keeping records

[orwell]

What do you guys keep records on? How do you keep them and where do you keep them? Right now I am only keeping the ear tag#, what the calf is and when it is born, and when the was bred and what to.

 

[Big Red Barn]

I created an excel spreadsheet to enter as much information as possible. Cow #, calf dob, wt, color, time of birth, cow temperament, udder condition, body condition etc. When we wean calves in the fall we enter a calf wt and the program determines days on cow and wt/day of age. It has steadily gotten more intense, but I enjoy being able to print off this years records so when we come to calving next year I can tell you how the cow will respond, how long she took to breed back, any problems she might have had, etc. Might be a little excessive, but we also are getting better about heifers we keep because of the cow's records.

 

[Chap]

just started on CattleMax and like it pretty well.  allows you to get as in depth as you see fit. tracks everything i could ever think of.  really like the picture option that allows you to keep a pic with the animal and also develop sale catalogs.

 

[orwell]

I dont no if this is too much to ask but could you list everything that you keep track of. It would be a huge help because right now i just have a piece of paper that i write a few things on and have stared a spred sheet and i like it.

I created an excel spreadsheet to enter as much information as possible. Cow #, calf dob, wt, color, time of birth, cow temperament, udder condition, body condition etc. When we wean calves in the fall we enter a calf wt and the program determines days on cow and wt/day of age. It has steadily gotten more intense, but I enjoy being able to print off this years records so when we come to calving next year I can tell you how the cow will respond, how long she took to breed back, any problems she might have had, etc. Might be a little excessive, but we also are getting better about heifers we keep because of the cow's records.

 

[MYT Farms]

Thanks for starting this thread! I also want to know how you all keep A.I. records and % conception. Do you simply add a couple columns and keep it with BW, WW, YW, and other stuff? Breeding Angus, I don't need to have EPD columns as they are recorded on the registration papers. Keeping track of actual data is where we have some problems.

 

[LN]

I use excel too. I have two files, one for keeping track of calving and one for breeding records.

If you're interested in seeing them you can PM me with your e-mail address.

 

[LT]

We have used excel spreadsheets for the last several years.  What we are finding so difficult is that we re enter and re enter on each thing.  For example, when we breed, we enter under the cow, then have to update the semen inventory and have to add to future birth records.  We are investing in software where we enter once and it updates it all!!

 

[txshowlamb]

My school is having us all use www.theaet.com a online record keeping
Britt

 

[inthebarnagain]

We use Cattlemax.  I wouldn't use anything else, it keeps breeding records, semen records, nearly everything you would want. 

 

[Freddy]

The Aims program for the Angus is outstanding an they just keep making it better an there is things on it that I don't know how to use. Ido also keep track of my Charolais right on their program , a little more manual work with it .

 

[cdncowboy]

orwell, your record keeping sounds like mine was, until I started to realize I couldn't keep every cows pedigree straight in my head.  And having to look back through several years of calving records to find it out was becoming a little tedious.  So a couple years ago I started using a program called Ranch Manager, it allows you to keep track of about as much info as you can throw at it.  For me up in Canada and our national ID program its quite handy as it lets me keep track of this info and will also submit the reports.  Like the fact to that it let's me set up all my pastures and pens and who is where.  Wish it did let me keep track of semen inventories.  Also for a non-purebred operation it's not quite as expensive to get into as some of the others, just a little over a hundred bucks.

 

[rtmcc]

We keep much of our stuff on spread sheets but like Freddy we use the Angus Assoc..  When we login on line we can enter all the data we need and keep track of.  It allows us to add our non Angus registered cows after they wean a calf.  They have a system called BRS ( Beef Record System) you can access thru their web site at  http://www.angusonline.org/  It is designed for a commercial breeder but I think it would work for AOB's as well.  I assume its like the Angus  deal were they charge per calf per year that is kept track of.  For the pure breeds its $3.00 per calf I think the record and process the data.  One thing I really like is that we can access the data we have from  any were in the world.  O lot of times we will be at somebody  place talking cattle and pull up our stuff on their computer to show them something.


<cowboy>

 

[Jill]

Record keeping is only as good as the reporting out of it.  We used Excel for years and finally decided that we would like to keep more detailed records and purchased CattleMaxCS, it allowed me to put a lot of information in and did a really good job on embryo tracking, but it doesn't have some of the basic thing I need to get the information out of it so we went back to Excel.

 

[randiliana]

For the computer records, I use Ranch Manager, there is a Canadian and a USA edition. If you're interested, you can find it here at http://www.lionedge.com . Keeps as much info as I want it to and, more, it is easy to use, they update regularly, and their customer service is super too.

But, I also keep very detailed paper records. I have templates of them all on my computer, and I print them out as I need them. I like the paper records for a # of reasons. I will always have the info, even if the computer crashes and I didn't back up stuff. And, I find I remember stuff better when I write it down instead of just using the computer.

I have an individual record for each cow, that keeps her info (Bday, BW, WW, Desc, Dam, Sire etc) and info on every calf (B-day, BW, WW, Desc, sire, Tag info etc)

Calving report, which keeps  Tag, B-day, Desc of cow and calf, BW, info on calving and calf vigor and a comments section.

Breeding Report

Medication Report

Bulls used report

Growth report

I have copies of them all in Adobe. If anyone wants to see, just email me and I can send them to you. They are all setup for a commercial herd, but could easily be setup for a purebred herd, I imagine.

 

[tlcattle]

i use a 3 section notebook. it has all of my cows in the front and their breeds sires ect. and the bulls we have at the house are the next page and the ai bulls we use are next. after all of that the next section is calving. i keep the mothers tag # the bull[or it's tag #] the date born the breed color sex weight [if i can get it] and the calfs tag #. then in the next section i put in what i did with each calf like send him to the market or who i sold him to.