5 week weights

[RoosterMania]

I removed Fawn from the maternity ward this morning and weighed her kits this evening. These are pure New Zealand's. Are these weights on target?

Black #1 - 1 lb. 10 oz.
Black #2 - 1 lb. 9 oz.
Black #3 - 1 lb. 6 oz.
REW #1 - 1 lb. 8 oz.
REW #2 - 1 lb. 6 oz.
REW #3 - 1 lb. 5 oz.

The average is 1.46 lbs. Next week they go to the tractor. They'll still get pellets, but hopefully not as much as they are currently eating. I'm shooting for 4 lbs by 10-11 weeks on mostly grass. Realistic goals?

 

[JessicaR]

I am not sure what the average weight should be at that age, but, they weigh more than mine (reds) do at almost 8 weeks! I am very disappointed in this litter

 

[RoosterMania]

Thanks for the reply, Jessica. I was beginning to think no one would answer.

I'm sorry your reds aren't gaining. I love reds, but I've heard that they don't gain as fast. My buck is red and I bred him to our REW doe on July 1st so we'll see what we get. I'm surprised the black kits are gaining faster than the REW because I heard (or read) somewhere that the REW are the fastest gainers. It'll be interesting to see how they weigh in at 8 weeks after a couple of weeks on the pasture.

 

[Zass]

I haven't been taking weights until 8 weeks, but I plan to start taking weights at 4 weeks to get a good measure of milk supply.
My current batch of mutts will be 5 weeks this weekend, I'll take their weights at 5 and then 8 so we can compare. I expect mine to finish on pellets. The meat traits of that line are pretty average, so it should be a fair comparison.

 

[JessicaR]

I don't usually weigh my kits either, but with fair coming in a week and a half I thought I would weigh them since they didn't look very big. They have to be 3.5 pounds for fair, I doubt if they will gain 2-2.5 pounds in this short amount of time

When I had the whites, they seemed to grow pretty good and were usually bigger than the steel kits in the litters

 

[Zass]

I took some 5 week weights for you from a very average litter of 7 mixed breed kits from a 8.5 lb doe.
(genetics as I know them: 1/2 SF - 1/4 Lilac - 1/8 FG - 1/16 NZB - 1/16 NZW

I used a digital fish scale and the bag they were in weighed 2 oz, which I have already deducted.

Blue #1 - - 2.23
Blue #2 - - 2.4
REW #1 - - 2.0
REW #2 - - 2.3
Black - - - 2.26
chocolate - 2.65
Lilac GTS - 2.26

I corrected the way it was written to make it easier to read
5 week weights:
Blue #1 - - 2 lbs , 2.3 oz
Blue #2 - - 2 , 4.
REW #1 - - 2 , 0.
REW #2 - - 2 , 3.
Black - - - 2 , 2.6
chocolate - 2 , 6.5
Lilac GTS - 2 . 2.6

I generally butcher 9-10 weeks along and most of them will be 5 lbs or over by that age. (usually)
With mix breeds there can be a lot of variation. :roll:

Anyone else with a meat litter to compare?

 

[RoosterMania]

Thanks Zass. I weighed them today since today was pasture day. The weights ranged from 2 lbs. 5 oz. to 1 lb. 14 oz. With only the one weighing less than 2 lbs, so they've grown approximately 8-10 oz in a week. They eat mostly bahaia grass and wild briars (fed morning and evening) and about 9-12 oz of pellets (fed only in the evening). I do give coastal Bermuda hay but they waste most of that. So I see they are well behind yours, but you feed pellets only if I recall. Very interesting. I'll keep posting their weights weekly since now they are on pasture full time. I'm still giving about 9 oz. of pellets daily and cutting briars for them twice a day.

Any other suggestions that may help them grow?

 

[Zass]

At this age I'm crediting the doe more than the feed. I did give her a spoonful of boss daily to help supplement her milk supply. (until I ran out)
I (currently) free-feed 16% pellets and grass hay(whatever is available). They also get alfalfa hay cubes, oats sometimes, and just little bit of greens that I consider to be very safe, like blackberry leaves. The adults get more of the green stuff, the kits get hardly any.

That particular doe is also known to nurse all the way to 10 weeks, and I feel it helps their growth quite a bit.

 

[RoosterMania]

So yours are still nursing?

 

[Zass]

So yours are still nursing?

Oh definitely. They eat plenty of solid food too and would wean just fine if I wanted to seperate them, but I feel that the extra milk can only be good for their immune systems and growth. And of course, all my growout pens are full anyway. :roll:

 

[smara]

OK so I just happen to have a 5 week old Litter.. They are American Blue/Silver fox crosses( Now they were weaned at 4 weeks due to doe being sold)
weights are as follows
BLACK doe 2 1/4lbs
BLACK Buck 1 1/4lbs
BLUE Buck 2 Lbs
BLUE doe #1 1 1/2 lbs
BLUE doe #2 1 3/4Lbs
BLUE doe #3 1 1/2 lbs
Also have a stray agouti doe kit 1/2 sf and 1/2 chin she is 1 3/4lbs at ruffly 4 weeks...
And Why OH Why is the black doe the biggest when i wanted a NICE BLUE doe

