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On the Thrive demo farm, the aim is to weigh cattle at key points of the year.
Most dairy calf-to-beef farmers are well aware of the benefits of weighing cattle at regular intervals. It is the only accurate barometer of performance available to beef farmers.
Weighing regularly can provide really good information as to how cattle are thriving, and even more importantly, can flag a period of under production much sooner than may be identified where cattle are not being weighed.
Like with any system, the information to come out of it is only as good as the information that is put into it. What I mean by this is that there are many variables that can alter the result of weighing cattle.
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Weigh cattle at the start of March. If animals are more than 100kg from target slaughter weight, at current beef and ration prices, these animals are better off going back to grass or selling live later in spring.
Early March is a good time to review cattle performance over winter, then make a final call on which animals will go back to grass, be sold live this spring or finished out of the house.
When making such a decision, the starting point is to weigh cattle before completing a budget based on what the animal is worth now, how much meal is needed for finishing and final beef price.
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Title: Thrive weekly roundup: winter performance check and calf arrival
Strong winter performance on the Thrive demo farm has set the farm up for a positive grazing season, while the countdown is on to calf arrival on the programme farms.
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Weighing replacement heifers midway through winter will give a good indication if animals are likely to meet target breeding weights.
Mid-winter is a good time to weigh replacement heifers and review performance since animals were housed.
Weighing now will give a good indication of which heifers are likely to meet target breeding weights by May or June.
Along with choosing animals from the most fertile and best milking cows in the herd, meeting a minimum target breeding weight is also important when selecting replacements.
This is particularly important if heifers will calve at 24 months of age.
Heifers that are well developed when they go to the bull are better equipped to cope with gestation and lactation.