Birth Weights

[tnwalkingred]

All,

I bought two registered Black Angus cow/calf pairs earlier this year and I wanted to know how to find out the birth weights of the calves? They have papers of course with their EPDs but it doesn't say exactly what they weighed at birth. I weighed all my weaning age calves yesterday and I'm curious as to what their ADG has been compared to the home grown calves. Is there a way to calculate it from their EPDs? Should I call the association? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[dun]

All,

I bought two registered Black Angus cow/calf pairs earlier this year and I wanted to know how to find out the birth weights of the calves? They have papers of course with their EPDs but it doesn't say exactly what they weighed at birth. I weighed all my weaning age calves yesterday and I'm curious as to what their ADG has been compared to the home grown calves. Is there a way to calculate it from their EPDs? Should I call the association? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

There is no way to calculate any actual numbers from EPDs.

 

[kdhansen]

All,

I bought two registered Black Angus cow/calf pairs earlier this year and I wanted to know how to find out the birth weights of the calves? They have papers of course with their EPDs but it doesn't say exactly what they weighed at birth. I weighed all my weaning age calves yesterday and I'm curious as to what their ADG has been compared to the home grown calves. Is there a way to calculate it from their EPDs? Should I call the association? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Best bet would be to contact the sellers. I do believe you can get contact information thru AAA if need be, be it the listed breeder or first owner on the calves' registration certificates. You can also try a Produce of Dam report from AAA, if the previous owner had submitted birth weights, it will show the actual bw on the report.

 

[bse]

If you are a member of AAA go to herd inventory then progeny for that cow and if the previous owners turned it in it will be there. I turn my BW in the day they are born so I don't have to keep up with it but a lot of folks don't.

 

[ousoonerfan22]

How do you weigh the new born calves? I thought about cutting a piece of plywood and carrying a set of bathroom scales picking up the calf and step on the scales then weigh myself with out the calf. But we have a couple of cows that won't let you touch their new born calf.

 

[randiliana]

We use our single animal digital scale to weigh newborns. In the past we used a bathroom scale with a piece of plywood. That doesn't work so good if you're a big person though as most bathroom scales only go up to 300 lbs.

You can also use a hanging scale with a sling.

 

[tnwalkingred]

Thanks for the tips guys. I contacted AAA and they are going to try and see if the BW is on record.

I use the plywood and bathroom scales setup to weigh my calves currently. It's not the easiest but is accurate and beats guessing it or using a tape.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

Thanks for the tips guys. I contacted AAA and they are going to try and see if the BW is on record.

I use the plywood and bathroom scales setup to weigh my calves currently. It's not the easiest but is accurate and beats guessing it or using a tape.

We used a laundry basket on a bathroom scale before we bought our Tru-Test scale. It worked great, we would just set the calf in the basket and you can see the face of the scale.

 

[igrowgrass]

I pick the calf up and get on the scale myself. Then I just subtract my weight from the weight of me holding the calf and you get the weight of the calf.