Need advice on barn scales

[Tom in TN]

Hi All,

I have a small cow/calf operation in Middle Tennessee. I have about 30 momma cows and presently have a total of 50 head in my herd. I've maintained good records of production for the past 10 years, but I've never had any scales to weigh my newborn calves.

Do you have scales? I operate on a shoe-string, so I can't afford the good scales that are available for adult cow weights, but I'd like to be able to weigh things up to about 250 lbs.

Any advice?

Thanks,

Tom in TN

[randiliana]

I have weighed calves for about the last 10-12 years. When we started out we used a bathroom scale, just picked the calf up and stepped on the scale, then subtracted our own weight from the total. Works OK if you aren't too big and your calves aren't too big. But if you weigh 200+ lbs, that limits the range of calves you can weigh.

Then, we got ahold of an old beam scale. That weighed up to 300 lbs. Worked real well, keeping the calves on it could be a problem though.

Now, I was finally able to pick up an electronic scale for weighing up to 3000 lbs. I use it for weighing babies in the spring, then it goes outside to weigh them in the fall. We just place a platform on top and run the cattle over it. Works ok, but as you said, not real cheap, cost me $2000. Best thing about it, is that it has a hold button so when you have an animal that won't stand still you can still get a weight on it without too much trouble. Takes me about 30 seconds to weigh newborns, just push them onto the platform, and presto, you have a weight.

[topside1]

Tom, why not use a household scale? Weigh yourself, then weigh yourself carrying the newborn calf....What town do you live in? Topside

[topside1]

Randiliana, you just beat me to it....Hope all is well,,,Topside

[agmantoo]

My concerns center around a cow having an unaided delivery of a healthy calf. Why are you interested in what they weigh? Calving ease cattle should give birth and the calf, regardless of its weight, should rapidly develop into a nice calf. Calves that are to large seem to be obvious.

[Farm 36]

If you take pelomiter (sp) it measures the pelis bone in the heifers and do this on a certain age every year or all breeding heifers that are the same weight and cut the bottom or smaller pevlis 10% you can cut calving problems in half .There is no way to look at an animal and tell the size of the pelvic opening. The problem with doing this is it is another time for the animal to go through the chute and to bring them to the chute and you can get kick a few times .Then comes the hard part is to sell a good looking heifer but this is a management tool .

[Tom in TN]

Thanks for the replies. I thought about the bathroom scale and maybe that' what I'll end up doing for now.

Topside - I live outside of Spring Hill and Columbia in Maury County.

Agmantoo - My concern is not so much with calving ease - I raise black Angus cattle and they have been very easy calvers for 10 years. My concern is with growth efficiency. I keep my calves on their mothers for six months, wean them for one month, and then sell them to buyers who come to one of three auctions that are held in the area. I keep good records of births, vaccinations, weaning dates, sale dates, weight at sale, and price per pound. If I can improve the genetics of my brood cows as it relates to growth efficiency of their calves, I'd like to do so, but I can't do it very accurately right now since I'm not tracking birth weight.

I've watched auctions trying to find one of the old platform scales that used to be popular on farms, but I haven't seen any at any of the auctions I've attended. Maybe I ought to advertise in the "wanted to buy" section of the newspaper.

In any event, thanks again for the replies.

Tom in TN

[oneokie]

For basic weighing, this may be something like you are looking for;

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