Getting a real birthweight.

[Glenn]

Been following the birthweight thread. I have weighed every calf born here fall and spring for the last three years. This is the beginning of the 4th year. I have a pretty tightbred herd. I am amazed at the variance in birthweight. So many factors affect it. In getting the data that I completely and without reservation know is accurate to the exact pound on my own herd has made me so very. very, very, very skeptical of most of the sale data that I see in so many publications and on Facebook and websites, ect..Only my being nice prevents me from saying what most of these folks are: FRAUDS

Here was the third calf born here this spring, today.



My take home point is when someone with more than 6 cows tells you "the bulls were all between 75-85# and the heifers were all between 70-80#" THEY ARE LYING.

[Glenn]

For example on only 3 calves we are looking at H71, H63, B84 in a herd with an inbreeding coefficient of around 19% with several experimental breedings at near or over 40%. No fire and ice matings....EPD..Pedigree..or otherwise

[fivestarherefords]

Nice scales! We just got those last fall and the variance in weights is hard to believe sometimes. 68 to 110 on 30 calves. I'd venture a guess that less than 25 percent of registered calves are accurately weighed and reported truthfully.

[randy]

I have heard those graphite scales work (pencil) wonders weighing calves. The calves all come within acceptable birthweight ranges. I would tend to believe the guy that has a birthweight range from 65-106 etc etc etc.....

  

[Deleted]

When a breeder isn't afraid to list the bull with a BW of 108, I tend to believe the rest of his BW's at 74,80,84,88 etc. On the other hand, I saw the catalog of a recent bull sale. I found it interesting that 15 out of 90 bulls had a 79# BW. That is amazing consistency - 1 out of 6 at 79#. I don't believe there was one listed over 95#. Our registered herd provides us with 20-25 bull calves per year. Moderate BWs are a priority for us, and most of them fall between 75-90, yet we still have a few at 95-105.

[circleh]

I laugh when I see a catalog and all the calves weigh 73-78 or 75-85. I also am skeptical about the calf tapes people use to measure weight.

[picketwire]

This just might be the thread to get people to post a pic of their calf weighing outfits. Will have to see if I can remember how to even post a pic. The gauntlet has been thrown!

[larso]

Great set of scales Glen, I think a set was posted on here that went on ATV's, are they production made and if so could you put up more info?

[Deleted]

Yeah I find it hard to believe the big operations don't have some extremes on both ends of the scale when even in a small herd you can get quite a bit of variance. Last year we ranged from a low of 68 to a high of 94 amongst 16 live calves while we lost 1 to incorrect presentation and another born premature both out of cows who are easy calvers who had 76 and 71 lb calves the prior year so that was unfortunate. Most of the calf crop ranged high 70's to mid 80's but even in the smallest of operations you're going to get at least 1 that falls outside of the typical BW range of your average calf weights.

Rancher 1868, you mention the bull on a sale with a 108# BW, our state sale has a bull consigned with an actual BW listed of 114# that I'm really curious to see how he fares. They have twice as many sale nominations screened as they allowed onto the final cut for the sale and I'm amazed how this one was not weeded out. I don't care that he's a 719T son, if someone buys him and takes a gamble with that kind of BW then that's on them for not knowing better. The even sadder thing is that it's a fairly new breeder so this would have been the perfect time for someone to use it as a learning opportunity and let them know that bull should have been cut and sent off with the rest of the steers. Also noticed a few other lots with 96 and 98# BW I am curious to see how they sell. We'll see who they are sired by makes someone look past the actual BW but IMO if you really want a bull out of a certain sire someone is probably selling one somewhere that has a reasonable BW to go with. There is also one listed at 39# actual BW which has to be a typo because I find it hard to believe you'd have a live calf at that low of a weight especially if his adj 205 was 680.

[strojanherefords]

How does a cows size affect birth weights i.e. is a 90 pound calf out of a 1500 pound cow equivalent to a 66 pound calf out of an 1100 pound cow?

[mehf]

2/6/15 Glenn, nice to hear that you are in "spring" down there in Texas (I believe that is where you are located  ...).  No "spring" up here in north-central Connecticut.  Got up to 5 degrees today.

