How much weight does a calf put on per month?
Calves will gain 1.5 to 2+ lbs per day from 4 months of age until weaning. Average daily gain will depend on forage availability and forage type.
What is the average weight of a calf?
Calf birth bodyweight can vary by as much as 60 pounds in a typical Holstein herd with the average newborn heifer calf weighing 85 pounds.
How fast do calves gain weight?
To start with, at least a minimum average daily gain of 2 pounds per day should be expected and certainly achieved during the normal growing season for calves and yearlings. In reality, 2.25 to 2.5 pounds per day during the entire forage-growing season may be a reachable goal.
What size is a stocker calf?
The University of Kentucky describes a stocker calf as a steer or heifer that is 6 to 9 months of age and weighs 400 to 700 pounds. After weaning from its mother, a stocker is put on grass or some other type of forage to promote growth and weight gain. “This is a great definition.
Can calves actually grow?
Well, genetics do play a BIG role in how much calf growth your capable of. You probably already know if you have good calf genetics or not. If not, you’re probably never going to have HUGE calves. The good news: calf growth IS POSSIBLE, even with bad genetics.
What is a good weaning weight for calves?
Sixty two percent of the calves were weaned between 170 and 230 days of age and replacement heifer calves had an average weaning weight of 532 lbs while bull and steer calves had an average weaning weight of 559 lbs.
How long does it take to wean calves?
Though calves naturally wean themselves around ten months, on beef farms calves are weaned when they are around six months old; for dairy farms, this happens just 24 hours after they are born.
What to feed a calf after weaning?
Try to limit silage and other familiar feeds. So, the calf is offered half of 1.0 or 0.5 percent of body weight of a weaning ration or pellet and half of 1 percent of body weight of good quality grass hay. * Positioning the feed is as important as the feed itself.
Does it pay to wean calves?
Results indicated that at an average calf weight of 574 pounds, weaning was worth an extra $4 to $7 per cwt, or $20 to $40 per head, without giving consideration for any weight gain during the weaning period.
Is it necessary to wean calves?
Weaning also allows the mother cows a rest period before she will give birth to her next calf in the coming spring. Appropriate and adequate rest and recovery time are key to the cow herds overall well-being and longevity. It helps keep the cattle calmer only having them a fence away from one another for a few days.
Does creep feeding calves pay?
“Depending on the type of ration being used, creep feed can cost from 13 cents per pound [some custom rations] to 22 cents per pound. If it’s taking an average of 4 pounds of feed to get 1 pound of gain [on smaller calves], the breakeven cost would be between 52 to 88 cents,” Watson says.