Time of Weaning and Cow Condition

Time of weaning can be altered to manipulate cow body condition to maintain high reproductive rates and reduce winter feed requirements. Cows nursing their calves for a longer or shorter period of time than is traditional decrease or increase their body condition. Often when a cow is declining in body condition the calf is not growing at optimum. Changing either the calving date and (or) the weaning date will have an influence on cow condition. Age of the calf at weaning is affected by both the date of birth and the date of weaning. Any change in time of weaning must balance the potential positive impacts on the cows with potential negative impacts on the calves or calf market weights.