Lowline hanging weights

Here's how you can rest easy on this next time. Got a farmer's co-op in your area, or a cotton gin, or a grain elevator? All you do it run your truck and trailer over the scales empty. Then when you get ready to haul your animals, run it over them loaded, and subtract. That way you KNOW your live weight.

This is also a good practice, at least on a spot-check basis, to check your auction sale barn to verify they aren't shorting you on sale weights. Most sale barns won't because they don't want the downside of rumors about such things, but it never hurts to check.

Some places will charge you a small fee for the use of the scale, but if you are suspicious, the fee is worth the peace of mind. Usually a farmer's co-op at which you are a customer will let you weigh for free, in these parts anyway.

I've yet to find a rural community that doesn't have at least one of these scales in the county. If nothing else, check your local sand and gravel supplier.

As others have said, right now you are guessing your live weight and guessing your cutting percentage. And SteveO is right on the percentage.

__________________
Jim Steele
Sweetpea Farms
"To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing." -- Robert Gates

I have had good luck using a weight tape, to get an accurate reading of gain in meat steers. Might be an idea to get a weight tape, put it on the animal before deciding to send it in for processing.

Jim S. with his running the truck and trailer over the scale with the animal inside, is a good one. You could get the loaded outfit weighed before dropping it off at the processor, then hit the same scale again on the way home, to have the weight differences right in your hand. Would also show if your weight tape is accurate!

For us, using dairy steers, the tape was right on the money for weight, with scale at the Fairground reading exactly the same weight. We used the tape because as Prospect Beef animals, they could not weigh over a certain amount to show.

No one I ever knew got 70% of the cattle weight back in meat after processing. Bone is so heavy, big amounts of weighty items in the gut, so the return meat to customer is not close to live weight.

With our big lambs being processed, I expect to lose 1/3 of the live weight. Big lamb to me, is about 150#, so we get back 90-100 pounds of freezer meat. With smaller lambs, 100# or less, you probably will only get 50% at most back for the freezer. May end up with even less meat on smaller lambs. This is why I wouldn't consider raising small breed sheep, too much invested in them to make very high priced meat at the end. All those processing costs, killing, cutting, wrapping add up! With smaller meat return, the cost of that meat per pound goes much higher than on a big lamb. We regularly get those 150# lambs raised mostly on grass, very little grain diet, just a handful daily to keep them friendly for putting them away at night.

Sorry about your poor meat return. But as mentioned, with folks just guessing weight live, you have no true idea if they weighed a lot or a little. You MUST decide on a method to get weight live, before making their processing date. Tape or trailer ride over a scale, means extra time, but you have a FIRM idea of that live weight at that moment. The eye is easily fooled, lookers may not be familiar with that breeding, so they guess wrongly. Get business like, you can't afford to take such meat losses very long.

weight tapes can vary quite a bit based upon how much feed and water is in the rumen.... Just a FYI.

That is interesting to hear. I put the tape right behind front legs, around the cow like a girth, pull tape up tight and read the weight. Tape is not back further, near or in the rumen area at all, so having water or feed in there shouldn't affect the reading.

I use the same location consistently with the tape, on various animals, who then read the same weight on the scale going into the Fair. 4-H folks weigh the cattle upon unloading, that is your Sale weight for the Auction. Our 4-H Leader showed us how to use the tape, all of the cattle were darned consistant in weight for the kids using tape and scale at the Fair.

Tape should give the owner a CLOSE idea of live weight, for making decisions about feeding animal more, being ready to process or too small yet. Save the owner by not taking animal in when not ready.

For that FINAL run as Jim S. said, I still would take the truck, trailer with cow inside, over the scale for weight, then reweigh when headed home with the same people in the truck. Those two slips are the cow weight live. You could mention that when dropping off the animal at the processor, that you have weight slips for cow.

I know that every person who is new at taking animals in for processing, is ALWAYS surprised at the losses from live to meat packages. But if you look up meat returns in the computer, live to processed meat, they also show huge poundage loss during the processing. That story about Butcher stealing their customer's meat is a one of the MOST common stories shared by farm folks. MAYBE a few did steal meat, but mostly the customers had a very incorrect idea of what meat quantity they would get back. Customers couldn't believe that so much is lost, so they had to blame someone. Most folks don't want all the bone, hooves, hide, many internal parts in their returns, so those pounds end up with the processor to sell or pay to dispose of.

Once we came home with boxes of meat -- there was only ONE rump roast included. I know that steer had two when we took him there, LOL! Needless to say, we didn't use that processor again.

Its not that you are measuring the rumen, you are in the correct place. But to get a correct reading (or close) one should with hold feed and water for 12 hours to get a good idea of what shrinkage will occur.

Finding a good butcher is hard. You are trusting someone with an animal you have put your hard earned money into, to someone you barely know. Do your homework before dropping off that critter! Ask around. I am sure "someone" has had experience with them... or someone else. Or, better yet...... look around for a "Mobile butcher" One that will come to your farm, and do the work right there. This way you have hands on experience with your meat from pasture to table. However, if you DO find a mobile butcher, again, do your homework. Ask around. This year we are looking into butchering our own hogs. I of course will enlist help from someone, as I am not a spring chicken. Just make sure if you process it at home, you are ready to deal with the "mess" and you are able to dispose of the innards properly. ( did a deep hole and have plenty lime on hand to cover before filling in the hole with dirt.)