Preparing for weaning: The ‘why’ of concentrate feeding

Through participation in the 2024 Beef Welfare Scheme, suckler farmers are being supported to feed calves concentrates pre and post weaning, but what benefits does it bring?

Joining Catherine Egan, Teagasc Beef Specialist, on a recent episode of the Beef Edge podcast was John Donlon, Teagasc researcher and vet, who shared key advice and tips on preparing calves for weaning.

Weaning brings about a change in the calf’s diet, John explained, and the “very nutritious milk” supplied by the cow needs to be replaced with an alternative energy source. Additionally, the calf needs to be given sufficient time in the period leading into weaning to ensure its rumen has fully developed to process a forage-based diet.

“One of the key ways that we recommend farmers to prepare calves for weaning is through supplementation with concentrates. This is something that really should start from a month before we are planning to wean these calves,” John explained.

The introduction of concentrates one month before weaning, and ensuring calves are consuming at least 1kg/head/day of concentrate come weaning time, will ensure the calf’s rumen has adequate time to develop before removing milk from the diet.

“Calves are more likely to be able to adapt and compensate for that reduction in energy intake from not having milk anymore and replace that with grass and concentrates and then we recommend that you would continue to feed those concentrates for two weeks afterwards,” John noted.

Forage intake

Along with the supplementation of concentrates, John also touched on the role creep grazing calves plays in breaking the maternal bond and ensuring calves consume adequate levels of high quality grass.

“You want to try encourage the calf to be as independent of the cow as possible. Having fences set up in such a way that your calves can grazed ahead of the cows will mean they are little bit more independent.

“They are used to getting away from the cow, so that when the cow is removed the calves aren’t going to be as shocked, making them more robust, and it will also encourage them to have that grass component to the diet.”

In addition to helping weaken the maternal bond, creep grazing also serves to allow calves access to the best quality grass – thus encouraging intakes and liveweight gain – while cows are used to graze out the stemmer, less digestible material found in the lower third of the sward.

For more insights on preparing for weaning, listen into the Beef Edge podcast below: