How much does a cow weigh on average?

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How much does a cow weigh? This question is of interest to many farmers, as they want to understand in advance what the output of meat for sale will be. The exact weight of the cattle may also be needed if it is necessary to calculate the amount of feed or medications. Today there are many methods of calculating weight, the most accurate of which is, of course, weighing.

How much does a cow weigh

However, not every farmer has all the weighing devices, what to do in this case? You can use a special table to calculate the mass of cattle, which will be discussed later. When do you need to resort to such a table?

• When you need to clearly track how many kilograms the animal is adding (cow, goat, horse, and so on).
• When you keep food under constant control.
• In order to optimize veterinary activities.
• In order to form animals into groups.
• During pre-sale preparation.

What methods are there for weighing livestock

How to determine how much a cow weighs, how much does a bull weigh on your own? As mentioned earlier, there is nothing more accurate than direct weighing, however, not every farm has special devices for this procedure, therefore other measurements are often used, which are later interpreted in terms of mass. It is quite advisable to do this, because under the same conditions, the number of years, cows and bulls gain weight almost the same with an error of plus or minus 10 kg.

We list what methods are currently offered by livestock for weighing cattle by live weight:

• weighing with scales;
• Trukhanovsky's method;
• the Kluver-Strauch method and others less common.

Let's learn about each of them in more detail.

Direct weighing

If you have scales, then the process of determining the mass is greatly simplified: you just need to bring the animal to the measuring platform, after which the scales will show the coveted figure indicating the mass of a cow or bull. How often should the cattle be weighed? Livestock breeders recommend doing this at least twice a year or a couple of years. The most successful moments for weighing:

• when the cow is driven out to pasture;
• during the examination by a veterinarian;
• when the animal is transferred to a stall condition.

Usually, weighing is accompanied by other research methods, for example, taking blood, milk and urine for analysis, as well as mandatory vaccination. For the convenience of weighing, the scales are installed on a flat surface, after which each animal is invited one by one and the procedure for determining body weight is carried out. It is recommended that live weight be weighed before the animal receives the morning meal.

Method for determining mass according to Trukhanovsky

To use this method, you will have to stock up on measuring objects: a centimeter and a long rope, if a centimeter is not enough. You will need to find out two indicators:

• The length of the body from the base of the neck to the base of the tail, this indicator is called the straight body length of the cattle.
• Full chest girth - the chest is measured in diameter immediately after the shoulder blades.

When the necessary indicators are determined, you can substitute the values ​​in a special formula, where:

a is the size of the chest girth in cm;

b - the first indicator, that is, the straight length of the body, also in cm;

k is a stable coefficient, which is taken equal to 2 if an animal of the dairy category is to be measured, and 2.5 if you are measuring a beef cow.

The very formula for determining live weight is as follows:

Live weight = a * b * k / 100

Naturally, the method also has some error, in this version it is about 5-7% of the weight of the animal. However, the advantages of this method are obvious, it can be carried out in any conditions, even if the farm has more than a dozen cows.

The procedure is necessary, because the cow goes to meat in accordance with the live weight inherent in her. All calculations are made in kilograms.

Kluver - Strauch method

This method of determining the mass coincides with the previous method, but here it is necessary to use a table, which in many cases turns out to be more convenient. What measurements need to be made:

• Measure the girth of the chest, measurements are made identically, as in the characteristics of the previous method.
• Measure the oblique body length, the first measuring point will be in the area of ​​the ischial protuberance, the second near the base of the humerus.

The peculiarities of such weighing are that they are suitable for determining the mass in adults, since their skeleton has already been formed. It should be said that in this method there are no coefficients, that is, meat and dairy breeds are not separated here.

What methods are used less often

There are several techniques that are used much less often in animal husbandry for one reason or another. The fact is that their accuracy is not always high, or they are used in narrower specializations. So, there is a table of cattle weight, in which you need to know only one measurement indicator: full chest girth. It cannot be used for all breeds and categories, since in practice it gives a large error rate, which is not always acceptable. The most accurate determination of the mass of cattle using this method is possible only in one breed of cows: the Swiss cows.

