Weighing Scales

Do the calves need to be a certain age before you can weigh them. I was at a Teagasc meeting one night and I'm sure he said they needed to be a certain age, I was reading through the terms and conditions but can't see anything
 
Do the calves need to be a certain age before you can weigh them. I was at a Teagasc meeting one night and I'm sure he said they needed to be a certain age, I was reading through the terms and conditions but can't see anything
No. Its recommended that they be 150 days + but not required. They can be any age and with that isn't it better that they get weights from a range of ages?
 
I have spent the last week looking to get scales to hire but no one has heard anything about it. ICBF haven't even anything organized yet :scratchhead:and I was planning to go to the mart tomorrow
 
There's a few on donedeal offering a weighing service if any in your area? Waiting on TAMS approval for a scales (& couple of other things) here.
 
I have spent the last week looking to get scales to hire but no one has heard anything about it. ICBF haven't even anything organized yet :scratchhead:and I was planning to go to the mart tomorrow
Where are u? There's a lad in tarmonbarry on the Longford Roscommon border with onetl to hire. A few around here have hired his.
 
Where are u? There's a lad in tarmonbarry on the Longford Roscommon border with onetl to hire. A few around here have hired his.
I'm in Donegal about 3 hours away from there, no one hiring anything around here yet, there is a chance something will be organised in a week or two
 
Sorry just seeing this thread but might be of use to somebody. Uncle asked me to solder cable back on his scales as he lifted without disconnecting. Said it never worked great was 'all over the place'. So to start one loadcell was gone which I got replaced https://gravitation.ie/. But the guy there was very helpful and when I described the scales said be careful with those beam type systems with cattle platforms. The beams are 1200mm but the platform is 2 meters. When an animal stands on the end it lifts the far end putting a lot of pressure on the load cells and actually dangerous! Also the feet on my uncles were solid feet - which puts even more pressure on the load cell at an angle and especially since the aluminium frame was totally distorted we changed them all for the ball type feet that allow the leg to swivel a bit. The scales was also delivered in config mode and was never set up for livestock - slowing the filter rate from the default 2 to 6 means the weight wont jump around as much. I have to say I would not recommend those beam scales for cattle - get one probably made that has load cells on each corner or buy the beam scales and move the load cells.
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Yes I will probably modify it for him - just not on this week s priority list!! I will change the way they are connected anyway to facilitate and ideally have a single plug rather than 2 to connect disconnect.
 
All of the beep hire scales in this area were tru test models. Coop near us had 3. Speaking to the manager there, they gave very few problems. With the tams approval, I think this will be the model we will go for. I know somebody who supplies them, so it would be logical for backup to buy from them.
 
All of the beep hire scales in this area were tru test models. Coop near us had 3. Speaking to the manager there, they gave very few problems. With the tams approval, I think this will be the model we will go for. I know somebody who supplies them, so it would be logical for backup to buy from them.
Rented an O'Donovan Eng TruTest EW7i from FRS. Very nice scales. Locked in the weights. Only had it a few hours though!
 
Was considering buying a basic non recording scales for BEEM this year, TAMS won't be an option as I don't need any other equipment so won't meet the €2k minimum spend. What has been a good buy for anyone that has done so already, preferably a tray that sits in the crush floor and has a digital readout, and price please?
 
Very happy with the tru test scales here, bought (with TAMS) from O’Donovan Engineering in Coachford. It’s the basic model, but does all I need
 
Looking at this year's BEEP-S
Action 1 - weighing
Action 2 (optional) - meal feeding or vaccination
Action 3 (optional) - faecal egg testing

Anybody thinking of doing Action 3?
What do these tests cost and who does them? Be interested in results but a shit job
 
Looking at this year's BEEP-S
Action 1 - weighing
Action 2 (optional) - meal feeding or vaccination
Action 3 (optional) - faecal egg testing

Anybody thinking of doing Action 3?
What do these tests cost and who does them? Be interested in results but a shit job
We've gone with option 3 and meal feeding. I forget what a single test is but it ain't cheap and will be the bulk of the payment unless they get a decent discount from some of the labs.

Still happy enough to go with it as try to keep dosing and treatments to a minimum so any incentive to see what's going on with stock is fine with me
 
We've gone with option 3 and meal feeding. I forget what a single test is but it ain't cheap and will be the bulk of the payment unless they get a decent discount from some of the labs.

Still happy enough to go with it as try to keep dosing and treatments to a minimum so any incentive to see what's going on with stock is fine with me
Going to do the meal feeding alright. The weighing was handy enough last year. Will probably do Action 3 as well and curse it when collecting!
 
Oh no doubt, every time you have to handle them is a pain really, ours baulked at the scales last year and there was a lot of sweat getting them through and we havent big numbers.

On the other hand between bdgp and beep I do feel they've added a bit to us. Still no money of course but we are doing things better
 
Looking at this year's BEEP-S
Action 1 - weighing
Action 2 (optional) - meal feeding or vaccination
Action 3 (optional) - faecal egg testing

Anybody thinking of doing Action 3?
What do these tests cost and who does them? Be interested in results but a shit job

I picked the meal feeding and option 3, I think for option 3, I think you collect about 10 samples for every 10 cows and put them all in one container, the lab then takes one sample and does one test from the container and the test might cost 10 euro. That's what the teagasc adviser was saying at our last discussion group call the last night
 
I picked the meal feeding and option 3, I think for option 3, I think you collect about 10 samples for every 10 cows and put them all in one container, the lab then takes one sample and does one test from the container and the test might cost 10 euro. That's what the teagasc adviser was saying at our last discussion group call the last night
That sounds a lot simpler
 
I picked the meal feeding and option 3, I think for option 3, I think you collect about 10 samples for every 10 cows and put them all in one container, the lab then takes one sample and does one test from the container and the test might cost 10 euro. That's what the teagasc adviser was saying at our last discussion group call the last night

We had zoom with our advisor this week and he said that the dung sampling has to be carried out on 10 animals. So if you have 40 cows, just choose 10. Or if you have 5 cows and 5 calves then do all 10. If you have less than 10 animals, then sample the animals that you have.

Samples cost €14 for individual samples locally and I expect that if you are coming with 10 at a time, it will be less. Its money well spent IMO>
 
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