Growth Curves for Replacement Hinds

Bodyweight has a huge impact on pregnancy rates for R2 hinds. Monitoring replacement hind liveweight is an important tool to improve R2 hind fertility. This calculator uses real data from liveweight and pregnancy records provided by AgResearch (based on 20,000 R2 hinds) to help you set mating liveweight targets for your replacement hinds. To get started, set the birth year of your hinds and the average mature hind weight of your breeding herd. Adjust the target mob weight to see the effects of liveweight on estimated R2 pregnancy rate. When you are happy with your target mating weight then scroll down to view a planned growth path based on your target. You can customise the growth curve to meet your needs and compare actual mob weights against the plan.

The standard growth curve for the mating target you have selected is shown(the black line) below. You may wish to adapt this to make a customised curve(the green line) that meets your needs. For example, if you are typically summer - dry, you could aim to grow your hinds more rapidly before summer to make sure you reach the target. Change the dates and weights(by clicking or typing in) in the boxes below the graph to suit your needs. You can compare your actual weights to your target by recording them in the 'Actual Mob Average' box below. When you are satisfied with your target weights you can download them for future reference by clicking 'Download Weights'.