Equine weighbridge - would you pay to use one

irish_only

irish_only

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AS above. Having always done what I considered a fair guesstimate of weight for one of my horses, I am really surprised that he is 80kg more than I thought. Have now tried three different weigh tapes and they all measured him 100kg less than he is. As we generally have between 15-20 horses on the yard, I am now looking into the feasability of buying an animal weighbridge but as you can imagine they are not cheap, and wondered if any of you guys would use one if available, and how much you think would be a reasonable charge? (It would help pay for the flipping thing)
 
If there was one local to me, I would definately pay to use it, providing, of course, the charge was not too high. We do have two weighbridges locally, so that would be a guide to price for me.
 
I would as long as it wasnt too much. It would be a eye opener to some people horse's weight. I weigh tape him every week to keep a eye on his weight.
 
Donkeymad said:
If there was one local to me, I would definately pay to use it, providing, of course, the charge was not too high. We do have two weighbridges locally, so that would be a guide to price for me.
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Presumable you mean lorry weighbridges?

I would as long as it wasnt too much. It would be a eye opener to some people horse's weight. I weigh tape him every week to keep a eye on his weight. .[/QUOTE said:
Thats the problem - three weight tapes we tried estimated 100kg under the actual weight from a weighbridge.

yes I would. Would prob pay up to about £10 a time? .[/QUOTE said:
Thats probably about the price I would be happy paying.

Thanks very much for your input
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no but thats only because spillers have a weighbridge and will bring it to your yard for free - as long as you have 10 horses to weigh on yard. she condition scores them weighs them gives you money off vouchers for spillers food - doesnt try to sell you their food goes thru diet and advises what she thinks (qualified nutritionalist) and if its right she tells you not to change even if not their food.

Obviously she not going to come every few months but we had her on our yard couple weeks ago and she coming back just before winter to monitor them and see how we all doing.

Think its good idea as weightapes are a joke - mine says my 15.3hh idxtb was 455 - weightbridge said 601k
her spillers weightape said 550 so that was out too.

think if you going to do as a chargable thing for yards then £5 would be fair - as it literally takes 10 secs.
 
My vets have one and as said above, I can box my horse over and use it for free. But it might be an idea for you to check your use of the weigh tape. I've heard it said that the D&H one is the most reliable but the one I use all the time was a freebie with one of the big horse mags and it is very accurate. My horse had to be endoscoped last September and I popped him on the vets scales at the same time. They asked how much I thought he weighed and I said about 580kg. He weighed in at 583kg so I'm happy with that. About 5 months (and a diet) later, he weighed in at 530kg - I checked with the weightape again and it read almost exactly the same. It could be that you aren't putting the tape round your horse's body properly. If it was me, I'd try again to find the bottom of the withers, tape round girth line, snuggly so the flesh is just dented. Then I'd wiggle the tape around until you get a similar reading to your horse's actual weight and then note EXACTLY where the tape has to sit to give an accurate measure.
 
Absolutely - had mine weighed properly and found that our weigh tape was grossly inaccurate and were worming at the wrong weight.
Also useful to know for working out payload for travelling as again we had underestimated one by nearly 100kg, and if had been pulled over by VOSA may well have proved overweight!
 
Yes I would and be happy to pay £10 a horse. Most tapes do not go above 700 k - and Clydesdales are easily over that. Last time I had Cairo weighed at the vets, I made a note of his weight, and then put the weight tape on him with a mark to show that he was 750 k which was the right weight for him.

I now have a 1000 k tape, but would like to see if what it says compares to true weight.

Shame as Redwings is down the road to me and I asked if I could pay to use it, but they won't under health and safety rules which is a shame as if they were to put it in an area away from their own horses, say a couple of times a year and advertise you could bring your horse to be weighed, I am sure many people would like to do this and make a donation in return.
 
That's a shame Theres-F, it would be an additional source of income for them, maybe not a lot, but better than nothing.
 
its just different weightapes are worked out diff - mine is 'easy measure' tape - get front legs square - put tape right behind elbows and then round and have it at lowest point of withers and measure - should be at angle like / spillers lady checked was using it right but hers was out too.!
 
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