Recording Cattle Weights

Collect weight records around other tasks. There is no need to make a special job of weighing your cattle.
Cattle should be weighed roughly every 100 days. By weighing cattle on housing and turnout, breeders optimise their opportunity to get an accurately adjusted 200- or 400-day weight
- To get a 200-day adjusted weight, a weight is required between 170 and 300 days of age
- To get a 400-day adjusted weight, a weight is required between 370 and 500 days of age
When submitting weights:
- Try to treat all your cattle the same. Where different management groups exist, code them accordingly
- Ensure your weight scales are calibrated
- Weigh all your cattle, with the odd exception of any calves in very poor health

Contemporary groups and management codes

Animals that have been treated in a similar way, e.g. born over a relatively short period of time on the same farm and fed and managed similarly – are known as contemporaries.

Within the analysis, animals that have been reared in a similar manner are assigned to contemporary groups to enable comparisons to be made across the herd, though groups are sometimes merged in small herds.

Management codes are submitted with weights to highlight differences in management and are used in the evaluation for contemporary group creation (see codes below).

Codes used from 14 to 369 days of age		Description
1 = suckling dam only	Even if the calf has been weaned from dam these codes are still applicable until 370 days old.	Calves on dam with no access to creep.
2 = suckling dam and creep feed		Calves on dam with access to creep.
3 = suckling nurse cow and creep feed		Calves multi suckling on nurse cow with access to creep.
4 = suckling nurse cow only		Calves multi suckling on nurse cow with no access to creep.
5 = bucket fed		Calves are being artificially reared on the bucket.
6 = double suckling with creep		Twin calves on dam with access to creep.

Codes used from 370 days of age
1 = commercial management		This is for cattle who are on a predominately forage based diet.
2 = standard pedigree management		This is for cattle who are receiving some level of additional supplementation.
3 = show management		This is for cattle who may receive higher levels of feeding and kept in different conditions in preparation for a show or sale.

While the descriptions that accompany the groups are intended as a helpful guide, the important part of this work is not about which group they are in – but that animals that have been managed differently are clearly assigned to different groups.