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se montana | For almost 100 years, our ranch has shipped yearling steers off of grass in the summer. We’ve never had a scale, we’ve always hauled them in trailers 35 miles to be weighed and reloaded on bull racks. For as long as I can remember, the weighing conditions were this: “ we gather the cattle the night before and lock them in a corall off of feed and water. Then, first thing the next morning, they are loaded in stock trailers and hauled 35 miles and weighed straight with no pencil shrink.“
This system has proven to work well, and buyers never seemed to complain, but I wanted to try something different this year. This year, I gathered the cattle in the morning off of grass and water, took them in the corall, and weighed them right at home on a portable scale . The deal was done with a 3% pencil shrink.
This system also worked well, and I didn’t need alol the extra trailers and helpers, etc. BUT: 3% shrink on these yearlings amounted to 30 lbs, and that seems pretty steep.
My question: Were my cattle losing 3% on previous years being locked off feed and water for 12 hours and hauled 35 miles? Does anyone have any side by side comparisons or tests Of comparable situations?
I’m in the planning process of building a permanent load out facility so I can continue weighing at home, but I want to be sure it’s the right thing to do weightwise for my yearlings.
Thanks
Chad
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Pencil shrink/shipping yearlings question
