How much does a goat weigh on average and a table of indicators, how to determine without scales

Livestock farming in the field of goat farming is gaining more and more popularity. Proper and competent management of animals allows us to obtain valuable products. Milk and goat meat are considered dietary products and are used in formulating baby food diets. To calculate the correct diet, farmers need to monitor the body weight of animals. But we’ll look into how to find out exactly how much a goat weighs without using scales.

Factors affecting goat weight

The size of livestock depends on many factors.First of all, the breed, age and general health of the animals are taken into account. But even in this case, the calculations will be approximate, because kids are born of different sizes, and their further development also occurs in different ways.

The most common breed of dairy goats by the time they grow up gains a carcass weight of up to 50 kilograms. But there are varieties of pets that exceed the 80-90 kilogram mark. Accordingly, the development of babies in these breeds occurs according to different criteria. To find out the monthly weight gain, animals are weighed or measured based on specially compiled tables. Underweight or severe overweight indicates a poor diet, serious illness or injury, which increases the risk of death of animals.

Determination methods

To accurately determine the weight of a livestock carcass, special scales are most suitable. But such devices are expensive; not every farmer or private owner can afford to purchase such a luxury for their personal farm.

Pets' body weight changes throughout the day. To get an average, goats are weighed several times a day. For this, improvised means are used. If kids are weighed using household scales or a steelyard, then adult animals are measured to determine body weight.

Interesting! On large farms, experienced livestock breeders determine the dimensions of animals without resorting to weighing and measurements. Many years of experience working with livestock allows us to determine weight by eye.

Weight tables

The fastest and easiest way to find out how livestock meets the parameters is to use already compiled tables based on the experience and practice of professional livestock breeders.

According to the age

You can calculate the approximate weight of a pet carcass based on its age. On average, an adult should weigh from 40 to 60 kilograms. But such calculations should not be used for serious diseases and injuries of animals.

Depending on the breed, a pet at the age of one year can weigh from 20 to 40 kilograms. On average, the body weight of a one-year-old dairy goat is measured in the range of 25-28 kilograms. At the age of 2, the animal gains almost twice its growth. After the third year of growth and development, weight gain decreases sharply and ranges from 2 to 6 kilograms annually.

By chest circumference

You can determine the weight of livestock without scales by the girth of the animal's chest.

Important! To measure the chest, use a flexible centimeter or tape, which is placed behind the animal's forelimbs and directed upward.

According to the ratio of chest girth and body girth

A more accurate method for determining the carcass weight of a domestic goat is to add the circumference of the pet’s chest to the length of its body.

How to measure chest volume is described above. The length of the animal's body is measured from a point on the chest, located above the front legs, to a point under the tail. Both parameters are added and a figure corresponding to the weight of the animal is obtained according to the table presented below.

It must be remembered that such measurements cannot be compared with the accurate measurement of animal body weight on special scales. But to calculate daily food intake and monitor the health of livestock, these methods are used even in large farms.