 

[Zass]

OK so I just happen to have a 5 week old Litter.. They are American Blue/Silver fox crosses( Now they were weaned at 4 weeks due to doe being sold)
weights are as follows
BLACK doe 2 1/4lbs
BLACK Buck 1 1/4lbs
BLUE Buck 2 Lbs
BLUE doe #1 1 1/2 lbs
BLUE doe #2 1 3/4Lbs
BLUE doe #3 1 1/2 lbs
Also have a stray agouti doe kit 1/2 sf and 1/2 chin she is 1 3/4lbs at ruffly 4 weeks...
And Why OH Why is the black doe the biggest when i wanted a NICE BLUE doe

But did you see who has become the largest kit in my litter smara? None other than that chocolate doeling I have reserved for you! She's even overtaken my lilac gts. (who has fallen to average weight)

 

[smara]

Ahh Yes i did notice Can't wait to see her!!

 

[MewsicLovr]

We weighed our 5 week olds today and they averaged about 1 pound 3 oz. So they are underperforming what most of you are reporting. They have been fed pure 16% pellets so far but we finally found a good supplier of alfalfa hay so recently we've been free-feeding them that too. Hopefully that should help with weight gain in future litters?

 

[hucklekree]

OOoo I want to play too! I'll be back tomorrow as I have just the litter to go weigh TTFN

 

[Zass]

I took the 8 week weights on the litter I posted earlier, so that one could get a feel for growth rate.
The last weights were recorded in lbs. and oz. Although I do not believe I wrote it correctly, so I've re-written first weights in an attempt to make it a bit easier to read.

5 week weights:
Blue #1 - - 2 lbs , 2.3 oz
Blue #2 - - 2 , 4.
REW #1 - - 2 , 0.
REW #2 - - 2 , 3.
Black - - - 2 , 2.6
chocolate - 2 , 6.5
Lilac GTS - 2 . 2.6

Unfortunately, they didn't nurse all the way to 8 weeks like I'd planned, as I had to cull the doe for sneezing. Weaned around 6.5 weeks. Since weaning the kits have been given pellets and grass hay, alfalfa cubes to nibble, and just a bit of very safe greens and oats fed on whim.

8 week weights:

Blue #1 - - 4 lbs, 10 oz
Blue #2 - - 4 , 3.
REW #1 - - 3 , 2.
REW #2 - - 3 , 14.
Black - - - 4 , 0.
chocolate (weight not recorded)
Lilac GTS - 4 , 7.3

A litter like this should be good to go around 9-10 weeks. Which is pretty much what I was expecting.

 

[SA Farm]

My 5 week olds weigh between 1.2 and 2 lbs

 

[Brus]

I recently had a litter of NZW purebreds, I have recorded weights for 2 of them every week on their birthdays, and matched that vs the litter average here are my weights for weeks 5-8 as they are currently 8 wks old

I have converted all my weights from Lbs/OZ to lbs written as a decimal (.06 of a lb is one Oz)

Week 5
#1) 1.38 lbs
#2) 1.75 lbs
Litter average: 1.63 lbs

Week 6
#1) 1.88 lbs
#2) 2.06 lbs
Litter average 2 lbs

Week 7
#1) 2.19 lbs
#2) 2.50 lbs
Litter Average: 2.31 lbs

Week 8 (last nights weights)
#1) 2.56 lbs
#2) 2.94 lbs
Litter Average: 2.81 lbs


Bonus: picture album of weekly updates, minus the 8 wk i will be uploading them tonight
http://imgur.com/a/NdRQf

A little info into my feed, i feed a large handful of garden weeds every morning, and have a mix of 16% pellets and BOSS with a "critter feed" i got from walmart that contains peanuts and grains and some corn, below is one run of food mix that lasts between one month to 4 months depending on how many buns i am feeding.

25 lbs Pellets
9 lb bag of critter food
4 lb of BOSS


I also feed a 50% mix of alfalfa and grass hay freely, if anyone is interested i have pictures of all the nutritional information labels from my mix.

 

[Rabbitdog]

Excellent documentation.
I'm trying to keep better records on my current litter and will post at some point. Great pics. Are these entirely for meat? If so, what age do you butcher?

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I'll play!

Weights are in pounds and ounces:

Satin litter 5 weeks and 6 days old:

Blk otter doe 2.12
Blk buck 2.12
Broken blk otter doe 2.07
Blk buck 2.07
Blk otter doe 2.04

*still nursing, culled one mismarked kit 10 days ago

Satin litter 5 weeks 4 days old:

Broken blk doe 2.03
Broken blk buck 2.03
Broken blk doe 2.0
Blk buck 1.14

*still nursing, culled two kits 10 days ago

Rex litter 6 weeks 1 day old:

Opal doe 3.0
Opal buck 2.14
Broken Opal doe 2.14
Broken Opal doe 2.0 (fostered to "Leonis Rex" doe when just a few days old. It was on death's door.)

*still nursing. This is an older doe (over two) and she lost 3 kits soon after birth.