Cormac
Well-known member
What are you using for a scale and what is your technique for weighing? Looking for the easiest way to do the job properly.
Alan":wrfc5g0p said:This is the system I'll try this year, someone on these boards posted it on the same topic. I have 2 sections of pipe that screw together to make a 10 ft pipe (easier to carry), I ran a eye bolt through one end 2 feet or so down from the end. I'll hang the scale from the bolt, after shoving the other end into the ground and use the pipe for lifting leverage. "hog tie" the calf (also within the first 24 hours) hang the calf from the tie. Should be able to do whole thing by myself. I'll give shots and ear tag the calf while SHE is stilled tied.
Haven't found a real easy system for one guy to do by him/herself yet, but this sounds good.
Alan
randiliana":24kislvc said:I just move the weigh bars from my large animal scale into the barn, put a smaller platform (piece of plywood) on it and weigh them that way. No lifting, just shove the calf on there, and it takes about 5 seconds to get a weight unless they are really jumping around. With the digital readout, it only takes a few seconds.
We were using a small beam scale, with a box built onto it. It worked well, but not nearly as quick as my new scale. Took time to move the weights around and was a lot more difficult with a moving calf.
In our neck of the woods, you better be calving in and around a barn. And there are absolutely no health issues if you keep things clean & rotate cattle out of area into their own cow/calf fields. All my cattle calve in a pen. Sure hate to say this (don't want to jinx us) but I can't remember the last newborn that got sick. Had one that was a few weeks old caught outdoors in a blizzard & got bogged down in deep snow & froze - floated him in bathtub for many hours & with TLC got him back to dam in couple of days ("Stinky" - some of you might remember him!). He NEVER got diarhea and/or lung issues. Weaned off a normal weight as his contemporaries.pdfangus":3k098md3 said:randiliana":3k098md3 said:I just move the weigh bars from my large animal scale into the barn, put a smaller platform (piece of plywood) on it and weigh them that way. No lifting, just shove the calf on there, and it takes about 5 seconds to get a weight unless they are really jumping around. With the digital readout, it only takes a few seconds.
We were using a small beam scale, with a box built onto it. It worked well, but not nearly as quick as my new scale. Took time to move the weights around and was a lot more difficult with a moving calf.
well this is cool if you are calving in or around a barn.
Having had a wreck or two doing this, I always calve out on good clean pasture. Lot less problems.
Jeanne - Simme Valley":2r1mna26 said:In our neck of the woods, you better be calving in and around a barn. And there are absolutely no health issues if you keep things clean & rotate cattle out of area into their own cow/calf fields. All my cattle calve in a pen. Sure hate to say this (don't want to jinx us) but I can't remember the last newborn that got sick. Had one that was a few weeks old caught outdoors in a blizzard & got bogged down in deep snow & froze - floated him in bathtub for many hours & with TLC got him back to dam in couple of days ("Stinky" - some of you might remember him!). He NEVER got diarhea and/or lung issues. Weaned off a normal weight as his contemporaries.pdfangus":2r1mna26 said:randiliana":2r1mna26 said:I just move the weigh bars from my large animal scale into the barn, put a smaller platform (piece of plywood) on it and weigh them that way. No lifting, just shove the calf on there, and it takes about 5 seconds to get a weight unless they are really jumping around. With the digital readout, it only takes a few seconds.
We were using a small beam scale, with a box built onto it. It worked well, but not nearly as quick as my new scale. Took time to move the weights around and was a lot more difficult with a moving calf.
well this is cool if you are calving in or around a barn.
Having had a wreck or two doing this, I always calve out on good clean pasture. Lot less problems.
In our neck of the woods, you better be calving in and around a barn. And there are absolutely no health issues if you keep things clean & rotate cattle out of area into their own cow/calf fields. All my cattle calve in a pen. Sure hate to say this (don't want to jinx us) but I can't remember the last newborn that got sick. Had one that was a few weeks old caught outdoors in a blizzard & got bogged down in deep snow & froze - floated him in bathtub for many hours & with TLC got him back to dam in couple of days ("Stinky" - some of you might remember him!). He NEVER got diarhea and/or lung issues. Weaned off a normal weight as his contemporaries.[/quote]pdfangus":3c2gwrt8 said:well this is cool if you are calving in or around a barn.
Having had a wreck or two doing this, I always calve out on good clean pasture. Lot less problems.
Cowdirt":6kgqad3z said:For those weighing with old fashion pull scales. You might want a set of scales that have what is called a "tattle tale" on them. The needle pushes the tattle tale down as the weight increases and then stays at the heaviest weight that is registered. It is reset at 0 before weighing again. Would prevent having to have someone to read the scale. Don't know exactly the impact of a wiggling calf on the tattle tale. Should still be more accurate than a weigh tape.
Cormac":x8sk9tp7 said:What are you using for a scale and what is your technique for weighing? Looking for the easiest way to do the job properly.
pdfangus":1i3ljwb9 said:Alan":1i3ljwb9 said:This is the system I'll try this year, someone on these boards posted it on the same topic. I have 2 sections of pipe that screw together to make a 10 ft pipe (easier to carry), I ran a eye bolt through one end 2 feet or so down from the end. I'll hang the scale from the bolt, after shoving the other end into the ground and use the pipe for lifting leverage. "hog tie" the calf (also within the first 24 hours) hang the calf from the tie. Should be able to do whole thing by myself. I'll give shots and ear tag the calf while SHE is stilled tied.
Haven't found a real easy system for one guy to do by him/herself yet, but this sounds good.
Alan
that was me.....
i been doing it that way for ten years.
my son is working on a new cradle that simply hooks under the calf belly and then he hangs it on a pole MOUNTED on the reciever to his hitch. HE SWEARS IT IS THE BEST METHOD HE HAS EVER TRIED.
Alan":2z3wpyw2 said:This is the system I'll try this year, someone on these boards posted it on the same topic. I have 2 sections of pipe that screw together to make a 10 ft pipe (easier to carry), I ran a eye bolt through one end 2 feet or so down from the end. I'll hang the scale from the bolt, after shoving the other end into the ground and use the pipe for lifting leverage. "hog tie" the calf (also within the first 24 hours) hang the calf from the tie. Should be able to do whole thing by myself. I'll give shots and ear tag the calf while SHE is stilled tied.
Haven't found a real easy system for one guy to do by him/herself yet, but this sounds good.
Alan