My daughter would always ask when she was little, “why do we have all these numbers?” I would always say numbers are everything and it’s still true today. Numbers tell everything about your operation, whether you are making a profit or if an animal is paying her way. This article is to emphasize how important numbers are to your operation.
Record keeping is imperative tool to know how your operation is doing. Individual identification for all your animals, calving dates, birth weights and weaning weights are crucial. All these numbers are important to track your animals from year to year. Having a number record will allow you to measure your progress as a breeder. Calving dates will allow you to calculate calving intervals for a cow during her productive life. You want your weaning weights to go up and your birth weights to remain constant. Birth weights are important and easy to collect. Aberdeen cattle are known for calving ease but not all bulls will throw small calves.
There are many ways to weigh calves when they are born (within 24 hours). There are produce scales or cotton scales. These scales are $30-$80 depending on the source. A calf harness or a rope can be used to weigh the calf. Another way to get an accurate weight is using a bathroom scale. Place the scale on the ground and weigh yourself then grab the calf and hold it while weighing again. The difference is the weight of the calf. There is a calf tape that goes around the foot and estimates the weight, I have found it not to be as accurate as a scale.
Weaning weights and mature cow weights are very important way to manage your herd. Buying a new scale might be out of reach for some small herds but there are alternative ways to take weights. If you live near a sale barn you can talk to the owner about bringing your calves down and weighing them (not on sale day). Many country agents or fairgrounds have scales you can borrow or rent for the day to get weights. Look on Craig’s List for used equipment for an affordable set of scales.
You can purchase “load cells” on amazon for around $300. Place them under your chute or place them under a platform in an alley way to get weights. The information will be invaluable to your operation. Weigh the cow and calf at weaning to get a cow efficiency score to determine which cows are doing the best job. Weighing steers live before harvest and then getting a hanging weight will give you an accurate dressing percentage.
Numbers are a great way to track herd and make sound management decisions based on facts. When you say that is my best cow it will be based on a number.
By David Shockey
WABA Board Member
Two Types of Scales:
