The primary goal of a cow-calf operation is for each cow to produce a marketable calf every year. After 280 ± 6 days of gestation there are only approximately 80 days left for a cow to return to estrus and rebreed in order to maintain yearly calving. Therefore, it is critical to adopt management practices reduce the time for return to estrus and result in acceptable pregnancy rates. Weaning before or at the …show more content…
The practice of early weaning removes the suckling stimulus and almost immediately reduces the nutrient intake of the dam sooner than in a traditional weaning system. Normally weaned cows and calves consumed 59% more total digestible nutrients and had 58% increase in dry matter intake compared to early weaned cows alone (Arthington and Minton, 2004). When combining the reduced nutrient requirements of the cow with improved efficiency of the calf that are commonly associated with early weaning, Peterson and others (1987) found that early weaned cow-calf pairs consumed 20.4% less total digestible nutrients and were 43% more effective at turning those nutrients into pounds of calf than normal weaned