The Relative Accuracy of One-Day and Three-Day Weaning Weights of Calves

Abstract

A study of weights taken on 178 calves immediately before weaning time, when they averaged about 232 days of age, has shown that there was no advantage in taking weights on 3 days, over taking a single weight, when uniform conditions for the calves were maintained. Calves lost some weight during the 3 days, the respective average daily weights being 42.5.9, 425.0 and 422.9. The 3-day average of 424.6 did not differ significantly from the weight taken on the first day. After dividing into weight classes, with 20-pound intervals, the standard errors of single and 3-day weights were compared. In 14 classes having 4 to 23 animals each, the standard error was lower in the first-day weights in all classes than in the 2nd and 3rd-day weights and in the 3-day average. The standard error of the 2nd-day weights was lower than that of the 3rd-day weights in 9 of the 14 classes.