To find out how much an adult cow weighs, you can use another not very popular method - "weighing by measurements". The reason why the methods have not received widespread use is the same: low accuracy, the error can reach 40-60 kg. Despite the fact that the creators of the method recommend it for any representative of cattle, it is worth considering its expediency, because a specific physical form of the animal can change the result up or down.

A final noteworthy method is dedicated cattle tape. Here you need to measure only one parameter - the circumference of the chest immediately after the end of the ribs. The cow or bull should stand still, it is better to immobilize the cattle with a leash, the tape should be stretched in such a way that the hairs under it fit snugly against the skin. If the cattle cannot be measured and constantly strives to break free, it is recommended to take several measurements, and then calculate the average. Then the results are looked at in a special table and the weight of the animal is found.

How to Determine Calf Weight

Now you know how much the average cow weighs, as you know how to find out its weight yourself. Calf weight is defined somewhat differently.Initially, at birth, the weight of young animals is affected not so much by nutrition as by genetically inherent data and features of the course of pregnancy in the mother. Then, naturally, the weight of the calf will change depending on the amount and calorie content of the food.

Why is it important to control the weight of the young? Initially, when the calf is a newborn, it is advisable to monitor the weight gain to see if it is getting adequate nutrition or if its diet should be reviewed. Also, the mass can eloquently tell about the health of the baby.

The first time calves are usually weighed 5-6 hours after calving. Of course, the first weighing must be done with a scale to know the exact birth weight. Then the frequency of weight measurements decreases and is about 1 time in 10-14 days. After that, the following calf weighing scheme is applied:

• Scheduled - once every 6 months.
• On the eve of insemination.
• During the formation of animals in groups.

Table for measuring young stock after six months

After the animal reaches one year of age (6 months is possible) and up to 2 years, you can proceed to determining the weight according to the table. To do this, you need to know the traditional indicator - chest girth.

How to determine the weight of a bull

As always happens in the animal kingdom, the male is significantly different from the female. The bull looks more powerful and, of course, weighs more. With age, this difference in weight only increases. If at once the birth field of a bull could only exceed a heifer by 10-15% in terms of indicators, then the average weight of a bull in adulthood will be at least 40% heavier.

The weight of any bulls can be found in the same way as before we calculated how much a cow weighs on average. It is worth saying that contrary to the popular belief that the weight of bulls is determined by some special calculations, there is no special methodology.

Knowing the weight of a bull on average is important, since they are often used in the meat industry, that is, raised for slaughter. The output of the carcass, that is, pure meat, will be different, depending on what breed the bull belongs to, what weight the bull was at birth. The record holder for meat is considered to be representatives of the Aberdeen-Angus pedigree breed, their waste-free rate reaches 75%, although this does not happen often. Usually, after slaughter, an average bull can give about 40-50% of meat and bone waste - at least 23%, depending on the weight of an adult full-grown bull.

Features of weight gain depending on the direction

As mentioned earlier, cows are divided into two types: dairy and beef. The average cow weight and meat yield will largely depend on this factor. Dairy cows do not differ in excessive weight gain, that is, they stop at a certain point, which is considered optimal for a particular animal. The beef cow, on the other hand, gains weight at a faster rate, the gain lasts for a longer period. Meat cows can gain about 1 kg in one day. Thus, already at the age of about one and a half years, a beef cow can give a live weight of about 500 kg. Dairy breed by this time usually weighs 100-150 kg less. Of course, it is worth mentioning separately that there are some features in terms of weight gain in a particular breed, since this can be laid down at the genetic level.

Summing up all of the above, we can say that it is possible to determine the weight of an animal in various ways, both direct and indirect. We must not forget that animals will gain in mass unevenly, it depends on the genetic predisposition and on the direction of cows and bulls. Start by looking at the healthy exterior average weight of a cow and take that as a rough guideline.