Early Weaning for the Beef Herd

David Lalman - Assistant Professor Beef Cattle
Oklahoma State University (pdf)

Calves can be successfully weaned at 6 to 8 weeks of age and efficiently raised to a normal weaning weight in drylot. Early weaning will permit high conception rates and rapid rebreeding. While early weaning is certainly not recommended as standard practice, it should be useful in times of drought when purchased feed may be more efficiently fed directly to the calf than to thc lactating cow. Early weaning may also offer cattlemen a chance to achieve high conception rates in cows too thin to rebreed otherwise.