Weaning Time!

It’s weaning time on the farm! Honestly, even the litter of kittens is getting weaned! The calves have grown well and the mothers have done a great job, but the time has come to separate the calves from their mothers. This can be a stressful time for everyone involved!

We wean “the kids,” as we call them, at 205 days of age. That is approximately 7 months old. Now if you are a parent or a grandparent, you can probably relate a little bit to what is going on. Have you ever taken a 1 to 2-year-old off the bottle? Just imagine when the baby is 600 to 800 pounds!

We use weaning paddles, some call them wings, to ease the transition. The calves are weighed and then caught in the chute where the weaning paddle is put in their nose. The paddle has semi-sharp plastic points that poke the cow when the calf tries to nurse and the paddle helps to block the calf from nursing.

The “kids” are then released back to the pasture with their moms for 5 or so days. Weaning this way lessens the stress on cow and calf. Although the calf may want to nurse, he or she can’t. The paddle is in the way and when the calf attempts to nurse, the cow is poked by the paddle and won’t allow the calf to continue trying. But the calves find comfort from remaining near mom and the cow is much happier as she grows used to not being nursed. Weaning by taking the calf immediately, causes the cows to frantically call and search for their calves, sometimes this can even include going through fences! We have a lot less trouble when the cow has had a week to get used to her baby not nursing and the calf has a much easier time when moved to the weanling pens.

When I thought on the weaning process, a scripture came immediately to mind. Hebrews 5:11-14 talks about the importance of moving from milk to meat. It is so important with cattle, that the calves move from a mostly milk diet. By the time the calf is weaned, the cow is more than half way through her next pregnancy and her body needs to focus on growing the next calf and recovering from the last one. The calf needs the added nutrition from other sources to increase the growth potential. Weaning is a good thing!

The calves are used to hay and grass but rely on the ease of nursing as their main source. Aren’t we the same? The writer of Hebrews states it so well. “You have become too lazy to listen… You should be teaching yet you still need someone to teach you the beginning principles.” Some of us have been Christians so long, we might’ve become a little lazy. Ouch, my toes!

The scripture goes on to say that milk is for the child, but meat is for the mature. We have opted for ease and comfort (milk) instead of work and the uncomfortable(meat). Isn’t the analogy simple? It takes a lot more effort to chew on some meat and digest it than it does to drink a glass of milk!

Here is where I’ll be real and maybe you can relate. Some days I settle for “milk” and not “meat!” Gasp! I know, I know….you probably have it altogether and spend an hour or more a day in prayer and Bible reading. But honestly, some days the only Word I read is the daily scripture that pops up on my phone at 7:45 am or an email devotion that I get everyday! Some days the prayers are a short as “Lord help me!”

But there are those days that the “meat” of the Word is a banquet! There are some days that I can walk around my house singing and praying. There are days that seeing that daily scripture at 7:45am sparks my interest and I end up digging deep into the Word for more than just a childish taste of Him and who He is!

There are times that we need the milk. Just like our newborn kittens and calves need their mother’s milk to grow and develop, we need “the sincere milk of the Word that we may grow” 1 Peter 2:2. But the older we get in our Christian walk, the more we have to draw our nourishment from the meat.

Don’t go all vegetarian on me here, but can we make an effort to dig deeper into God and His Word? Can we take the time to pray and read our Bible? Those calves will have their growth stunted if they don’t begin to eat better and have their nutritional needs met. They will never be the producer for the farm that they are meant to be without the right nutrition. You and I are no different. God has called us to be an army of mature Christians, strong and fully fed, not weak and hungry and missing that which is vital. Weaning is good. It might not be fun, but it is time to put down the bottle and pick up the fork and knife and dig in!

11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Hebrews 5:11-14 ESV

2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow. 1 Peter 2:2 NKJVhttps://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Peter+2%3A2&version=NKJV