64. Weaning of hand reared dairy calves. Part one - When is a calf ready to wean?

All the hard work has been done, your four day old calves have grown well and it’s time to think about weaning the calves from milk or calf milk replacer (CMR). Our latest Rumen Room Podcast steps through the range of factors that collectively give us guidance to when a calf is ready to wean. There're many factors to think about, including the age and liveweight of the calf, daily liveweight gain, perhaps the wither height of the calf as well as rumen capacity and rumen function. Topped up of course by a healthy dose of your very own “gut feel” and intuition around if a calf is ready to wean or not.  Keep an eye (ear?) out for part two of this weaning-themed calf podcast - this will follow shortly, focusing on the different approaches that we can take to the weaning process itself.