Case study: Early weaning calves at Carnigup
- ASHEEP & BEEF
- 4 days ago
- 9 min read
The final breeding season has wrapped up for ASHEEP & BEEF’s Optimising Age of Weaning Cattle project, facilitated by Dr Enoch Bergman (Swans Veterinary Services) and funded through the Meat & Livestock Australia Producer Demonstration Site (PDS) program. An interesting PDS with some useful learnings – though not always the ones we expected!
This PDS was driven by producer interest in whether calves were being weaned at the optimal age, and whether earlier weaning than traditional timings could deliver good calf weight gains, improved management of cow condition, better feed utilisation (with less feed required when cows and calves are managed separately), and the potential to increase carrying capacity.
Demonstration sites were run over three breeding seasons (2023, 2024 and 2025). At each site, half of the calves from a group of young cows were weaned 60 days earlier than the producer’s usual practice. Calf weight gain, cow weight gain and cow body condition were measured.
Six producers were involved in the first year, with four continuing across all three seasons.
Ryan and Elisha Willing own ‘Carnigup’, a mixed farming enterprise with cattle and cropping in the Neridup and Boyatup areas of south‑east Western Australia. Carnigup has hosted a demonstration site for the full three years of ASHEEP & BEEF’s Producer Demonstration Site (PDS) “Optimising Age of Weaning Cattle”, funded by Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) and facilitated by Dr Enoch Bergman (Swans Veterinary Services). With the final year of demonstrations now complete, we caught up with Ryan to get his take on Carnigup’s results and key learnings.
Farm and cattle program overview
“The cropping program for the business currently involves 300 ha canola and 300 ha of cereals, some of which is oats for hay and ryegrass for silage, the rest is typically barley,” Ryan said.
“For livestock we run approximately 600 Angus breeders, retain the heifers and FTAI [fixed time artificial insemination] them. We also retain 50-75% of yearlings to grass finish and send them straight to abattoir at 18 months old. We breed our own bulls with a registered stud herd of 40 cows. Every breeder is pregnancy tested as early as possible after mating and culled if empty.”
“Cattle are all black angus. Our breeding objectives are to keep up with current Angus average growth rates but also to maintain a reliable cow that gets pregnant every year. Feet, structure, fertility and temperament are as important to me as growth. When choosing bulls to use for our AI [artificial insemination] program, calving ease figures must be in the top 30% (of current Angus Australia rating), growth ideally top 20% or better and everything else top 50% or better. I won’t use a bull that may have top growth but a ridiculous mature cow weight or terrible feet.”
“Cattle and crop go well together: having stubbles to keep them going all summer or having the flexibility to crop-graze as much or as little as necessary during winter, having equipment suitable to establish pastures better than a livestock only enterprise may have. Not to mention cleaning up weeds, trampling stubbles to reduce snail numbers, free N [nitrogen] for crops after pasture years.”
“Key dates in Carnigup’s cattle program include heifer calving starting 5th April, cows calving starting early May. Heifer AI is on 30th June with the bulls in after FTIA on 10th July and out 30th July, and the cows have the bulls in on 30th July and out 9 weeks later. Pregnancy testing is typically 6 weeks after the bulls are out (mid-September for the heifers and end of November for the cows). Weaning is in December as that is when green feed usually runs out. With sale timings, some weaners are sold during summer, usually late if the millet does well. Grass-finished yearlings are sold in September to October, dry cows after calf marking in July, and empty cows after pregnancy testing in December.”
Overview of how the demonstration ran at Carnigup
“My aim in running a demonstration site for this PDS was to see if the cow and calf unit could be more efficient if separated at the end of spring,” said Ryan, “The cow on lesser quality and quantity of feed and the calf on the best.”
In the first year of the PDS, half of the randomly selected calves were weaned 60 days earlier. All calves were weighed at that point. The remainder of the calves were weighed subsequently when they were weaned. Cows were wet/dried at that point to attempt to identify the dams of the early weaned calves. The cows were weighed and body condition scored at both weaning events.
The process was repeated in 2024 and 2025, though calves were weaned 48 and 32 days apart respectively. The only difference is that in 2025 an attempt was made to identify and remove as many of the dams of the early weaned calves as possible. They were managed separately with minimal feed. As can be noted in the data [see Figure 1], in the first two years of the PDS the cows whose calves had been weaned earlier gained weight between the two weaning events. In the final year, having their access to high quality feed restricted, the weight gain of the cows was nearly identical between the two weaning events.
First calvers were used for each year of the demonstration.
Year 1 (2023) “We typically start weaning with the first calvers as they calve a month earlier than the cows. This is normally at the end of November, but in 2023 we took part in the first year of the PDS and weaned a random half of the calves 6 weeks earlier. 2023 spring was pretty good and the early half went onto lush lucerne and chickory. The unweaned half and all cows stayed on kikuyu with a good sub clover pasture until their weaning. The biggest learning in the first year was that the extra condition the early weaned cows held saved a month of feeding in the 2024 autumn which was very dry.”
