We decided to use the Quietwean nose tags on a few calves this year who didn’t get weaned with the big group .  The Quietwean nose tags are designed in fit into the calf’s nose so that the calf can adjust to not nursing while staying with it’s mother.  The calf is still able to graze and/or eat hay.

We put the Quietwean nose tag in each calf when they were in the cattle squeeze and then turned them back out with their mothers. The nose tags were very quick and easy to put in.

As you can see from the photograph below, the calf is now unable to nurse.

4 days later, we put the calves back through the cattle squeeze to remove the Quietwean nose tags and we separated the calves by a fence from their mothers.

Both the calves and the cows seem calmer and more content tonight, which in turn, means less weight loss for both and hopefully less sickness.

If we are happy with the success of using the Quietwean nose tags, we are hoping to use them next fall on all of our replacement heifers and bull calves.  We usually put our calves through the squeeze to vaccinate them prior to weaning; therefore, it would only involve one extra trip through the squeeze in order to remove the nose tag.

We will monitor the calves over the next couple days, but from what we can tell so far, we will be using the Quietwean nose tags again next year!

If you are interested, you can read more about the Quietwean nose flaps at www.quietwean.com.