Collecting Birth Weights
The weights of calves taken shortly following birth are used to calculate Birth Weight EBVs within the TransTasman Angus Cattle Evaluation (TACE).
How do you record birth weights?
Many different methods are used to collect calf birth weight. These range from using bathroom scales through to the use of commercially available calf weighing cradles that can be attached to the tray of a utility or the front of a four wheel motorbike. A few examples of birth weighing devices include:
- hand held weigh scales
- calf cradle mounted on a quad bike or trailer
- calf crate suspended from a utility
When should calves be weighed?
The weight of a calf fluctuates throughout the first week of its life. It is therefore important to weigh calves as close to birth as possible. When recording the birth weight of calves, it is important that accurate birth weights are collected using appropriate weighing scales.
Unacceptable methods Birth weights collected using the following methods are not appropriate for submission to TACE:
- Birth weights should be recorded for the whole calf drop. Collecting “occasional” measurements, or only collecting birth weights for a subset of calves is of no value and can actually be misleading.
- A birth management group should be recorded if there are different treatments of the females prior to calving that may affect birth weight. For example, where one group of cows have had different feed availability. A separate birth management group should also be assigned if the weight of the calf has been affected by special circumstances (e.g. premature calves, the dam was sick etc.).
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Angus Australia acknowledges the funds provided by the Australian Government through the Meat & Livestock Australia Donor Company (MDC).
This resource was created as a result of a collaboration between Angus Australia and Meat & Livestock Australia Donor Company (MDC) (Project P.PSH.1063).
