Minimalize Stress with Silent Weaning

Originally Published in Gulf Coast Cattleman

Weaning is inevitably a stressful time for calves and that can mean unnecessary shrink, but it doesn’t have to when low-stress practices like silent weaning are implemented. Silent weaning via plastic nose flaps along with low-stress handling practices could mean an increase in gain during weaning while decreasing health complications and the use of antibiotics.

“Pounds on the ground pay,” said Lawrence Makuakane, owner and operator of Ella Mae Farms. “Some people deal with massive shrinkage when they wean. They may start with a 600-pound calf and by the end of the week that same calf is 540 pounds. Even if you’re pouring the feed to them, if they’re stressed, you’re still throwing money away because they’re not going to gain when they’re stressing. We’ve found that silent weaning reduces stress and shrink. In fact, we’ve seen a 15 to 25 percent increase in pounds on the ground after low-stress weaning with silent wean nose flaps. We’ve also seen a major decrease in time and antibiotics spent treating calves during a stressful week of weaning. If you're weaning traditionally you have to keep a very close eye on those calves, but with this practice we don’t see much stress-induced illness.”

Dr. Christine Navarre, DVM, extension veterinarian with the LSU AgCenter, said minimalizing the inevitable stress of weaning is important for not only the overall health of the calf but also effective vaccine response.

“Weaning is always a stressful time, minimizing that stress is very important for health outcomes,” Navarre said. “Stress will create a higher risk situation for respiratory disease particularly. It will also impact vaccine response. If we’re vaccinating stressed calves, we’re not going to get the response that we would if those calves were handled in a low stress manner through the vaccination and weaning process.”

Navarre warns stress at weaning can affect the development of the calf with long-term impacts on quality grade.

“Low-stress weaning practices are part of the Beef Quality Assurance program. Stress can really impact quality grade down the line. Decreasing stress at weaning does not only impact the immediate post-weaning period, but throughout the rest of that animal’s productive life,” Navarre said.

Navarre said in addition to fence line and silent weaning, there is another common, easily implemented practice that can reduce stress at weaning. If silent weaning isn’t an option, separating cows and calves overnight while calves are still nursing can prepare them psychologically for separation at weaning.

“Separating cows and calves, at some point during the nursing period can lower stress when it comes time for weaning,” Navarre said. “When you’re getting females up to synchronize for reproduction can be a really good time to sort the calves off and leave them separated overnight and then turn them back in together. This experience will prepare those calves for being separated later on.”

In 2016, Makuakane implemented silent weaning on his operation for the first time. Hoping to determine which weaning practice would yield the best result for his operation, he sorted calves into two groups. The first group was fence line weaned while the second group was silent weaned using nose flaps. Makuakane said the difference in stress levels and performance between the two groups was obvious.

“As soon as we took off their nose flaps, the calves that were silent weaned went straight to the hay to eat or went and laid up somewhere,” Makuakane said. “Versus the calves that were fence line weaned who kept pacing the fence back and forth.”

Economics are a big part of determining the best weaning method to use and creating a plan. Makuakane said the silent wean nose flaps he uses typically cost between two or three dollars and can be reused five to ten times. Makuakane who has been silent weaning since 2016 said the silent wean nose flaps “pay for themselves.” During the last six years, they’ve learned the “sweet spot” for removing nose flaps is around day four or five on their operation.

“At some point during the week they just lose interest in their dam and start supplementing themselves,” Makuakane said. “We’ve found usually around day four or five they are no longer interested in their dam at all. At that point we remove the nose flaps.”

Makuakane said he gives his calves a vitamin and mineral supplement while weaning as an extra nutritional boost.

“We have noticed better results when we’ve combined silent weaning nose flaps with a liquid vitamin and mineral supplement and/or a vitamin and mineral tub,” Makuakane said.

Navarre emphasized the importance of decreasing stress throughout calfhood as well as any time cattle are being handled. Performing any necessary, but stressful procedures such as branding, castration, and dehorning before weaning is ideal. This allows calves to recover while still on their dams and without the added stress experienced at weaning.

“Low-stress weaning practices are important, but you also have to incorporate low-stress methods whenever handling cattle,” Navarre said. “Handling stress at weaning can also play a big role in the health and performance of calves. If it’s the wild west when you gather and sort those calves off it will impact them as well. We should always make sure calves are castrated and dehorned before we wean them to cut down on extra stress at weaning time. It’s when you start adding up all of these practices together that you start seeing the benefits.”

For those who would like to learn more about low-stress weaning and handling, Navarre recommends reaching out to local extension agents and going through the Beef Quality Assurance program. BQA certification can be achieved through in-person training or via an online course. To learn more about BQA or start your certification training visit BQA.org.

Makuakane said weaning is a great time to pay extra attention to how calves react to handling.

“One of the beautiful things we’ve seen is after you sort calves to place and remove the nose flaps, it’s really easy to tell which calves have the most docility or which genetics on your operation have produced the most docility,” Makuakane said. “Docility makes handling easier, resulting in fewer pounds lost to stress.

“Over the years, I’ve observed and tried various ways of doing things from breeding to weaning to backgrounding and the feedlot. When it comes to weaning, silent weaning has been the best practice for our operation. The calves that are silent weaned are hardier and healthier. Plus, we don't have calves bawling for days on end driving us crazy,” said Makuakane.