Estimate weight of Jersey calf

[TexasJerseyMilker]

This is my bottle calf not a baby anymore. Shes a growin girl. She is 10 weeks old and in 34.5" at the wither. She eats 3 or 4 lbs of 16% calf grain, free choice alfalfa hay and grass. She still gets 1/2 a gallon of milk replacer out of a bucket so I can use up the sack and she likes it. Do you think she weighs 200lbs yet?


She's not fat you can still see her ribs.

 

[wbvs58]

This is my bottle calf not a baby anymore. Shes a growin girl. She is 10 weeks old and in 34.5" at the wither. She eats 3 or 4 lbs of 16% calf grain, free choice alfalfa hay and grass. She still gets 1/2 a gallon of milk replacer out of a bucket so I can use up the sack and she likes it. Do you think she weighs 200lbs yet?

View attachment 21285
She's not fat you can still see her ribs.

The German Shepherd behind her would 90-100 lbs so how many GS do you think are in her?

Ken

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

That's Inga. According to breed standard an adult male German Shepherd should weigh anywhere from 75 to 90 pounds. A female German Shepherd weighs notably less at 55 to 70 pounds. Inga's a fit ranch dog and weighs 65 lbs. The calf probably weighs at least 2 Ingas maybe 3 Ingas. But I would like to know much wormer to give the calf so another Ingas worth of wormer is a big difference.


I am trying to figure the heifer's weight for this reason. I figure the eye of the stockman tends to over estimate the weight of their cattle. That's what an auction yard employee told me.


Here's this Penn State growth chart. It says my 10 week old heifer could weigh 150 lbs or she might weigh 200lbs. But the height she is is that of a 14 month old. It's true she was mostly long legs like a horse foal but the last couple of weeks she is bodying out. Here she was at 7 weeks.

 

[MurraysMutts]

This is from my jersey project thread

she should be ABOUT 200lbs.

 

[farmerjan]

I'd say 160 +/- lbs. Get a tape weight for dairy cattle... they tend to be pretty accurate. Why are you going to worm her? Fecal egg count results? Doesn't look like she is wormy to me...

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

The people that lease our pastures never worm their cattle although they don't look wormy. . I don't think they vaccinate them either. The pasture I keep for my own stock their cattle have been in last year. My calf coughs after she eats grain or drinks milk, just a few coughs. She looks to be in good condition but her hair is not shiny. I vaccinated her and will boost her soon. You are right I should get a fecal done.

 

[Son of Butch]

This is my bottle calf. She is 10 weeks old and in 34.5" at the wither.
Do you think she weighs 200 yet?

No Way.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

SOB ? Are you looking at the first picture by the dog or the second picture on the porch? That was her 3 weeks ago.

 

[Travlr]

SOB ? Are you looking at the first picture by the dog or the second picture on the porch? That was her 3 weeks ago.

The calf in the first pic weighs about 140 + or - ten pounds.

 

[farmerjan]

Yeah, @Travlr and I are on the same wave length... I was being a little generous. And by the chart, 3 months is 155 to 170 lbs... height is a less reliable indication... so 10 weeks would be on the low end of that 3 month estimate.

 

[TexasRancher]

107lbs 2nd pic....143lbs 1st pic...she's hungry in both.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

I give her all the calf grain she will eat which is between 3 and 4 pounds a day. In the last week she really started going to town on the alfalfa. She also gets a 1/2 gallon milk in a pail every day. She had been getting a 5 quarts a day back when she wasn't eating much calf grain. She was not interested in grain although I offered calf starter when I got her at a week old. At 8 weeks of age what got her starting to eat grain was me pouring calf milk all over it like a bowl of cereal.

She also goes out in the pasture and orchard and eats apples, plums, tomatoes, grass and leaves. She tries to eat poison oak, plastic bags, my shirt and my horse's tail. She is like a 2 year old child putting everything in her mouth. I don't want her to be hungry but also don't want to ruin her udder from by too fat.

Every day I lead her around, tie her up, rub her all over, pick up her feet....

I don't have a dairy weight tape. If I measure her with my sewing kit tape measure where do I measure? The girth behind her front legs? Then I could post it here and maybe someone with a dairy tape can tell me what her weight is.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Her heart girth is 41".

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

I found this on the backyard herds site. The person wrote " I'm posting for the dairy breed tape covering Holstein, Guernsey, and Jersey. "

The above chart does not go by breed. A Holstien is a lot bigger than a Jersey

There is also this chart that goes by breed and wither height.


My calf is 34.5" at the wither with heart girth of 41".
By wither eight she would weigh 220 lbs.
By heart girth she would weigh 223Lbs.

In find that hard to believe.

 

[MurraysMutts]

I found this on the backyard herds site. The person wrote " I'm posting for the dairy breed tape covering Holstein, Guernsey, and Jersey. "

The above chart does not go by breed. A Holstien is a lot bigger than a Jersey

There is also this chart that goes by breed and wither height.

View attachment 21462
My calf is 34.5" at the wither with heart girth of 41".
By wither eight she would weigh 220 lbs.
By heart girth she would weigh 223Lbs.

In find that hard to believe.

I'm with the others on this.
Shes gonna go 150 to 175lbs

I don't think she will go 200. See if ya can pick her up!

She don't look wormy either

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

I can't pick her up. I'm a 140 lb woman.

 

[Buck Randall]

I don't want her to be hungry but also don't want to ruin her udder from by too fat.

I don't think it's even possible to get a Jersey heifer fat before she's a year old, regardless of what you feed.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

I've seen some fat ones on another family cow board. People still feeding bottles at 8 months old.

 

[TCRanch]

I've seen some fat ones on another family cow board. People still feeding bottles at 8 months old.

Is that wrong?

 

[farmerjan]

Dairy heifers fed too much milk for too long that do not get ALOT of exercise, and get chunky, will get what we call fatty udder syndrome and it will sometimes affect their milking ability in the future.
I have seen the calves on my nurse cow get fat at 5-6 months. But they are out running loose with her so are getting good amounts of exercise. If they were getting REAL fat, I would be concerned. There is no bull in there now so not worried that they will cycle early... which they are more likely to do if they are "well rounded" out too.