Weighing Animals

Before we can start weighing the cattle it is important that we know how to prepare the weighing facility that we want to use and that we know what weighing methods will be appropriate to the facility. Cattle are weighed using a variety of means the most accurate means of weighing cattle are the use of an individual electric or mechanical scale.

Weighbridges and group scales are more commonly used by abattoirs to determine the weight of the cattle on the hoof before they are slaughtered. A producer on the other hand needs to determine the weight of individuals in the herd in order to adjust his production practices to maintain maximum results.

Each farm and each type of scale will have its own particular set of procedures that will be related to the specific mass determining system being used. The most common method used and the most accurate are the use of individual electric scales and in this module, we will look into the correct manner in which these scales should be used.

Individual electric scales are often portable platform scales placed within the crush. These scales are then used to weigh the cattle individually as they pass through the crush. The information can then be either manually recorded using the ear tag as a reference or the information can also be stored directly onto a computer.