in a shorter period of time. Occasionally a calf starts bawling after it has been silent for several days. I guess instinct says that it should be bawling.” “We leave the calves in a dry lot and turn the cows
into an adjoining pasture,” Spitzer says. “It is inter- esting to watch the cows during the weaning period. Some of them will go to the other side of the pasture and start grazing immediately after being separated from their calves. They will occasionally go back and visit their offspring. Then there are the ‘worry-warts’ — the cows that stay close to the pen and constantly check on their calves.” “I have fence-line weaned for 10 years and I wouldn’t
do it any other way,” says Rooter Brite, owner and operator of the JA Ranch near Bowie. “The calves are never stressed and there are no weight losses.” “Our calves are started on cubes before they are
weaned,” adds Brite. “When we move their mothers into an adjoining pasture, we continue to feed the calves by pouring a line of feed about 3 or 4 feet from the fence. Each day we feed a little farther from the fence to avoid putting it into manure. The calves never stop eating.” The Langford Hereford Ranch near Okmulgee, Okla., has fence-line weaned for 30 years. The ranch weans
by putting calves in a 7-acre trap and placing their mothers in an adjacent trap of equal size. In about 3 days and after the bawling has stopped, the cows are moved back to the pasture from which they came. Then another herd of cattle is weaned by placing the calves in the trap with the fi rst set of weaned calves and mov- ing that next set of mother cows to an adjacent trap. This process continues until all of the calves are
weaned. After the weaning process is completed, the calves are left in the trap for another 2 weeks until they are sorted as herd replacements or sale calves. “We like fence-line weaning because it is so much
easier on the calves than other types of weaning,” says Watson Langford. “There is less stress, disease and death loss when you fence-line wean. Our calves, on the average, gain 2 to 3 pounds per day during weaning. “During fence-line weaning, the cows and calves
bawl for only a day or a day and a half,” continues Langford. “I know, because the weaning traps are behind my house.” Gill stresses that fence line weaning is not a cookie-
cutter practice and will not work for everybody. To be successful, fence line weaning must fi t ranch operations, environment and marketing objectives.
84 The Cattleman August 2014
thecattlemanmagazine.com
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