[oakcreekfarm]

First calf of the year born here this morning. Out of malachi and a 4 year old cow I think is pretty sweet. 62lb heifer (according to my calendar a little early) . We have had many years when all of our bull calves fell under 88lbs and years where heifers averaged under 83lbs. Last year our 2 year olds averaged 67lbs with the highest being a 77lb heifer, next was a 73lb bull the rest were in the 50's and 60's (a little small for me). Last year our cows had a little more variance in their BW's than normal. I use a hanging scale, basically hog tie the calf and lift them off the ground. We do have a lower number of calves than the big guys, about 40-50 registered momma cows on average.

[Deleted]

Had two ET calves born two hours apart. The bull weighed 110 and the heifer 76. Same flush. Cant figure why the huge spread. Recip cow? I doubt it. Just happens. We write them all in. Don't worry the 110 pounder will darn sure be a steer. Looks darn good though.

[picketwire]

I don't know Tom, sometimes the customer will surprise you. First yearling bull to sell here private treaty yesterday morning was the heaviest birth weight of the bull calf crop at 95 lbs. Very long time customer.

Got the pictures now of the calf weighing outfit, now just got to remember how to get Em on the post! !

[bookcliff]

Feb 4, 2015 20:47:20 GMT -6 @rancher1868 said:

When a breeder isn't afraid to list the bull with a BW of 108, I tend to believe the rest of his BW's at 74,80,84,88 etc. On the other hand, I saw the catalog of a recent bull sale. I found it interesting that 15 out of 90 bulls had a 79# BW. That is amazing consistency - 1 out of 6 at 79#. I don't believe there was one listed over 95#. Our registered herd provides us with 20-25 bull calves per year. Moderate BWs are a priority for us, and most of them fall between 75-90, yet we still have a few at 95-105.

ditto, as most of you know I have put alot of effort into lowering BW's over the past 20 years in our cattle here, using peidgrees known for light to moderate BW's. while most fall in from the mid 70's to the high 80's, we still have calves over 100 lbs. the 2014 calf crop ranged from 64 lbs (not a twin but out of a 1st calf heifer ) to 112 lbs (a harland calf outa an aggie daughter--just goes to show you that BW way back in the pedigree on both sides will still nick from time to time).

I guess thats one of the reasons I don't trust sale catologs full of high BW pedigrees bred to one generation of low BW pedigrees and volla, low BW's, especially since if you go back and look at some of those same outfits just a few short years ago their BW's were 15-20 lbs higher

[timbernt]

Tom, I wouldn't be cut the calf because of his BW... Several years ago I had an ET calf that weighed 126 lbs out of a Holstein/Simmental recip. Sold him and a full brother to a man who ended up using them as heifer bulls. To make it even more remarkable is he used them on 85 small framed black heifers from the salebarn. Calved the heifers himself and only had to help 2 heifers which he said was the heifers' fault.

[bookcliff]

Feb 14, 2015 17:16:17 GMT -6 timbernt said:

Tom, I wouldn't be cut the calf because of his BW... Several years ago I had an ET calf that weighed 126 lbs out of a Holstein/Simmental recip. Sold him and a full brother to a man who ended up using them as heifer bulls. To make it even more remarkable is he used them on 85 small framed black heifers from the salebarn. Calved the heifers himself and only had to help 2 heifers which he said was the heifers' fault.

the major reason I never did like using stein's and stein X's for recips.

[Deleted]

Thanks Tim, but it's just "company policy" around here, plus the ones we cut are darn good steers at what todays prices are. Appreciate your input though.

[picketwire]

OK, here goes, see if I remember how to do this.



It worked! Home modified to make the sling wider so they could not wiggle out so easy. Bonus points for closest guess on heifer calf weight!

[mehf]

Picketwire,

67#.

[mrvictordomino]

76 lbs.

[smifarm]

74

[elkwc]

75

[Deleted]

78

[whiteface]

86#

I don't know why but my calves have been alot heavier than last year. No new bulls and the AI bulls I used like About Time, Catapult, Revolution and Hometown aren't high bw. I'm blaming it on the corn stalks and bean stalks I ran my cows on from Oct. to Jan. The crops were hailed on late before harvest. Most of my calves have been 85-95# with a few outliers at 72 and 106.