Benefits of Weighing

To run a business efficiently you need to know your cost of production.  Accurate weighing is an essential tool for calculating the cost of live weight gain and these elements are inextricably linked.

For example, switching feeds may prove to be a false economy in the long term, because it may affect performance and lead to extended finishing periods and poor grading.

Without precise knowledge of daily live weight gains, it will not be possible to gauge whether your ration formulations are helping or hindering your objective.

Your feed rep may tell you that a particular vitamin and mineral blend, will improve livestock performance.  You can be certain that the investment is worthwhile if you are measuring growth rates.

Failing to meet the weight specification demanded by your customer may result in penalties that can add up to hundreds, or even thousands of pounds over the year.

Weighing finished cattle or sheep before sending a load to the abattoir is vital, as it enables you to monitor killing out percentages when you receive details back from the buyer.  Every abattoir is different, and you might find that the type of animals you produce would achieve higher values elsewhere.

Whatever animals you are fattening; they will have a specific target weight.  If you weigh regularly, you will be able to predict when this is likely to be achieved and it also enables you to pinpoint the correct time for ordering your next batch of stores.

Many veterinary medicines rely on dosages relating to animal weights.  If you over-estimate individual weights and give too much of the product, you will waste money and risk livestock health.  Conversely, you will also waste money and not see the full benefit of a product if you under-estimated the correct weight and thus the dosage.

Click here to view a video that explains why weighing is important.