livestock scales

[Anonymous]

Would it be better to put the weigh load cells under the work shute or have them in the allyway just before the work shute?? Is weigh scales worth their cost for say a herd of 20 brood cows (commerical), that the calves are sold on the farm. You know the first question that comes up is HOW MUCH DO THEY WEIGH? I can always use the market reports to figure the prices.

 

[dun]

This is one of those yes, maybe, but, questions. Yes the scale is worht it. It will save on medication/wormer costs. Allow you to keep a closer eye on how your managment is doing and let you better keep track of what cows are doing their jobs and which may be falling down on the job. The determination to location will have as many answers are there are replys. I like it before the chute. But we use a portable that is positioned after the chute, that's what we have available so that's the way we have to do it. But to keep problems to a minimum, you'll need to mount it so that you can easily remove the loadcells if you aren't going to use it for months at a time. Dirt, manure, rodents, reptiles, etc. can cause some interesting problems if they're left in place all the time.

dun

 

[Texan]

Steve, if you have a choice, do neither. A separate alley or chute for the scales will save a lot of wear and tear on them. And if you end up using the scales more than the squeeze, it'll save you having to run everything through the squeeze.

 

[Hawk]

All of the scales that I have seen have been located under the squeeze chute. I suppose that you could set up a place to weigh them as they go down the chute before they get to the squeeze chute, but you will have to figure out a way to get them to stand still on the scales until you can get a read out. I have never been able to justify the cost of a set of scales in my operation, but I don't sell calves at the farm. If you are selling them by the pound, you have to have a way to weigh them, so maybe you have answered your own question. If you are selling them by the head, you still need to know the weight in order to fix the price. Either way, it seems like you need a scale. Others on this board have talked about neighbors going in together on a set of scales that they share. Hope that helps.

 

[frenchie]

Steve .....Try your Goverment Ag rep...Sometimes they have portables scales they rent. I rent one here for 10.00 a use . Its got its own trailer and everything. Works great , way better scale than ,I can ever justify buying.

 

[dun]

Steve .....Try your Goverment Ag rep...Sometimes they have portables scales they rent. I rent one here for 10.00 a use . Its got its own trailer and everything. Works great , way better scale than ,I can ever justify buying.

This is what we do. Ours is borrowed, no charge, from the adult education center. That's the reason we set it up after the chute.

dun

 

[txag]

Steve, if you have a choice, do neither. A separate alley or chute for the scales will save a lot of wear and tear on them. And if you end up using the scales more than the squeeze, it'll save you having to run everything through the squeeze.

i agree with Texan. we don't use a squeeze chute & use just a headgate instead. after the headgate we have a couple of swing gates so the animals can be directed forward (with both gates closed), or let out either left or right. if we send them forward, they'll go down another small stretch of chute to the scale. this way, not all of the animals have to cross the scale every time they go through the chute or headgate.

 

[royB]

In our case we only have 15 hd, some registered some commercial. Mainly got them for the registered yearling weights but I like being able to watch the performance of them all. And, on a couple cows my guessed weight was way off so at treatment time they help alot. We put ours under the alley and take them out when we are not using them. Having them under the alley allows me to work the one in the chute while my wife or son get the weigth of the next one in line.

And, if i just want to weight them, they go through the chute with no negitive association (no shots etc) so they go in much easier the next time.

In otherwords, it works for us, YMMV
Roy

 

[klasqh]

We have our scales between our tub - (pen, alleyway, tub, scales, chute.)- then they go on the scales - we like the scales ahead of the chute so we can weigh to determine medication doses - our scales allow us to release the cattle out the side if we want to. We remove the weigh bars in the winter - had a friend make up dummy bars to put under the platform so it doesn't warp or settle during the winter - poured little concrete footings for the bars to rest on. Our setup is outside with no cover, so have to take the weather into account. We also made a platform out of some sort of plastic composite pallet material & have an extra set of weigh bars (borrowed them from a friend who doesn't use them often) - platform is slatted - is lightweight and can be moved around - we use it in an alleyway at another farm to weigh horses and calves.