salesbarn weights.

[bbirder]

I understand that salebarns are required to have their scales certified, but what are your thoughts on the rounding factor? Brought two calves in and they sold as 400# and 500#. Although I got a very good price, I was wondering what they actually weighed. Do any of you in other locales get different weights other than 100# increments, and where do they adjust the rounding? Here in Louisiana they are run thru individually and weighed after the bidding.

 

[dun]

No rounding at the sales barns around here

 

[kenny thomas]

Something is wrong there. The rules are it is allowed to be weighed to the nearest 5 lb. At least in VA the scales must be certified 2 times per year, once by the state and again by a private company with the resullts sent to the state.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

Here there weighed when they sell, and there is no rounding to even a 5lb, what you buy or sell is pretty much what you get.

 

[skyhightree1]

Something is wrong there. The rules are it is allowed to be weighed to the nearest 5 lb. At least in VA the scales must be certified 2 times per year, once by the state and again by a private company with the resullts sent to the state.

:nod:

 

[greybeard]

I understand that salebarns are required to have their scales certified, but what are your thoughts on the rounding factor? Brought two calves in and they sold as 400# and 500#. Although I got a very good price, I was wondering what they actually weighed. Do any of you in other locales get different weights other than 100# increments, and where do they adjust the rounding? Here in Louisiana they are run thru individually and weighed after the bidding.

Watched lots of 'em run thru, and never saw but just a very very few post a weight that ended in 2 or 3 zeros. Ticket showed what the scale weight showed on the display after they ran thru the ring. In other words, 398 lbs shows on the display above the ring, 398 lbs is what is on the checkout ticket.

 

[bigbull338]

they dont round the weights of the calves off here.they show the calves weight on the scale.an those that show a 0 on the scale was usually sold by hd insted of lb.

 

[Dave]

Here the scales round to the nearest 5 pounds. The scales are certified twice a year by a state agency. And they balance the scale regularly during the sale. A lot of cattle passing over the scale and leaving a deposit on their way through will make the scale weigh heavy. I know the kill cow buyers are always after the person doing the weighing to balance the scale.

 

[greybeard]

Here the scales round to the nearest 5 pounds. The scales are certified twice a year by a state agency. And they balance the scale regularly during the sale. A lot of cattle passing over the scale and leaving a deposit on their way through will make the scale weigh heavy. I know the kill cow buyers are always after the person doing the weighing to balance the scale.

That may be the case here too dave, but then too, I've seen lots of weights that didn't end in a 5 or zero on the display.

 

[Dave]

Here the scales round to the nearest 5 pounds. The scales are certified twice a year by a state agency. And they balance the scale regularly during the sale. A lot of cattle passing over the scale and leaving a deposit on their way through will make the scale weigh heavy. I know the kill cow buyers are always after the person doing the weighing to balance the scale.

That may be the case here too dave, but then too, I've seen lots of weights that didn't end in a 5 or zero on the display.

Here the scale weight always ends with a 5 or 0. However, if there is more than one animal on the scale the board will post an average weight too. That number could be most any figure depending on the number of animals.

 

[ibetyamissedme]

For the most part here the scale is the ring, and it is in 1 pound increments. Zeroed before the door opens on every draft.

 

[bbirder]

Thanks for all the input. Seems like I need to have a talk with my local barn.

 

[DLD]

I do the weighing at a sale barn. Our scales weigh in 5# increments - you may see a number ending in something other than 5 or 0 as an average on a draft, but the total weight for each recorded weigh will always end in 5 or 0. Sometimes it even amazes me how often even numbers like 400 or 500 come up, so keep in mind that, however unlikely it may seem, it is entirely possible that those were the actual weights on your calves. I can't imagine scales that weigh in any more than 10# increments being allowed to be used in a sale barn.

As others have said, the scales have to be certified twice a year. P&S (that's packers and stockyards, the federal regulatory group) requires that I record a zero balance at least every 15 weighs, and after every draft that weighs 10,000# or more. Even though I don't record it, if I don't see a zero balance come up on my monitor every time the scale is empty, I will stop and zero the scales. It's unusual to have to do that except when it's really muddy, though.

Also, once in awhile, a P&S agent will be setting in the stands watching the sale. After the sale they will go in the office and pull 10 scale tickets, and have those cattle brought back in and re-weighed.

Our scales are electronic, as are every other sale barn I know of. As an operator, all I do is push a button to tell it to weigh once the gates are shut, and punch in the number of head. There's really no room for hanky-panky, even if I wanted to. And plenty of oversight to discourage it as well.