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Cattle. Average ages and weights

  • 26-06-2015 10:40am
    #1
    Thomas Farrell
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5 ✭


    Hi folks,
    I'm doing a small project at the moment on cattle and i'm not really a farmer. I would love some help here.

    What weight/age would the average animal be when weaned off milk?
    What weight/age would the average animal be when finishing begins?

    Is an animal called a weanling until it gets put away as a store or finishing. Is there a name for the period between?

    Sorry if these questions are a little weak, but there will be plenty more like them i imagine.


Comments

  • #2
    ALANC81
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 182 ✭✭ALANC81


    We wean the calves at about 8 or 9 months of age and I'd say they would weigh around 300kg to 350kg. We don't have stores we sell bulls and heifers for breeding.


  • #3
    Kovu
    Closed Accounts Posts: 14,241 ✭✭✭✭Kovu


    There'd be massive discrepancies between breeds at weaning time, a belgian blue or a charolais will weigh a lot more than a friesian. Bulls will also (on average) weigh more than heifers.
    We'd wean bulls between 340-400kg at about nine or ten months of age but that is the export market we aim for. Heifers would be about 300-320kg at weaning- same age. Of course there can be exceptions, we've usually early calves that would be on their mothers longer and could be weaned at 450kg+
    These would all be commercial breeds- Belgian blue/Charolais/Limousin.

    Suck calves off friesian dams which are on milk replacement would be weaned a lot earlier and at way lighter weights.

    I don't know much about finishing but there are different types of finisher - 16 month bull beef/30month/overage so you may want to be a little more specific with questions there!.
    We'd just normally call anything over a year a yearling bull/heifer. Or bullock as the case may be.


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