Year 2 (2024) “In the second year we had similar weaning dates. The 2024 spring was very ordinary to top off a terrible year. We put the early weaned calves onto the best pasture we could find (a ryegrass legume mix) but it was pretty ordinary. We could have looked after the calves a bit better with pellets perhaps. The difference between early and late weaned calves was the same as year 1. Average weaning weights across the farm for myself in 2024 were 70kg lighter than the 10-year average, so being a little bit worse than normal weaned meant those early weaned calves where very light and took a long time to grow to anything. Again, the extra condition on some cows was very valuable in 2025 with a long dry summer and minimal fodder made during the bad spring of 2024.”
Year 3 (2025) “In year 3, I pushed the early weaning date back a bit with the intention to still wean the 2nd half 6 weeks later, but I ran out of feed by December meaning that there was only a 4 week gap. For the final year of the demonstration, we decided to separate the early weaned cows from the other half. We did this by leaving the gates open back to the yards and most of the cows were there the next morning. The separated cows then did it tougher on limited dry feed, to see how little I could feed them whilst maintaining the same condition as their lactating sisters. Their stocking rate was 3 cows per hectare on dry feed vs their sisters at 1 ha per cow calf unit on green serradella / clover over kikuyu.”
“Each year of the demonstration I made sure that there was green feed locked up ready for the early weaned calves. We stuck to the same weaning protocol: a 6-day yard wean on silage, weighed, drenched (Dectomax V) and minerals (Nutriject).”
Observations
“The weight gain was less in the early weaned across all 3 years of the demonstrations. Temperament was noticeably better in early weaned calves each year. There were no extra health issues either way.”
“In the first year, lighter calves weren’t an issue as they caught up over winter and made the grass finished market by spring, perhaps later but not a big deal. In the second year, the lighter calves were definitely noticed due to me running low on fodder, so I had to sell most as weaners. It was especially an issue with the heifer weaners as their weight category heavily discounted their worth. The final year of calves are still growing out; we expect that the early weaned calves will catch up by spring.”
“The earlier weaned cows had a noticeable “hay-stack” on their back the first two summers compared to their ‘normal’ weaned sisters. The final lot of cows are more even in condition this summer as I separated the earlier weaned cows and managed their condition separately.”
The dams of the calves which had been earlier weaned in 2023 had similar pregnancy rates in their subsequent joining in 2024 to those which had been traditionally weaned, with a 1.8% better pregnancy rate amongst the cows which had been traditionally weaned. The dams of the calves weaned in the second year of the project showed a better subsequent pregnancy rate amongst the heifers whose calves had been weaned earlier with an advantage of a 3.6% better pregnancy rate.
Have you modified your target weaning date as a result of this PDS?
“I think the PDS helped confirm that I was weaning at the right time. I think weaning once the green feed runs out is about right and this PDS taught me that doesn’t have to be a fixed date but flexible depending on year. When the spring is terrible and you have limited fodder for the next year, wean early, put some fat on the cows so they can make it to calving without feeding and just look after those weaners better than I did depending on your target market. When the spring is good and you have lush green feed hold off a bit.”
Are there any changes you think you could make to get an improvement in the weight gain of earlier-weaned calves in future?
“I think whilst cows can be inefficient at converting grass to milk, they do a good job at converting mediocre feed into energy for calves. I think with the right feed you could get calves to gain the same on their own but that is more expensive to buy/ grow than just using more area for a cow/ calf unit.”
“Early weaning will always be in my toolbox, when the spring fails I now know my options and can plan accordingly and make the best decision for the whole farm. Some of the pastures or fodders used to grow out weaners on other farms running demonstration sites were of interest, such as kale and also the silage-based feedlot rations.”
Thinking back on what you’ve learnt from this PDS, any advice for others looking to wean early in dry seasons?
“Wean just before the cows start losing condition, let them have enough feed after weaning to put some fat on their backs. Then look after the calves as well as possible, silage if you have it, grain-based ration, pellets or a good stand of millet could all help to get them back on track but don’t put them on a stubble and hope for the best, they won’t magically grow!”
What are your other focuses for taking Carnigup’s beef enterprise forward?
“The biggest thing we have started work on is feeding, introducing silage (over hay) 3 years ago was a game changer. Now we are investing in feed troughs and a mixing wagon with the goal of being able to confine animals whilst gaining weight, suitable to their situation. Being able to mix silage, grain, hay and straw means we can more accurately feed the right amount to each animal and confining them to small kikuyu paddocks, so they don’t waste energy and let other pastures get away.”
“Technology is rapidly becoming cheaper and more advanced and will have many roles in the future I think. Camera weighing, calving detectors, heat detection, genomic testing etc won’t give us any more time off, but will allow us to farm more efficiently and focus on other challengers to keep us farming into the future.”
