bird dog
Well-known member
Weaned or not. the less time in the sale barn the better especially if they are commingled. What I have found with packer cows is to get them there towards the end of the packer cow session where they will spend less than a hour before going into the ring. All the hay they want the night before and a few cubes before they leave will get me down to about 2 to 3% shrink.
Calves can be all over the place at a regular sale barn but I take mine the day of. A $20 tip to the unloader to get them in early will pay off in spades.. Length of weaning definitely reduces the shrink. Trailer weaned bawlers can easily lose 10%. Even weaned calves can lose 5%+ if they stand around all day. 8% shrink is very common of short weaned calves.
When I sell at OKC I feed them heavy the night (Saturday) before they ship, ship very early Sunday morning. They are not commingled there. Each small pen has its own feed and water. They are usually fed good feed upon arrival (no hay). They generally sell before noon on Monday. Shrink will 0 to 5% but is generally in the 2 to 3% range. That is for long weaned calves.
These animals are all weighed at my place before they leave. Trucking somewhere and weighed is not very accurate because as mentioned above, the gathering and loading shrink is easily 3%.
What you can learn from having a set of scales will easily pay for them over time and really change your way of thinking come sale day. Water intake at the barn is more important than feed. Unweaned calved commingled into a pen with a 100 other calves and a limited water source is recipe for a bad day shrink wise. Unweaned calves are to timid to get up tot the trough.
For this reason 4 weight calves will shrink way more percentage wise than 7 weights.
I have been weighing animals coming and going for 12 years trying to find the best method. It has opened my eyes to not use some sale barns and for sure not to take them the day before where they are fed poor hay in a large pen with a 100 other calves and then get charged to do so.
BTW, the calves I buy will gain most of their 5 to 8% shrink back within a few hours after I get them home when they have uncrowded access to good hay and water.
Calves can be all over the place at a regular sale barn but I take mine the day of. A $20 tip to the unloader to get them in early will pay off in spades.. Length of weaning definitely reduces the shrink. Trailer weaned bawlers can easily lose 10%. Even weaned calves can lose 5%+ if they stand around all day. 8% shrink is very common of short weaned calves.
When I sell at OKC I feed them heavy the night (Saturday) before they ship, ship very early Sunday morning. They are not commingled there. Each small pen has its own feed and water. They are usually fed good feed upon arrival (no hay). They generally sell before noon on Monday. Shrink will 0 to 5% but is generally in the 2 to 3% range. That is for long weaned calves.
These animals are all weighed at my place before they leave. Trucking somewhere and weighed is not very accurate because as mentioned above, the gathering and loading shrink is easily 3%.
What you can learn from having a set of scales will easily pay for them over time and really change your way of thinking come sale day. Water intake at the barn is more important than feed. Unweaned calved commingled into a pen with a 100 other calves and a limited water source is recipe for a bad day shrink wise. Unweaned calves are to timid to get up tot the trough.
For this reason 4 weight calves will shrink way more percentage wise than 7 weights.
I have been weighing animals coming and going for 12 years trying to find the best method. It has opened my eyes to not use some sale barns and for sure not to take them the day before where they are fed poor hay in a large pen with a 100 other calves and then get charged to do so.
BTW, the calves I buy will gain most of their 5 to 8% shrink back within a few hours after I get them home when they have uncrowded access to good hay and water.
