RCD - 3/29/2012 03:35 Remember that the perceived correlation between BW and CED (they go up or down together) is not gospel. The phrase "it would be easier to calve a 100 lb snake than a 70 lb brick" is somewhat true. Just because your bull selection criteria leans heavily towards CED has nothing to do with the BW of the calf in question. It is possible that your cows are all having 85-90 lb calves, but the perception is that since they are born unassisted they must only weight 65-70. They only way to get an accurate gauge is to weigh some every year. The "eye scale" can be deceiving. Also, what information does weighing a March born calf in May provide as related to performance or growth? You bring up some good points. As I said above, I don't really care what they weigh when born as long as they are born unassisted. The CED is the number one key thing I look for in a bull. A good CED bull along with a heifer or cow with a family history of being able to calve on her own and hopefully should not have calving problems without focusing on BW. My bull has a CED of +3.1 which puts him in the top 15% of Hereford bulls. I use the May vet visit weigh-in as my starting point for closely tracking their ADG gain. This May weight is an accurate weight on my digital scale. Gain history IS what I am interested in. When we are working the calves in May, the auto headgate doesn't really work well on anything under 250 lb so I climb in the chute and provide the squeeze and tail holding while the vet does his things. I do recall the difference between calves even at that point. This method gives you an up close feel for the difference in calf strength, mass etc even among similar looking calves. Thanks for your comments. Jim at Dawn | 
Day-old calf weight update (pic)
