Making sense of measurements - 1

"Ever wondered how to weigh a bull?" John's question took me by surprise. When he's not being an electronic bobbiest, my friend is the agriculture aide to a well-known U.S. Senator from a western state. John doesn't exactly look like the Outlaw Josie Wales, or even the Marlboro Man for that matter. His boyish face belies the fact that he had spent the first 22 years of his life riding horses to rope, brand and curse cattle on his father's western U.S.A. ranch (yes, there are still real cowboys, and they ride real horses). "No," I averred, "weighing bulls hasn't weighed very heavily on my mind lately." "No really, I'm serious," he retorted, "...there's some interesting measurement principles found in weighing cattle for market".