Weaning without the bawling of calves and cows might not sound natural, but an old strategy appears to be working again.
Joe Stookey at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon has been researching nose clips that interfere with calves’ abilities to nurse.
Four years after the start of the research, Stookey said the results continue to show the use of a weaning device reduces calf and cow stress during this critical phase of cattle production.
“We figured out pretty quickly that calves suffer from two factors during weaning: a dietary change from a loss of milk and separation from mom,” he said.
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Stookey and his associates at the vet college found that when one of those factors is eliminated during weaning, animal stress is reduced and calf performance increased.
Weaning using devices that prevent calf access to a cow’s teats isn’t a new idea. References going back to the late 1890s talk about the use of a leather and wooden device that clipped onto a calf’s nose. Then called blabs, the tools were used in the American Southwest to range wean calves on pasture that was marginal or affected by drought.
The devices allow calves to remain with their dams, but provide cows an opportunity to regain body condition, improving pregnancy rates and avoiding abortions in cases where feed was scarce.
Today’s blab is made of plastic and snaps into a calf’s nose in a matter of seconds, with a simple twist of the tool’s body. It is placed in the nose at the point where the membrane separates the nostrils.
A Canadian manufacturer, JDA Livestock Innovations of Vanscoy, Sask., and Saskatoon, is building a version of the weaning device based on Stookey’s research.
Named the Quietwean, the devices are reusable and cost $2 each. Calves wear the devices for up to a week and can then be weaned from cows, incurring less stress.
“It breaks the bond between mother and calf without all the vocalizations,” said Stookey.
The vet professor said the calves will still approach the cow and the cow will stand for the calf but soon this behaviour stops.
Cows and calves will exhibit additional grooming behaviour for a few days, but Stookey said this, too, ends rapidly.
Calves are free to eat and drink water while wearing the units. After more than a week, some calves will figure out how to defeat the devices and return to nursing if they are not separated from the cows and the blabs removed.
Cows that had calves weaned using the device called 85 percent less often, walked fences 80 percent less and spent 25 percent more time eating, researchers found in a University of Saskatchewan study.
Similar weaning devices have been available in the past. Some have spikes on the plastic flaps, intended to cause the cow to become uncomfortable with nursing. Others are enamel coated steel with spring clips. However, none were found to be available during the research for this story.
