Southern Highlands Farm Life

Recording weight data using a small budget

To effectively run a breeding or trading livestock operation, the producer needs to weigh animals. Why? To identify animal performance by assessing weight gain, monitor animal condition, and assessing if animals have reached market weight. Matched with a simple record keeping system, herd management and profitability can be greatly improved.

Tip: knowing your average female weight allows you to work out the critical mating weight of your replacement females i.e., how heavy they must be before you breed them. Find out the critical mating weight for your breed.

It is easy to get caught up in all the information available regarding production feeding, weight gain, weaning, markets, EBVs etc. It can become overwhelming for someone trying to keep their herd simple. It gets more complex as new data and hardware products are constantly being presented to farmers and landowners. The simpler one can keep their enterprise, the better! With so much information, software and expensive equipment available, how can livestock owners keep it simple?

Weighing. Weighing your stock is an important procedure, if you have the time available. It provides a snapshot of how your herd is performing. There are many fantastic weighing options available now. Big name weighing crushes and weigh boxes will last a long time and can be linked straight to software.

There is also now in -paddock weighing systems available and 3D camera AI assisted monitoring. If you are in such a position, by all means this is the way to go. However, what is the budget option for a small operation?

The following is how I achieved a cheap weighing system.

Firstly, concrete a section directly leading into the crush, or under the crush. This will provide a hard flat surface to weigh your animals accurately. This can be done with a few planks of wood to box the section up, a wheelbarrow, shovel, a few buckets of water and bags of concrete-no truck or mixer needed.

Once your base is set, decide on some scales. I bought a set of scales and a controller for around $1000. For a scale base I bought two aluminum ladder planks from the hardware and bolted these to the scales. I needed to shorten their length to fit the race section. The gap in between the two planks can be filled with a third plank, or a wooden plank to complete the platform.

ID and software: I then bought a cheap tag reader. I did not buy a cattle or sheep specific reader- it just needs to read a RFID tag. An extended length reader is a safer option, as it keeps your arm out of the race and the associated potential crush injuries. These are more expensive, however.

A reader will allow you to scan the tag when buying and selling animals. It is also handy to have the electronic tag number recorded in case the management tag falls out and is lost.

Once you have your weight and tag numbers you are away. Simple records can be written into a notebook to track your data. There is also free livestock management apps or computer software available if you prefer that to paper. Printing off certain groups within a herd or flock is a great feature if you need to treat or separate a certain group. You can then tick them off as you treat them.

What you can achieve:

• Average herd weight of mature females to ascertain critical mating weight

• Induction weights when buying in stock to track weight gain or loss

• Weaning weights (which animals produced the best offspring)

• Identifying underperformers or shy feeders who may need health treatment or to be fed separately

• Tracking weight gain for animal sale

Matched with a simple record keeping system, your efficiency can be improved greatly. The exciting factor is you can get as easy or complex as you want to within your budget!

Thanks for reading!