While some cattle are already housed, a large number of farms will be bringing in stock over the coming weeks.

Routine treatments, such as dosing and back clipping, will mean at least one run through the race.

This provides the perfect opportunity to weigh all animals at this time.

There has been a huge increase in the number of farmers weighing beef cattle in the past two years, with the introduction of BEEP and BEEP-S.

While this measure is mandatory in order to meet the obligations of these schemes, farmers should use this exercise to help make management decisions for the future.

On-farm weights can provide invaluable information about your herd and how it is performing.

Weighing spring-born stock at housing will allow you to determine the average daily liveweight gain of each animal.

For example, weighing on 20 October and a calf born on 14 March is weighing 330kg. To determine average daily gain, first subtract a birth weight (this will depend on breed) and divide by how many days old the calf is, in this case 220 days.

  • Current weight: 330kg.
  • Birthweight: 45kg.
  • 330kg – 45kg = 285kg ÷ 220 days = 1.29kg/day.
  • This calf grew on average 1.29kg/day since birth.
  • There will be a spread of birth dates in the herd, so in order to make a fair comparison across all calves, they must be brought to an even age.

    This is often compared at a 200-day corrected weight. To bring the calf in the example to a 200-day weight, we simply multiply 1.29kg/day by 200 days and add back the birth weight of 45kg to get 303kg.

    Once this is done for all calves in the herd, the range of results can be eye-opening. This information is only beneficial if it is used to make decisions for the future.

    Which cows should you breed replacements from? Which cows need to be culled? What bull is performing well on-farm? Where can improvements be made?

    BEEP-S dates

    Remember, both cow and calf need to be weighed on the same day, prior to the calf being weaned, to meet BEEP-S requirements.

    All weights must be sent to the ICBF within seven days of weighing and must be submitted by 1 November 2020.