Creep grazing

Muckit

Hey lads

I've a small spring calving suckler herd and was experimenting with creep grazing the calves this year. Didn't have a whole pile of luck with it and it seemed more hassle than it was worth!! We're not in the suckler cow welfare scheme and keep all our weanlings to beef.

Found two 2' small pedestrian gates laying around the yard with vertical bars. Cut out the middle ones to leave an 18" gap. Tied this between gate post and open end of field gate.

When using electric fence, I drove two stakes, propped with two other stakes drove at an angle, and tied the other small gate between them. Both suituations looked the biz, but calves never ventured through them!!:mad:

What are your opinions/experiences of creep grazing?

Cheers

Muckit

leg wax

Muckit wrote: »

put the bloody sucks on meal first then put meal on the side u want the calfs to go into they will find it then

Muckit

leg wax wrote: »

put the bloody sucks on meal first then put meal on the side u want the calfs to go into they will find it then

Thanks legwax for your reply;)

'sucks' in our neck of the woods are calves a few weeks old or are being bucket reared. These calves are neither, all over 6mths old.

I don't hav a creep feeder, nor do I intend getting one. The main thing I was trying to creep them on was good quality grass, and maybe a little meal fed in small troughs inside the creep area.

I've heard suggestions to separate calves and place them in creep area, then they will find way out to the cows through creep gate(s), is this a good idea? I don't want them breaking through elec fence and spoilling them, as we keep on all progeny to beef!!

dar31

I've heard suggestions to separate calves and place them in creep area, then they will find way out to the cows through creep gate(s), is this a good idea? I don't want them breaking through elec fence and spoilling them, as we keep on all progeny to beef!!

well lads,

we used to creep suckler calves this way all the time when we had them,came down to training in the end.
used old cubcile on side with 4 chains and hooks tacked on. chained between gate an slaping post.. easy to move and set up..
for about 4 days we would seperate out calfs to fresh grass after that they worked away them selves..
as for wires.. all wires were set high to allow calfs go under. need to seperate them for a few days as well.. point less if there is not good power in fence
as calves got bigger they would get more of a shock and not venture under as much, any thing that did was brought to yard and given a good dart.
sucklers were used as toppers after dairy cows, so this was the only way to get good grass to calves
system worked v well and calves trived

bagaspuds

Muckit,
I just started training mine today. I brought them all into the yard and seperated cows from weanlings. Left trough in yard with weanlings near seperating gate, for about an hour. They ate most of the meal (only about 1 Kg). I then let them all back together again.
I will do this again for a few days. I will then put up the creep gate and away we go. I've done this for the last few years and it worked fine. If you can even get 1 or 2 to come to the trough, rest will follow. Give them very little but often at first, as the rain will ruin it in the open troughs.
Hope this helps.