Cattle Weighing Query

T0001

Hey all,

Quick one for ye, Recently purchased a weighing scales, weighed the bullocks a month ago, and again today. It showed excessive weigh gain (which is great if its accurate).

Basically the average daily gain ranged from 0.93 to 2.27 kgs. The majoirty were in around the 1.1-1.3 but some were hitting 1.7, 1.8, 1.9 and 2+. Surely it can't be right?

I would say there's an issue with the scales but the others are in what you'd expect. They haven't been getting meal apart from a bucket between them once a week just to have them coming into the yard. My thinking is I didn't record the weighs correctly a month ago as the ones that showed large gains were one I was a bit disappointed with.

Has anyone with more experience or knowledge any ideas?

blue5000

Gut fill. They might have been empty the first day.

Anto_Meath

Could be the gut full alright, but you sometime I notice cattle you were disappointed in give a good thrive after a dose or that. I have two red LM Bullock's that were like peas in a pod since they were calves, but noticed a few weeks back 1 of them was well ahead of the other lad. I gave the whole batch a short of turbomeic a month ago and the lighter lad has nearly caught up with his comrade again. So maybe something like that has happened here.

Cavanjack

Anto_Meath wrote: »

Could be the gut full alright, but you sometime I notice cattle you were disappointed in give a good thrive after a dose or that. I have two red LM Bullock's that were like peas in a pod since they were calves, but noticed a few weeks back 1 of them was well ahead of the other lad. I gave the whole batch a short of turbomeic a month ago and the lighter lad has nearly caught up with his comrade again. So maybe something like that has happened here.

What does the turbomeic do is it a dose? Always have a few here every year that just don’t do well.
On the op’s question you are probably better weigh at the same time of day every time and maybe after they’ve eaten out a paddock fully as opposed to them being only a day or two in a real lush paddock.
I’ve seen well bred bullocks do over 400kg in 10 months here after being stored for the winter on silage alone and an 8 week period of feeding on grass (exception rather than the norm). So gains of greater than 1.5 a day would be achievable this time of year on grass.

Hershall

blue5000 wrote: »

Gut fill. They might have been empty the first day.

If you weighed cattle at say 9.00 am and then brought them to the mart selling at roughly 3.00 pm how much could you expect them to lose roughly?

valtra2

Hershall wrote: »

If you weighed cattle at say 9.00 am and then brought them to the mart selling at roughly 3.00 pm how much could you expect them to lose roughly?

20kg

Albert Johnson

Hershall wrote: »

If you weighed cattle at say 9.00 am and then brought them to the mart selling at roughly 3.00 pm how much could you expect them to lose roughly?

I'd be expecting a loss of 5% of fresh weight give or take. It will vary from animal to animal depending on a number of factors including weight, flesh, stress, length of time fasting, access to water ect. I often heard lad's especially those buying weanlings commenting that they'd weight better in some smaller evening sales compared to larger day sales.

MfMan

T0001 wrote: »

Hey all,

Quick one for ye, Recently purchased a weighing scales, weighed the bullocks a month ago, and again today. It showed excessive weigh gain (which is great if its accurate).

Basically the average daily gain ranged from 0.93 to 2.27 kgs. The majoirty were in around the 1.1-1.3 but some were hitting 1.7, 1.8, 1.9 and 2+. Surely it can't be right?

I would say there's an issue with the scales but the others are in what you'd expect. They haven't been getting meal apart from a bucket between them once a week just to have them coming into the yard. My thinking is I didn't record the weighs correctly a month ago as the ones that showed large gains were one I was a bit disappointed with.

Has anyone with more experience or knowledge any ideas?

You sure the scales was firmly on the ground for either/both weighings? It can and will weigh incorrectly if rocking slightly any bit.

Anto_Meath

Cavanjack wrote: »

What does the turbomeic do is it a dose? Always have a few here every year that just don’t do well.
On the op’s question you are probably better weigh at the same time of day every time and maybe after they’ve eaten out a paddock fully as opposed to them being only a day or two in a real lush paddock.
I’ve seen well bred bullocks do over 400kg in 10 months here after being stored for the winter on silage alone and an 8 week period of feeding on grass (exception rather than the norm). So gains of greater than 1.5 a day would be achievable this time of year on grass.

Hi Cavanjack no its just a cheap Ivermectin, I give it to the cattle at grass when I notice them starting to cough, lung worms and the like. I would give a shot of copper to every animal going to grass (on on arrival if bought in) but after that I would just give a shot of this if I think they needed it. I find the copper puts a nice shine on cattle and it generally makes them thrive well.

SuperTortoise

Make sure the legs are on firm level(within reason) ground, calibrate the scales before weighing, either hop on yourself if you know your own weight or throw a couple of bags of meal and see what the readout is, also make sure the probes are seated correctly into the sockets of the readout box.

And now that i think of it, make sure the battery level is high, i know i have a set of cheap calipers and when the battery is low the readings can be off, maybe the same applies to scales?