# Weight of Jersey Steer?



## greenbean

Hey everyone, how much would you expect a 17 month old Jersey steer to weigh?  He gets grain daily and access to hay 24/7.  (Until winter is over that is.)  I couldn't get photobucket to resize the pictures, so I just posted the links.  The first is him and the other calves this summer.  He's the one all the way to the right.  The second is him the other day (12/25/12).  I did the heart girth x heart girth x length / 300 and it put him at 416.96, does that sound right??

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s18/runnin_wild56/Calves-1.jpg

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s18/runnin_wild56/528562_524724344219590_717653539_n.jpg


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## WildRoseBeef

They're lookin' good!

Here are the pictures for those too lazy to click on the links (  )











A Jersey steer at 17 months old I think I would estimate to weigh at around 700-800 lbs.  I've a feeling I may have over-estimated it, but Jerseys are smaller cattle, so I'm hoping that's a safe number to go by.


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## greenbean

Thank you! 

That's what I thought he'd be around too, maybe I'm just calculating it wrong?  I'm not sure.


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## Cricket

They look great!  How many inches are you getting for the hearth girth measurement?  I've got a dairy weight tape and can try that if you'd like.  I'm pretty sure it comes out light for steers, as the tape is for heifers, but worth a try?  I'd say they're quite a bit more than 400.


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## greenbean

Thank you!   It was 54"

I got my pictures resized finally, here's my little heifer Victoria! (Aka Tori, she's the one without horns, and with the yellow ear tag.)


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## Cricket

54" for a Jersey heifer on my tape is 452lbs.  I don't know how much you'd add for a steer's bigger neck, etc. What does Tori tape, just out of curiosity?  They look like they're from a line of elegant Jerseys!

I taped my Holstein/Jersey cross the day before he was butchered.  (He took mostly after his H. mom size-wise).  He taped 1000 and hanging weight, quartered, was 400.


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## greenbean

I'm not sure, I'll try to find out today, depends on how the weather is!  Tori is from a dairy farm about an hour away, she's my only registered one.  The other three came from a guy who buys them for $50 from a guy he knows and bottle feeds them.  I'm not quite sure where he gets them.  

I found an unregistered 3 year old Jersey cow in milk that I want.  I'm hoping the people contact me back and I can go look at her.


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## greybeard

Cricket said:
			
		

> 54" for a Jersey heifer on my tape is 452lbs.  I don't know how much you'd add for a steer's bigger neck, etc. What does Tori tape, just out of curiosity?  They look like they're from a line of elegant Jerseys!
> 
> I taped my Holstein/Jersey cross the day before he was butchered.  (He took mostly after his H. mom size-wise).  He taped 1000 and hanging weight, quartered, was 400.


That's probably about right from the pics he posted. No hind qtrs or butt to speak of, not much in the shoulder either--mostly just mid section. 550-580lbs max just from looking at the pics, but 2D photos can be grossly misleading.


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## greenbean

To me, those pictures make them look small, in person he looks huge.  However I'm short and his back is almost to my shoulder, so that's probably why he looks so big to me.   Also I'm a she


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## Cricket

He looks fine!  (In a perfect world, those beef people would have to get their milk out of their beef cows and we dairy people would get to poke fun at their little piddlin' amounts..).


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## greybeard

greenbean said:
			
		

> To me, those pictures make them look small, in person he looks huge.  However I'm short and his back is almost to my shoulder, so that's probably why he looks so big to me.   Also I'm a she


Yes, most photos do not do a good job unless there is something in the picture to provide some scale or contrast. A guy down the road raises mini horses. I was down there one day and intentionally too a pic of one in the middle of the pasture positioning myself and the camera in such a way that the picture came out with the subject looking like a full size and full grown horse. 

Thanks for the clarification regarding your gender.


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## greenbean

> He looks fine!  (In a perfect world, those beef people would have to get their milk out of their beef cows and we dairy people would get to poke fun at their little piddlin' amounts..).


Lol   I'm ready to sell him, but I'm probably going to have to fight my uncle over it, that's his baby. 



> Yes, most photos do not do a good job unless there is something in the picture to provide some scale or contrast. A guy down the road raises mini horses. I was down there one day and intentionally too a pic of one in the middle of the pasture positioning myself and the camera in such a way that the picture came out with the subject looking like a full size and full grown horse.
> 
> Thanks for the clarification regarding your gender.


Yeah, I'll try to get better ones, hopefully it'll be nice and sunny soon!


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## ourflockof4

I'm with Greybeard on this one, 600ish lbs. He looks to be about the same size as the larger (12 month old) steer that I mentioned a few treads back. Your looks to have a little more frame though and less fill/mass.


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