# Weighing Sheep



## equinecpa (Mar 21, 2011)

I sold my first butcher lamb today. I had no idea of his weight so just priced him fairly cheaply to move him. I have a feeling I may have given him away...no biggie now but it got me to thinking I should try to find a way to weigh my sheep. 

I've read the tape measure method and wonder how accurate it is? I measured a yearling painted desert ewe with a tape today and calculated she weighed somewhere around 80# -that doesn't seem to far off to me. 

Do cheap platform scales work? How about hanging scales? I can imagine with small sheep hanging scales are OK but one wouldn't want to be hoisting a 150# sheep around.


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## goodhors (Sep 6, 2011)

Platform scales will work, though getting all four hooves on at once may be difficult. They also might not like the jiggly feeling of moving floor. Our lambs were too long-bodied to weigh on the scale easily when they got to Market size. They were Fair projects, so we wanted to track progress for correct, desired weight by Fair.

Tape is fairly accurate for our calves, but that is a cattle tape. Do they make a sheep tape?

Breed differences might make a big difference in weight with a tape, longer body adding size, though girth is the same on both breeds.

You do need an accurate way to weigh them so you don't lose money selling live.


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## Laurie J (Mar 9, 2005)

Did you have him processed, or just sell him live to your customer? When we sell, they are sold hanging weight. They are butchered here, sent to the processor of our customer's choice, and the processor lets us know how much the carcass weight is, and we get paid by the customer based on that weight. Carcass price is about double what live weight price is.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

equinecpa said:


> I sold my first butcher lamb today. I had no idea of his weight so just priced him fairly cheaply to move him. I have a feeling I may have given him away...no biggie now but it got me to thinking I should try to find a way to weigh my sheep.
> 
> I've read the tape measure method and wonder how accurate it is? I measured a yearling painted desert ewe with a tape today and calculated she weighed somewhere around 80# -that doesn't seem to far off to me.
> 
> Do cheap platform scales work? How about hanging scales? I can imagine with small sheep hanging scales are OK but one wouldn't want to be hoisting a 150# sheep around.


Hanging scales are fine for SMALL lambs 
(Up to about 30 lbs)

*Good* platform scales work well for others.
"Cheap" anything *never* works well in the long run

You'll be better off though, to sell by the HEAD and not by the pound (selling live sheep)

It *costs you* just as much to raise a 90 lb sheep as it does a 120 lb sheep.


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## LibertyWool (Oct 23, 2008)

The way I tape them is from The Story Guide to Raising Sheep/Raising Sheep the modern way, and I find it to be quite accurate if you can get a good measurement near the skin. Basically you take the circumference behind the front legs, call that C, and then from the point of the rump to the point of the shoulder, call that AB. Then the formula is C X C X AB / 300. C and AB are in inches and the result is in lbs. I've done this before sending them to the butcher and I'm usually within 5lbs.


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## equinecpa (Mar 21, 2011)

LibertyWool said:


> The way I tape them is from The Story Guide to Raising Sheep/Raising Sheep the modern way, and I find it to be quite accurate if you can get a good measurement near the skin. Basically you take the circumference behind the front legs, call that C, and then from the point of the rump to the point of the shoulder, call that AB. Then the formula is C X C X AB / 300. C and AB are in inches and the result is in lbs. I've done this before sending them to the butcher and I'm usually within 5lbs.


I was curious on this -I have hair sheep so getting close to the skin is easy. Do you measure right behind the front legs. I ask because right behind the front legs there is a bit of a dip where the elbows tie in and then they fill out again behind that. The difference in measurements by moving the tape an inch forward or back could easily be about 2 inches.

Then for the AB measure: Point of the shoulder to point of rump: Do you measure along the topline ie from where the neck ties in to shoulder to just before the croup where the rump starts to drop off? 

Anyone happen to know what 6 month average weights are on barbados stock?


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## houndlover (Feb 20, 2009)

I sell mine by the head. Keep track of your expenses and price accordingly. Right now I'm selling 75 lb-90 lb lambs (about 4 months old) for $175, which covers what I have into them, including feeding their mothers, and about $50 profit. Current market price at auction for the same size lambs is about a $1.25 a pound, and at that price, I'm not making much money, if any.


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## LibertyWool (Oct 23, 2008)

equinecpa said:


> I was curious on this -I have hair sheep so getting close to the skin is easy. Do you measure right behind the front legs. I ask because right behind the front legs there is a bit of a dip where the elbows tie in and then they fill out again behind that. The difference in measurements by moving the tape an inch forward or back could easily be about 2 inches.
> 
> Then for the AB measure: Point of the shoulder to point of rump: Do you measure along the topline ie from where the neck ties in to shoulder to just before the croup where the rump starts to drop off?
> 
> Anyone happen to know what 6 month average weights are on barbados stock?


You measure right behind the front legs. For the AB measurement you are on the side, so it is diagonal across the side of the sheep. If you feel the shoulder and rump, you can feel the point of each.


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## equinecpa (Mar 21, 2011)

Thanks Liberty. I just found this article which shows a cow but it's a good visual. http://ag.arizona.edu/backyards/articles/winter07/p11-12.pdf I just measured one before I found the picture and I found the point of the shoulder really easily, same with the rump. 

I guessed this little yearling ewe to be about 50 #'s. Tape calculation 46#. I think this might work for my needs!


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