations on the various aspects of cattle and natural resource management will be given throughout the day.

“The main objective of the open house is for us to showcase and highlight some of the recent and current research projects,” said Jerry Volesky, range management specialist at the university’s West Central Research and Extension Center.

Commercial exhibitors also will have displays available for viewing. The open house is directed toward producers, who can come and go throughout the day as they please.

Morning activities will include presentations on water and Nebraska, grazing systems in the Sandhills, fetal programming and cattle markets. Afternoon presentations will cover rumen function, ethanol co-products on the ranch, meadow hydrology, trichomoniasis, beef production systems, meadow vegetation and management, economics of calving systems and range cattle diets.


Registration for the free lunch can be made by calling 308-696-6701 or 1-800-657-2113 or by e-mailing eheil@unlnotes.unl.edu by Aug. 25.

— Release provided by the University of Nebraska

Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources

FSIS Launching New Method of Food Safety Assessments

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is rolling out a new methodology of conducting food safety assessments at 5,300 Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) meat processing plants aimed at improving the consistency of inspections and documenting findings, according to MeatingPlace.com.

Under the new program, those plants can expect a random food safety assessment at least once every four years, creating a set cycle for all plants, which had not been the case in the past.

A new set of questions will also provide a structure by which enforcement, investigations and analysis officers can better collect data for input in a database.

Ken Peterson, assistant administrator of FSIS’s Office of Field Operations, told MeatingPlace the new method will be applied to the 700 or 800 plants that produce 95% of all commodities, from harvest to canning.

In addition, for those 2,400 or so plants that produce ready-to-eat product or other product at risk of harboring Listeria monocytongenes, the food safety assessments will now include testing and sampling for that pathogen in plant areas including belts, drains and product, according to Peterson.

The new food safety assessment methodology is part of an overall effort by FSIS to create uniformity of inspections. The initiative includes the implementation of a matrix with which FSIS officials can track the effectiveness of inspector training.

— Adapted from MeatingPlace.com.

Canadian Officials Link Listeriosis Outbreak to Maple Leaf Foods

Public health officials in Canada confirmed over the weekend that an outbreak of listeriosis that has killed four people and sickened more than 20 is linked to meat products recalled by Toronto-based processor Maple Leaf Foods, according to MeatingPlace.com.

Maple Leaf also expanded its recall to include all products manufactured at its Bartor Road facility in Toronto, which has been shut down to allow for thorough sanitation. The processor said it estimates the cost of the recall to be approximately $20 million (Canadian).

A Maple Leaf spokeswoman said all recalled products had been removed from store shelves in Canada. Officials are investigating more than two dozen additional cases of listeriosis to see whether they are related to the outbreak, and said they expect more cases to appear over the next several weeks.

— Adapted from MeatingPlace.com.

— compiled by Linda Robbins, assistant editor, Angus Productions Inc.