New born Calf Scale

[M-5]

I won a door prize at our corp meeting last week and it was a handheld fish scale. It goes up to 110#. I had a calf born fri night and had the brite idea that that could be used to weigh the calf. I went in the house and found and old cheap duffle bag about 22" long and 2 handles . I split the ends down to the bottom to make a sling. I just zero the scale with the bag attached and slip the sling around the calf and pick up buy the scale. It worked perfect . if you raise bucket head calves that weigh over 110# you can add weight to the bag to get you a tare weight and then weigh the calf. here is the scale I have . they cost about 10 bucks at amazon. I thought I had a brilliant idea only to find out you can buy this exact scale and a fancy sling at Jeffers for about 50 bucks. Oh well day late and a dollar short.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Yep luggage scales work well also. Very cheap. ;-)

 

[Supa Dexta]

You lost me on adding weight to the bag?

 

[M-5]

Put 10# in the bag and hit the tare button . that will rezero the scale to -10 after you remove the weight . if you weigh something that registers 110# it would really weigh 120# after tare weight is included. its a way to get around the weight limit .

 

[greybeard]

How do you know that whatever you are weighing is within the tare weight? How do you know to add just 10 lbs and not 20 lbs?

 

[M-5]

Common sense is applicable. I guess reality is some would never be able to figure it out.

 

[greybeard]

in other words--just take a guess at how much over the scale's limit the calf actually weighs and keep adding or subtracting till you get it right.
Seems it would be a lot easier just to get a scale with enough variance (0-150lbs) and not have to go thru all that guesswork, which I always thought was the purpose of having a scale to begin with--not having to guess.

 

[M-5]

Yes buying the appropriate device is how some do it but I ain't made of money and a again common sense would preval and if your calving 125# everyday a bigger scale would be in order. By the way your glass is half empty GB.

 

[etmountianman71]

Bought one of these scales and tested it out on newborn the other day. Worked like a charm and easy to carry around. Does not scare the cow like the other scale i had with a big face on it.
Easy to read as well. If i a m having calves that are more than 110 lbs then i need to quit