Weighing lambs

Smokey16

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North devon
I dont know if I'm doing something wrong I took some lambs to market yesterday I weighed them Tuesday afternoon and they weighed between 42/45kg after market weighed them yesterday they said they weighed 38kg. So I checked my scales last night I put a mineral bucket on it and it came up with the right weight then I put a bag of cat food on and the scales weighed that right.
 

AftonShepherd

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
East Ayrshire
Most markets up here way light I find. The buyers know and still pay their price so it makes the ppkg look better. Still seems a lot though, I'd have said 2-3kg more likely but would also have lost a bit if they were kept in overnight.

I calibrated my scales recently and was advised that bags of feeding are more likely to be correct than feed tubs as feed tubs are filled by volume so can vary more than you'd think.
 

Smokey16

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North devon
Haha. I'm just trying to understand how I can loose 4kg a lamb over night. A friend of mine took lambs last Thursday to market he said he weighed them at 44kg and market weighed them at 39
 

tepapa

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North Wales
Ye it's standard for lambs to be under weight on an auctions scales compared to calibrated scales at home. If your not at least 2 kgs under by the time they've traveled then the auction haven't turned the weight screw down enough 😆.
The annoying thing is when lambs drop into a lower weight range buyers don't want so your 40+ kilo lambs at home weight 36-37kg lambs in the mart and buyers walk past as their too light and bid on 40kg+ lambs.
 

Smokey16

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North devon
Always weigh lambs first thing in the morning as there not as full in the gut. I once weighed a batch late afternoon and thought they had done great as half the field was 44+. Re weighed them before going on the wagon one morning and quite a few had to be pulled out S they weren’t heavy enough.
When you pick out your lambs do you put them in the shed ready to load in morning or do you put them in the field and get them in and load up in morning
 

Stw88

Member
Location
Northumberland
Mine generally go deadweight and are picked up after lunch to kill the following day. Its could be 36-40 hours off feed to killing if i put them in the night before.
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Ah I see. Iv been bringing them in over night for loading.

If you're bringing them in overnight before loading then they'll have emptied out by the time they are weighed at the mart, which could easily be 2-3kg. The 'adjustment' on the mart scales, which we might charitably suggest was to allow for gutfill, could then easily be knocking another 2kg off IME.

To be fair, if you sent them dw, you wouldn't have great KO%'s either, if you are going by their 'full belly' weights.
 

Nithsdale

Member
Livestock Farmer
Thanks. Yes that why I used a 2kg bag of cat food I put that on the scales and it said 2kg

Put 2 bags of cat food on your scales (4kg). Set the crate to read 0kg with the 2 bags on.

Now your lambs won't weigh light




You then just need to hit your head hard enough off the wall so that you forget about the 4kg you're stealing yourself... that's so you don't get tempted with 37kg lambs because you know they're actually 41kg 🤦🏻‍♂️
 

Al R

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
West Wales
Mine generally go deadweight and are picked up after lunch to kill the following day. Its could be 36-40 hours off feed to killing if i put them in the night before.
Mine are all in the night before loading, in 4pm Tuesday, loaded 9am Wednesday, killed 6am Thursday. Lorries are spotlessly clean after they’ve been in overnight.
 

yellowbelly

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
N.Lincs
I dont know if I'm doing something wrong I took some lambs to market yesterday I weighed them Tuesday afternoon and they weighed between 42/45kg after market weighed them yesterday they said they weighed 38kg. So I checked my scales last night I put a mineral bucket on it and it came up with the right weight then I put a bag of cat food on and the scales weighed that right.

Average National SQQ, say 225p/kg

Lamb weighs at home, say 44kg...worth, say £99

Lamb weighs at mart, say 40kg.

Buyers know how much market scales are 'slow' by (they're buying out there every week, so they know how they kill out), so they know they can pay £99 for your '40kg' lamb.
That makes the price per kg (the price that the mart reports to AHDB) 247.5p/kg.

You don't loose out 'cos you get what it's worth.
The buyers don't loose out 'cos they've only paid what it was worth and the market gets to look above average on the AHDB report which may make more people inclined to send them more lambs.

If you want to know by how much your mart's scales are slow by, weigh yourself on your scales and weigh yourself at the mart.

As said, in posts above, lambs will loose weight if shut up overnight and again in transit ( otherwise you wouldn't have to wash your trailer out).
 

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