calf shrinkage

[Anonymous]

i am wondering.. how much weight is average for a calf to lose going thru the sale.. example.. if you weigh a couple of calves this evening and keep them penned overnight with their mothers and send them first thing in the morning to the sale and they sold at about 5pm.. that is all day without food. is there an average percentage they will lose? say one of them weighs 250 and the other 500, and both are cross bred and in good shape. i have always heard 2-3%, but was just wondering. thanks gene

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[Anonymous]

check at your sale yard.... it may be a mute problem if they weigh the calf as soon as it is unloaded. Also, if you get up a couple of times during the night and feed them more (they will eat because you have stirred the food up, and will drink more water), they will have less of a withdrawal problem. If you are using the trip to wean them, I have heard that this is also an added decrease in weight.

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[Anonymous]

they are weighed after they sell.. i was just wondering what %age a couple of decent calves should lose during a day without feed and being hauled to the sale 40 miles away..

gene

> check at your sale yard.... it may
> be a mute problem if they weigh
> the calf as soon as it is
> unloaded. Also, if you get up a
> couple of times during the night
> and feed them more (they will eat
> because you have stirred the food
> up, and will drink more water),
> they will have less of a
> withdrawal problem. If you are
> using the trip to wean them, I
> have heard that this is also an
> added decrease in weight.

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[Anonymous]

Some calves standing overnight at a sale barn being weaned, will lose up to 13-15%.

Feeding up calves by pushing water and hay all night will just belly the calves up and the buyers will pay less per pound. Enough less that you would have been better off just taking the shrink.

Count on at least 3-5% shrink on a 24 hour stand.

Jason Trowbridge Southern Angus Farms Alberta Canada

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[Anonymous]

13-15% seems like alot.. a 500 lb calf then will possibly only weigh 425 .. i just sold 2 calves that weighed 255 and 515, by my scales.. they sold at 10%less.. they were without food from 7 am to approx. 5pm.. i thought this was excessive loss, but maybe it is not... that is why i was asking.. next time i will wait longer before taking them in to the sale barn lol.. in anticipation... my scales could have been off a little, who knows.. but they weighed me in correctly at 200.. thanks for the comments gene

> Some calves standing overnight at
> a sale barn being weaned, will
> lose up to 13-15%.

> Feeding up calves by pushing water
> and hay all night will just belly
> the calves up and the buyers will
> pay less per pound. Enough less
> that you would have been better
> off just taking the shrink.

> Count on at least 3-5% shrink on a
> 24 hour stand.

> Jason Trowbridge Southern Angus
> Farms Alberta Canada

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[Anonymous]

I just sold a Jersey bull calf a few weeks ago. I had taped him at 400 lbs the night before, he scaled at 390 lbs when he sold. Personally, I figured that I was off a bit on the tape, but either way, I still don't think that 10 lbs was too much for him to lose. Ann Bledsoe

> 13-15% seems like alot.. a 500 lb
> calf then will possibly only weigh
> 425 .. i just sold 2 calves that
> weighed 255 and 515, by my
> scales.. they sold at 10%less..
> they were without food from 7 am
> to approx. 5pm.. i thought this
> was excessive loss, but maybe it
> is not... that is why i was
> asking.. next time i will wait
> longer before taking them in to
> the sale barn lol.. in
> anticipation... my scales could
> have been off a little, who
> knows.. but they weighed me in
> correctly at 200.. thanks for the
> comments gene