Do you weigh or estimate

[ROAD WARRIOR]

Just curious how many people weigh their calves at birth and how many just estimate? I weigh every calf that hits the ground and I usually can guess within 10 - 15 pounds one way or the other. Different body types can make a huge difference in weight. RW

 

[Show Heifer]

I hope you were being sarcastic when you said you could estimate them within 15 pounds.!!

I weigh most, tape the rest.....and I'm just a lowly commercial breeder for the most part!!

 

[Cattledog]

I weigh everything.  The only time I have estimated was when the calf was over 130lb and I couldn't get the feet off the ground!  I estimated 130 plus! ;D

 

[Jill]

We weigh every calf, you can normally guess pretty close, but there are some of them that we have been way off just guessing.

 

[Show Steaks]

We estimate all ours. If we had  a scale i would weigh them.

 

[ROAD WARRIOR]

I hope you were being sarcastic when you said you could estimate them within 15 pounds.!!

I weigh most, tape the rest.....and I'm just a lowly commercial breeder for the most part!!

If I stay in "breed" I get real close most of the time. I have calved for other people though and have missed some of them by as much as 15 pounds. Didn't think there was any way the calf could have been that big! RW

 

[Rustynail]

We weighed everything.  This year we are using the tape plus weighing. The tape says it is a 5 pound plus or minus, but the biggest difference we have had is 3 pounds.  Most are within 2.  I might put more trust in it the older I get, and cannot lift the calves.

Show Steaks you might want to get one of these tapes.  They are pretty cheap and accurate.

 

[OH Breeder]

Weigh shortly after birth

 

[Spring Creek Farms]

I use the tape every time. I have compared and only been off a couple pounds.

 

[justintime]

I try to weigh every calf, but occasionally some get missed that are born on pasture.We have  8 pastures and sometimes a calf is a few days old when it is found. When I go to check pastures, it usually takes more than half a day to check them all.  I do not record a BW on these ones. I would rather have no data than guessed data. On these calves I only report it as an unassisted birth.

I went to a bull sale a few years ago and from the time I left in the morning until I got home at 6 pm, we had 22 calves born. I asked my dad if anything had calved. He said," you better go out and check them as I have no idea what all calved and how many there was". I went out and counted 22 new babies, all had nursed and all were fine. I will admit that all of these never got weighed as we had 9 the next day as well... and there just wasn't  enough hours in the day to get everything done. I was hard enough just getting tags in all the ears!