Short-term calf removal is the term that describes the temporary physical separation of the calf from its mother. This removes the nursing stimulus from the cow for about two days. The care of the calf during that 48 hours is actually quite simple. Most producers will make certain that calves have access to grass hay and plenty of fresh drinking water. Some have offered calves some "sweet feed," but the calves will eat very little during this time.
Removal of calves for 48 hours has shown to improve rebreeding rates of moderately conditioned cows by 4 to 8%. This improvement, although seemingly small in magnitude, is large compared to the out-of-pocket investment.
Short-term calf removal can be used at the first of the breeding season or in the middle or both depending on the labor situation. Short-term calf removal is not a powerful enough stimulus to "jump-start" very thin cows. Those that are in a body condition score of 4 or less may need to have the calves weaned completely to allow the cow to recycle early in the upcoming breeding season.
Those cows that calve in the BCS of 6 or fatter can be expected to return to estrus early in the breeding season and should have high rebreeding rates. Although not harmful, the practices of early weaning, short-term calf removal, or feeding extra feed will NOT show significant advantages for these cows. Therefore, producers will want to continue their normal lactating cow supplementation programs until green grass provides the nutrients that these cows need.
Finally, data suggest that exposing postpartum cows to a sterile bull (bull exposure) can initiate estrous cycles in cows that are close to begin cycling.
