My Fearless Kitchen

Quick tips and easy recipes to chase the fear out of your kitchen.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

  • mfk_utensils
  • Recipes
      • Quick and Easy
      • Slow Cooker
      • Grill
      • Freezer Friendly
      • Dips & Snacks
      • Breakfast & Breads
      • Dessert Recipes
      • Main Dish Recipes
      • Side Dish Recipes
      • Soups & Salads
  • Kitchen Tips, Tricks, & More
  • About Farming & Food
    • About GMOs
    • Antibiotics
    • Meat
    • Pigs
    • Eggs
    • Poultry
  • Disclosure, Disclaimers, & Privacy Policy
Home » Is It Mean To Take A Calf Away From Its Mom?

Is It Mean To Take A Calf Away From Its Mom?

By Marybeth Feutz 6 Comments

In every cow’s life, it’s eventually time to take a calf away from its mom. It’s part of farming, and part of raising animals. Is it mean? No. It’s a part of life.

Is It Mean to Take a Calf Away From Its Mom? from My Fearless Kitchen. In every cow's life, it's eventually time to take a calf away from its mom. It's part of farming, and part of raising animals. Is it mean? No. It's a part of life.

Is It Mean To Take A Calf Away From Its Mom?

{Referral links are used in this post.}

There is really not much that is cuter than baby animals. We love our calves around here. They are adorable, and they are so much fun to watch when they run around and play in the pasture together.

Is It Mean to Take a Calf Away From Its Mom? from My Fearless Kitchen. In every cow's life, it's eventually time to take a calf away from its mom. It's part of farming, and part of raising animals. Is it mean? No. It's a part of life.

But, just like in any baby’s life, there comes a time when they have to be weaned. This is one area where dairy calves and beef calves are very different. On most beef cattle farms, cows and calves are kept together for a few months. On most dairy farms, cows and calves are separated shortly after the calf is born.

Is It Mean to Take a Calf Away From Its Mom? from My Fearless Kitchen. In every cow's life, it's eventually time to take a calf away from its mom. It's part of farming, and part of raising animals. Is it mean? No. It's a part of life.

When Are Beef Cows Separated From Their Moms?

On a beef farm, things work a little differently. We have a cow-calf farm, which means that our cows have a calf every year. We raise the calves until they are about 6-8 months old, and then we sell them. Actually, we let the cows raise the calves. Unless we have one who needs to be bottle fed. (Luckily, this is the exception on a beef farm, and not the rule!)

Is It Mean to Take a Calf Away From Its Mom? from My Fearless Kitchen. In every cow's life, it's eventually time to take a calf away from its mom. It's part of farming, and part of raising animals. Is it mean? No. It's a part of life.

Our calves stay out in the pasture with their moms until it’s time to wean them (when the calves are 6-8 months old). At weaning time, we move the calves to a different pasture – out of eyesight of the cows. The way our farm is set up, the calves and cows can still hear each other when they are separated, even though they can’t see each other.

It’s usually pretty noisy for the few days after weaning around here.

Is It Mean to Take a Calf Away From Its Mom? from My Fearless Kitchen. In every cow's life, it's eventually time to take a calf away from its mom. It's part of farming, and part of raising animals. Is it mean? No. It's a part of life.

When Are Dairy Calves Separated from Their Moms?

Dairy calves and beef calves have a very different lifestyle. On most dairy farms, a calf is separated from its mom shortly after it is born. The calf is raised on milk replacer, and lives in a hutch near other calves.

Dairy calves and cows really don’t spend much time together. They don’t have the same bond that the beef calves and cows have. Every cow is different, but most of the time there isn’t that much fuss when the dairy calves are separated.

Is It Mean to Take a Calf Away From Its Mom? from My Fearless Kitchen. In every cow's life, it's eventually time to take a calf away from its mom. It's part of farming, and part of raising animals. Is it mean? No. It's a part of life.

Six-month-old beef calves are pretty independent. They hang out in little calf groups most of the day and eat lots of hay and grain. But they still know their mommas and they do still get a little bit of nutrition by nursing. When the beef calves are separated, they know something is different, and they miss their moms. They’ll talk all about it – to anyone within earshot. And the moms talk back. So it’s pretty noisy. But everyone keeps on eating like champs, and after 2 or 3 days of midnight serenades it settles back to normal around here. As much as possible, we let the calves settle into their “new normal” before we sell them and move them to another farm.

Is It Mean to Take a Calf Away From Its Mom? from My Fearless Kitchen. In every cow's life, it's eventually time to take a calf away from its mom. It's part of farming, and part of raising animals. Is it mean? No. It's a part of life.

Calves all need to be taken away from their moms, at some point. If you leave them together all the time, the calf will continue to nurse from the cow long after it no longer needs milk to meet its nutrition needs. This can actually cause some developmental, nutrition, and growth problems for the calf if it is getting too many of its calories from milk, and not enough from roughage (like grass and hay).

So is it mean to take a calf away from its mom? No, it’s not mean. It is part of life, and part of raising cattle. There are ways to decrease the stress of weaning on both the cow and the calf, and we do that as much as we can.

3 Ways to Take the Fear Out of Your Kitchen

  • Dairy Calf Housing
  • Do Farmers Really Love Their Animals?
  • What Do You Call the Boy Cows?

3 Recipes to Try

  • Slow Cooker Pineapple Meatballs
  • Easy Marinated Strip Steak
  • Easy Slow Cooker Pot Roast

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Where is My Food From? Tagged With: beef calf, calf, cattle, cow, dairy calf, farm

« Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Mom Knows Best Giveaway! »

Comments

  1. Connie says

    07/28/2018 at 6:47 pm

    I usually separate calves from their mothers around 7 months. If the mothers are bred the calves need to come off for their health and the mother’s health. They fuss for a few days but learn that the new normal is without Mom.

  2. Robin Towery says

    08/07/2018 at 6:03 pm

    When I was a little kid I can remember my dad would take the calf from thier mothers at the right moon so they wouldn’t moo all the time is this true or not thank you for doing this blog you have some great things on here, thank you

  3. Marybeth Feutz says

    08/10/2018 at 12:17 pm

    Some people do “follow the moon” when they wean. Some farmers swear by it, others think it doesn’t matter. It’s all personal preference! Thanks for reading!

  4. Marybeth Feutz says

    08/10/2018 at 12:25 pm

    That’s a great way of putting it, “the new normal.”

Trackbacks

  1. Spicy Sausage Dip - My Fearless Kitchen says:
    09/25/2017 at 10:00 pm

    […] is mean to take the calves away from their moms. I’ve talked about this before, so check out this post to read more about what actually happens when we […]

  2. When Are Calves Born? - My Fearless Kitchen says:
    02/07/2018 at 9:18 pm

    […] vaccinations at the same time, and they can all be weaned at the same time. When we sell our calves after weaning, we usually sell them as a group, and we can get a better price if they are all about the same age […]

Comment Policy

I welcome comments and conversation. All comments are moderated, and may not appear immediately. As long as you are respectful and courteous, your comment will be approved.
(Read my comment policy for more details.)

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Hi! I'm Marybeth, the blogger behind My Fearless Kitchen! Jump in, and let me share what I'm learning about food, farming, quick kitchen tips, and easy recipes to chase the fear out of YOUR kitchen! Read more.
Follow Us On Pinterest

Popular Posts

Honey-BBQ Oven-Baked Ribs

Half-Sour Refrigerator Pickles

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
Comment Policy — Disclosures, Disclaimers, & Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 · My Fearless Kitchen

 

Loading Comments...
 

You must be logged in to post a comment.