Old ideas for new approaches to herd productivity

Old African solutions to the annual challenge of weaning calves have found their way to Australia via the EasyWean nosering.

Native African herders managing their communal cattle herds have long put devices on the noses of older calves to prevent them suckling.

 

In grazing systems without fencing, these weaning devices allow cows to regain condition and re-start their oestrus cycle earlier than they would naturally.

The devices are rudimentary, sometimes no more than a sharp-ended stick thrust through the septum and held in place by wire or branchlets. In other configurations, a piece of tin may hang from the stick.

Kalahari rancher Dick Richardson observed this traditional strategy, and in the mid-1990s began re-fashioning it for a different production system.

Mr Richardson, who has since moved to Australia, was an earlier adopter of Holistic Management (HM) principles, and is a widely-travelled HM consultant.

Pastoralists working with planned grazing principles manage for high mob densities on pasture for brief periods of grazing, followed by varied periods of rest for the pasture. The process ensures standing vegetation is trampled into the soil, and liberally fertilised with dung and urine, while living plants are allowed to recover before their next grazing.

Splitting a herd into separate mobs of cows and calves for weaning complicates management of this process. Achieving the desired animal impact, and ensuring adequate plant rest, means that pastoralists working with planned grazing favour running one mob rather than several.

Mr Richardson noticed that the native African weaning system not only keeps the communal herds together throughout weaning, but eliminates the stress of separation for cow and calf.

That means no weight loss for the calf, and faster recovery of condition and reproductive capability for the cow.

In drought, a weaning device can be attached to a calf to reduce the energy drain on cows.

But native devices were not designed for productivity or animal welfare. Mr Richardson took the concept to a Johannesburg toolmaker and inventor, Roland Gehring, and using various prototypes worked with him to develop a different design.

Mr Richardson’s former wife, Judy, who now manages the EasyWean business from Vryburg, South Africa, said the redesign addressed the flaws of the traditional model, and added extra capability and longevity.

Instead of being pushed through the nose, the EasyWean nosering is slipped into the nostrils and lightly tightened against the septum. The calf experiences no pain, and no wound is made.

For an experienced operator working with a good headbale, each ring can be installed or removed in under a minute.

Unlike the native African devices, the EasyWean ring is designed to break under stress. There have been few instances of calves being caught by their rings, Mrs Richardson said, but if they pull hard enough the ring will intentionally break.

The acetyl the rings are made from is otherwise robust, and resistant to ultraviolet light. Rings are usually in service for five weanings or more, amortising the cost of purchase over several years.

Pricing was also an important consideration in the design. The price of a ring was originally based on two kilograms of weaner liveweight, Mrs Richardson said, but they have become comparatively cheaper over time.

The sums add up. New England, NSW, grazier Chris Wright has recorded average daily weight gains of 0.64 kilograms in his EasyWeaned calves over a 13-18 day weaning.

Before adopting the noserings, Mr Wright reported that his calves usually lost weight at weaning. Other users of EasyWean report similar results, Mrs Richardson said.

Trials in South Africa in 2000 showed that 50 calves fitted with EasyWean noserings a fortnight before being delivered to a feedlot gained weight (on average, 3 kg) during transport and induction, while a group of 49 from the same herd that hadn’t been weaned lost weight (-11 kg) over the same period.

In the feedlot, the group weaned with noserings gained an extra 156 grams of liveweight a day, and required half the veterinary treatments.

The idea of a weaning nosering is familiar in Africa, and the EasyWean ring is now the most common weaning device sold there.

Australian producers are the biggest users of the EasyWean concept outside Africa.

Some Australians are rotational graziers, and use the rings because it helps with herd management.

In general, though, Mrs Richardson reports that producers who use the noserings do so because they are a labour- and cost-saving alternative to yard weaning – and unlike most yard weanings, they make money from liveweight gain during the EasyWean weaning process.

EasyWean Australia is currently trialling a “rent-a-ring” program for those wishing to test the concept.

More information: www.easywean.com.au