Develop a reputation for quality calves by taking steps to ensure that calves are healthy and prepared for the stress of movement from the farm to the next level of the production channel.

Weaning and backgrounding for 45 days prior to movement help calves:
• Respond to vaccines.
• Develop resistance to viruses and bacteria.
• Adapt to eating from a bunk.
• Achieve economical gains.

Backgrounding can help reduce shrink, allow calves to settle and acclimate sooner and can aid in preventing bovine respiratory disease.

The Big Three: Stress, Nutrition, Vaccination
STRESS
Stress is the key player in weaning time health "wrecks." Without stress, fewer cattle would get sick. But combine weaning with the weather, castration, dehorning, separation anxiety, etc. and you've got problems.

Minimize the effects of stress by:
• Pre-processing calves three to four weeks ahead of your weaning date. This includes all surgical procedures, and the first round of vaccinations in a two round series of immunizations (shots). This key first round primes the animals' immune system.

• Follow up two to four weeks later with the second round. Failure to do this step within this time frame renders the first round totally useless. "One-shot health programs" do no favors for calves, their owners, or the buyers.

• Keep calves on-farm 45 days after weaning. Records from more than 45,000 head weaned on-farm in MFA's Health Track Beef Alliance, which features a standardized health and nutrition program, show sickness rates less than one percent and death loss rates less than 0.2 percent. This practice is a key factor in reducing sickness in calves arriving at feedlots. In building your farm's reputation, this keeps buyers coming back. As technology improves, it will be of increasing importance to identify your cattle as healthy, proven performers in the food chain.

WEANING RATIONS
Make it tasty! Rations must be palatable so calves eat healthy amounts beginning on day one.

Nutritious: Rations must contain ample levels of readily available protein and energy, high levels of minerals and vitamins, and other nutrients that fuel the immune system to fight off stress.

Energy Dense: Intakes at weaning time are often reduced. Low intakes may not maintain animals, let alone help them meet the increased nutrient needs of warding off stress. Calves use up energy when they're bawling. Are they eating enough to replace that energy? Weaning rations must allow for this and supply higher energy nutrition with each bite.

Safety: Stay away from high starch rations, which can cause calves to go off feed.

VACCINATIONS
Two to four weeks before weaning is an excellent time to vaccinate calves for the respiratory diseases such as IBR, PI3, and BVD. Giving the vaccine and returning the calves directly back to the herd should allow them to start to develop the immunity desired while under minimal stress. Boosters, if required, can then be given at weaning time. In addition to the improved immune response, there is an added bonus. Calves vaccinated before weaning should begin to have protection from the respiratory diseases and be less prone to sickness while undergoing the weaning process. In some cases, clostridial, and leptospirosis vaccines may also be given at the vaccination time prior to weaning. Remember, some vaccines are not labeled for use on calves being returned to nurse pregnant cows. Be sure to visit with your local veterinarian about the vaccines of choice for your herd.

POINTS TO REMEMBER AT WEANING TIME
The market value of the calves produced can affect income from the herd as much as the fertility of the herd or the weaned weight of the calves. The annual price cycle for calves has the lowest prices for the year in the late fall and the highest prices in the early spring. Better marketing decisions will be made if the producer weighs the alternatives well before weaning and plans for the most profitable alternative for that particular year.

Internal parasites such as warbles can cause serious economic losses. The best time for warble control is at weaning in the fall with the use of systemic insecticides. Louse control is improved in the herd when cows and calves have been given systemic warble control treatments at weaning.

Herd performance should be measured and evaluated at weaning time for both the cows and calves.

Weaned weight of the calves is affected by the daily gains of the calf and the age of the calf at weaning. Calves born early are heavier.

Reproductive performance of the cows (whether the cow calves early or late in the calving season) should be considered when selecting heifer calves for herd replacements.

The target weight for breeding replacement heifers must be kept in mind when planning the feeding of these heifers over the winter.

GOOD MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
Review the vaccination program and be ready to give the necessary vaccinations and booster shots at the appropriate time of least stress.

Watch weaned calves carefully to see that they are all eating and drinking. Calves which are slow to come to feed may be showing early signs of shipping fever or pneumonia.
Isolate all sick calves as soon as possible where they can be given proper care and where they will not infect other calves.

Preconditioning programs may be a benefit to those expecting to market their calves in the fall. The producer should examine the costs and benefits in the light of his own situation.

To avoid shrink in marketing calves, make sure they have been properly prepared.