- The ADG figures only relate to any animals weighed within the last 14 days.
- The ADG calculations are based on a 'line of best fit' (straight line linear regression) for all the data for each individual animal for the time period.
- The ADGs are calculated for individual animals and then averaged across the mob.
The time periods work like this:
- Last 14 days - at least 2 records, more than 7 days apart.
- Last 30 days - at least 2 records, more than 14 days apart.
- Last 90 days - at least 2 records, more than 30 days apart.
- Last 180 days - at least 2 records, more than 90 days apart.
- More than 180 days - at least 2 records, more than 180 days.
The last record must be within the last 14 days.
A few other things to note:
The 14 day ADG can be quite volatile e.g. the difference between an ADG of 0.5 and 1.5kg/day is 14kg (not much considering an animal can eat and drink up to 80kg/day). However it is useful because it is responsive to changes in gut fill.
The 30 day ADG is generally a truer reflection of the actual rate of weight gain.
A few other things to note:
A good way to sense check the ADG figures is to have a look at the weight chart for the mob to see if the mob average weight is moving up or day by a similar amount.
If the two correlate that can give extra confidence in the ADG numbers. If they don't it's worth digging a little deeper.
A few other things to note:
Digging deeper is best done by using the report called "Data Over Time".
This is only available on the web portal and provides individual animal data which can be summarised by day, week or month for any time period.
Checking that the individual animal changes in weight correlate to the summary figures can give more confidence in the numbers.