How many people actually own a scale?

[simtal]

Not to be a wise guy or anything but,  recently (last 15-20 years) their has been a lot of data reporting with weights and so on.  And we all know the some values are inflated.  Scales are expensive. Which brings my question: How many people do actually own a scale?.

 

[knabe]

values are deflated, depending on how you look at it.

i own a scale, weigh birth, 205, year.  probably should weigh more as i made a feeding boo boo with my heifers.

what's the heaviest birth weight for a bull one would ever use?  is the average bw for the maine breed underreported and by how much? and what % does it go down on other breeds or low BW herds.

 

[Bawndoh]

When I was in college they couldnt emphasize more, that a scale could be the single most important thing you will own on a cattle operation.  You are raising BEEF!!  It is like a barber not owning scissors!!!!  
A scale will tell you the REAL truth about how your cattle are performing, and which ones are worth keeping.  I have learned that one of the biggest things in the cattle industry is that "what you see, is NOT necessarily what you get".  Around my neck of the woods, many people would rather spend a few extra thousand dollars putting chrome on their pickup, before ever even thinking of buying a scale for their "BEEF" operation.  The scale will make you money back real quickly if you know how to use the numbers you get off it.    

 

[shortyisqueen]

Scales ARE expensive for as many times a year as you use it. When our old one broke, we decided not to buy a new one and now just rent one from the County instead.  Its probably a considerably more accurate scale than one we could afford ourselves and we rent it at weaning and yearling for the calves and once a year in the fall to weigh the entire cow herd (This way, we can track the % of body weight weaned by each cow and also, if there is a BIG increase in the weight of a mature cow - we know to watch her for twins). Of course, we still have a scale for the calves so everything is weighed at birth.

There are ways around not owning a scale so one can still submit accurate numbers - If not for EPDs, then at least so you can track the performance of your cowherd and how it is affecting your bottom line.

 

[Jill]

We own a scale that we weigh on at birth, had a sack thing that holds the calf and a hoist to get them in the air.  We also have a walk on scale we bought when our fair grounds upgraded for weighing the bigger calves.  
Scales aren't as expensive as they used to be, there was a post a while back that had one that was very reasonable.

 

[kanshow]

We have a couple different scales and they are important.  You should be able to get a scale bought pretty reasonably if you don't have to have a brand new one.  Our neighbor had an old Paul Scale, he just wanted to get rid of it - cleaning out the shed so we bought it for a very good price.  It's not electronic or fancy but works just the same.  I've seen them go pretty cheap on ebay. 

 

[sawboss]

I bought a set of paul scales and silver king working chute on e-bay 1989 model, that had been stored inside and was spotless for $2000.  I have been offered $5000 for it, it is one of my favorite pieces of equipment.

 

[daydreamingacres]

I have a scale and we try to weigh all of our animals at least once a month...we only have 15. I bought a digital one off e-bay last year for $700 and we LOVE it. We built a plywood platform for it and can take the bars and the reader anywhere there is a platform. We use it when we go to buy cattle so we dont get sc*****. It helps a lot when selling cattle on the hoof. The scale don't lie..though sometimes i wish it didi!

 

[fluffer]

We have a calf sling scale, and a portable scale that goes in the bottom of a chute or alley way.  We weigh catle and hogs on.  It wasn't as expensive as some, and it works pretty well.

Fluffer

 

[Simmymom1]

I hope that we can buy a used one soon.  I hate having to always borrow from our extension office.  I like to weigh my daughters county steer every 3 weeks now because she shows the first week in May.  He is right on track with his weight and I like to keep it that way.  I guess I need to try and look on e-bay, who knows, maybe I will find something.... (cow)

 

[DL]

Walk on - in the chute Gallagher scale (digital) - portable - great piece of equipment - BW, WW, YW and annual cow weight

 

[3GCC]

same here DL. only we have the alum platform and around time for our county fair we get a lot of call to come weight steers.ours get weighed about every week so we know where we are

 

[ROAD WARRIOR]

I have a Central City digital scale that sets in the alley behind my 450 Formost chute. It has a wheel kit and runs off of AC or DC electricity. One of the most used pieces of equipment we own. It has litterally saved me hundreds of dollars in ivormec etc by knowing exactly what the animal weighs when it hits the chute.

 

[SKF]

We bought a set of scales a couple of years ago and it was a great investment. We our show calves all the time. I always know what they weigh. I think when your raising steers you really need to weight them frequently so you know if your on target.

 

[SWMO]

Own a set of Tru-Test.

 

[dutch pride]

We have a hanging scale for calves but do not have one for large animals but would love to have one. What brand or type do you use? Portable or fixed? Digital?

If anyone has ideas to share please let us know.

DLZ

 

[Thornberry]

One year ago I bought a portable digital scale.  Has 2 weigh bars digital read out 1# increments up to 5000 lbs. It has a 20 hour battery and ac adapter. I can put it under the grooming chute or the large cattle chute also put the hog crate on the weigh bars to weigh the daughters show pigs.  To weigh newborns I set a piece of plywood on the weigh bars.  I bought it  at Trinerscale.com cost 1 yr ago was $729 delivered to my door by UPS.  Very portable with handles on the weigh bars to carry. It's amazing how many people need to weigh something. When traveling by plane we have even weighed out suitcases.  Can't believe I went so long without one.

 

[common sense]

I don't know what I would do without out digital scale!  I killed my back with the hanging scale.  I am pretty good at guessing the weights of the calves that are under 100 lbs.  I enjoy seeing how good I really am.  But I think it's funny how many times I hear somebody say that they pulled a calf that was over 150 lbs!  I wonder how many of those ever REALLY get weighed on a good scale.  I think that somebody needs to invent a smaller platform digital scale that can be mounted on the hitch of a 4-wheeler so that you can drive out in the "yard" and weigh calves without having to try and get them to the barn.  I like to try and calve most of mine in the barn but that does not always hold true for everyone else.  Come on you clever Ag kids...build a better mousetrap!

 

[BCCC]

We have a 14x 25 set that we use in the feed yard, and a smaller set for weighing pigs, a even smaller set for baby calves, and an even smaller set for weighign feed

 

[daydreamingacres]

ours is digital...triner scale..bought it off of ebay for like $700delivered to the door. best investment ever