Early January is a good time to weigh store cattle and finishing animals to check weight gains since housing. Once weighed, you can decide if cattle are on track for turnout weight or selling in spring.

Store cattle on an average- to good-quality silage diet, along with 2kg to 3kg/day of concentrate, should have gained around 0.5kg to 0.8kg/day since housing.

Cattle on a silage-only diet will gain little more than 0.2kg to 0.4kg/day, depending on quality.

Target weights

Weighing heifers that will be held for breeding this summer will give a solid indication if they are likely to make target breeding weights, which should be at least 420kg to 450kg at 15 to 18 months of age.

With finishing cattle, regular weighing of animals every month from January onwards is good practice to follow.

Regular weighing will give a good indication if supplementary feed levels are adequate or need to be increased.

Finishing cattle during the intensive feeding period should be gaining anywhere from 1kg to 1.75kg/day, depending on the type of animal.