Why do calves lose weight after weaning?
I encountered this problem for the first 20 years of my practice, and I tried everything... I gave 8, 9, and even 12 liters of milk, and removed calves from milk at 4, 5, and even 6 months, but in the very first month after weaning, there was a weight loss. And now I've found the answer to my question! While the calf drinks milk, all the weight gain comes from milk. We reduce the milk dose and introduce grain and grass, and the weight loss is gone! Why? Because the stomach isn't prepared to digest anything other than milk. There aren't enough bacteria capable of breaking down and processing other feeds. So what's the solution? We need to create conditions for microorganism growth and increase the absorptive surface area of the rumen.