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Measuring cow performance?

G

Gomez

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Aug 28, 2010
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If I am to judge a cows performance, is it good to use calf weight as a percent of cows weight? What is a great %, good %, average % and poor %?
Are the %'s relevant at 205 days since birth or since the start of calving?
 
It is a percentage I like to look at. I would look at the percentage on your own herd for a several years to get a good handle on it. Use 205 day weight, so all calves measured by the same measurement. I use it to match cows to my envirnoment and include longivity. Comparing to someone elses herd might be hard to do.
 
If you have a fairly even set of cows judgeing performance can be quite easy just by looking thru the calves this time of year. I know which cows are'nt performing thats for sure.They are for sale this fall some are old cows and some are just poor milking cows either way I will cull some of varying ages.
 
Getting a scale was the one of the best things I have done. It is an eye opener. Especially the weights of the cows. I got by cheap. Picked up some load cells and monitor at an auction and then built the platform/chute.
Cost of new ones are hard to justify, but the info of weight has been great. No more guessing, so percentage comparison is accurate and I look at it. When an 1,100 lb cow brings in the same wieght calf as a 1,500 lb cow, year after year it is nice to know. Helps with deciding replacement heifers and so on.
 
It can be hard to replicate-alot of times the heifer you keep off the small high performing cow turns out to be bigger than her mother but it sure can be done. Big underperforming cows seem to be easier to repeat.
 
We have a scale under our chute, bought it that way out of Canada
in 2001. That scale tells the whole story. I like to play with numbers,
so I figure how many days old the calf is, give them all an 80 lb.
bw, because we don't weigh the calves at birth and then I know how
much that calf gained per day; I can figure a 205 day weight for
comparison; so it has been a great tool. Of course, a
good cowman can eyeball a calf and know a lot, but the scale leaves
nothing to guesswork, and many times you will get a surprise.

Hard to manage what you can't measure.
 

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