Weight tapes

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know how acurate weight tapes are? I have a heifer that I'm trying to establish a weaning weight on. We don't have a scale and no one near by has one either. My weight tape said 630 lbs for a properly finished animal. Does this sound right for a 6 month old heifer? Thanks Jen

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[Anonymous]

Tapes can be accurate if you have the beef or dairy tape and use it on the appropriate animals. The hardest part is basing your judgment of the body condition (finish) to match what the tape is based on. Also some tapes don't take gender into consideration. ^30 does sound high for a 6 month old heifer, but, if she is a large breed and large for her breed and in excellent condition, it could be possible.

dunmovin farms

> Does anyone know how acurate
> weight tapes are? I have a heifer
> that I'm trying to establish a
> weaning weight on. We don't have a
> scale and no one near by has one
> either. My weight tape said 630
> lbs for a properly finished
> animal. Does this sound right for
> a 6 month old heifer? Thanks Jen
>

 

[Anonymous]

Never used a weight tape, but would agree w/Dunmovin that you have a pretty big animal for six months. We don’t use scales either – we’re just a plain cow-calf operation. We weigh them by eyeballing them. Go to the sale every week and practice. Sit there and size up each animal (length/height/depth/breadth/condition) as it comes in the ring, mentally weigh it, then watch the scales and see how close you are. Start out by concentrating on calves you think are about the size of your heifer. You might be surprised how good you can get.

> Tapes can be accurate if you have
> the beef or dairy tape and use it
> on the appropriate animals. The
> hardest part is basing your
> judgment of the body condition
> (finish) to match what the tape is
> based on. Also some tapes don't
> take gender into consideration.
> ^30 does sound high for a 6 month
> old heifer, but, if she is a large
> breed and large for her breed and
> in excellent condition, it could
> be possible.

> dunmovin farms