Jim - 3/28/2026 16:47

Leaving a bull calf in with his half sisters is not my preferred method of operation either. However some of us don't have the acres or pastures to do things as we would like. I do feel strongly there are benefits from leaving all calves on their dams for as long as possible in my mostly grass fed, birth to plate operation. 

It's been shown that late weaned calves have significantly better/different lifetime rumen development than earlier weaned calves. That may not matter if you're selling feeders to a feedlot for a mostly corn diet but rumen development makes a big difference if you raise an animal for mostly grass. 

Adding a lute shot for heifers to the rest of their yearling shots is relatively minor price to pay for the rumen advantages of late weaning, in my system.