How can you help your cow to lose weight and how do you determine if she needs to?

Answer 1

Feed her low-quality feeds like poor quality hay or straw. Refrain from giving her any grain as this will defeat the whole purpose of getting her to loose weight. Also feed her in a location where she has to walk some distance to the water and mineral source and back to her feeding area. Exercise, just like in humans, is a good way for her to wear off those extra pounds.

In order to tell if she is overweight, do a body condition score on her to judge her weight. Use the 1 to 9 scale for beef cows, and 1 to 5 for dairy cows, in both cases one being the most emaciated. A healthy weight for beef cows is between 4 and 6; for dairy cows it's around a 3. What you need to do is to feel her ribs, back bone, hooks and pins, and tail head for any fat deposits. Muscle does not grow on any of these areas (more specifically, on the rear part of the ribs and never on the back bone, pelvic area, or tail-head), and if you feel a solid mass between the bone and your hand, then she's got fat on there.

A healthy normal-conditioned cow should have a moderate amount of fat deposit on these areas. You should be able to feel the ribs with a little pressure and the same on some of the vertebrae near her pelvic area, and also feel for smoothness on her hooks and pins (the pelvic area), and a moderate fat covering over her tail head. You should be able to go in a couple inches between the tailhead and the pelvic area.

On fat cows, however, more pressure is needed to actually feel her ribs, and her back bone will not be visible. Most of her pelvic area will not be visible either, and will feel a bit spongy when you try to apply a bit of pressure. When you look at her from a distance, you won't be able to see any bones sticking out. In normal-conditioned cows you should be able to see the bones, but not nearly as prominently nor as sharply as you would with an emaciated cow.

Check out the following links on more on BCS of cows.