Health records

[milkmaid]

Another curiosity question for the board. I've recently discovered the incredible powers of Excel and have been learning how to analyze herd records, create health programs, etc. What do y'all keep track of in terms of health records, sale records, treatments, treatment protocols, etc? For instance, things like date, cow ID, drug, route, diagnosis (what's wrong), who treated her, withdrawal times, what date the withdrawal period would be passed, when the cow is sold, why she's sold, etc, etc.

Also: if you keep records - do you analyze them periodically to see if there's trends or changes? why or why not? what do you do with the information?

 

[longhorntractor]

I use CattleMax online. I like it,real easy to use. So far, I have not done anything with the data yet. But I am keeping it all. I suppose after a few years I will be able to see something.

 

[dun]

We use CattlemaxCS (the home version). I do look at trends over years for weights birth, weaning, slaughter and grading

 

[backhoeboogie]

Everything is on a spread sheet. There's no way I could remember it all. The hard copy is redlined when a calf is born or other scenarios occur. It is updated about twice a month in the computer and a new copy printed. Every detail that is important to me is captured and recorded. This was valuable when good cows had to be culled during droughts. Family history etc. Much more went into decisions besides appearances. Anything with health issues was already long gone.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

I'm still using "paper" for my record keeping. I have pre-printed charts/Cow Cards as well a sheets of note paper.

I keep records of vaccines, de-worming, fly control and any treatments for any health issues. Also keep records of birth dates, birth weights, weaning dates, weights, culls and for what reason culled, sales of calves and who purchased as well as $$.

Keep track of heat cycles and breeding dates. Over time I can see who is "maintaining" the status quo and who isn't.

Katherine

 

[cfry]

I use excel. You can record everything, like others said. Birth dates, weights, etc. If you keep records diligently, I've found them to be invaluable, especially during a sale.

 

[milkmaid]

So sounds like most of you keep track of performance rather than health/diseases/treatments?

Do you weigh individual animals for calf WW, YW, or how exact are your herd records?

What makes a data point (for instance, BW) important enough that you want to keep track of it? For instance- I'm sure there's things that BHB keeps track of that Katherine doesn't, and vica versa. Why did you chose to track that data you do?

 

[backhoeboogie]

Why did you chose to track that data you do?

Mine is mostly production related. Cows calving on 11 month intervals are important to me. Is one a month late? There's no way to remember even with less than 100 head now.

Everything gets innoculated and a follow up booster. Calving year round I have to know who was born after the last working. If a cow gets covered, that date is marked. It gets you closer at calving time.

Most calves are tagged at birth. Steers banded. When there's 6 or so needing innoculations, they get cut out when they go down the alley at pasture change time.

Health issues are not so much of a concern. Someone has to get culled. Problems are eliminated. Red letter "terminal" out in the notes column. There's two on the list now and there issues are not health related.

 

[dun]

Since w started using CattleMax we can trace back every animal with any vaccinaiton, health treatment, breeding, calving they've had. When we sell anything as a breeder the buyer gets a print out of their entire health records.

 

[milkmaid]

What about for those of you who look at trends and keep track of animals on Excel or CattleMax. How thoroughly do you analyze data? for instance- "X% of cows bred in a __ day breeding season" vs "cows born in ____ year had a X% preg rate" or "cows calving at the beginning of calving season had a X% preg rate compared to cows calving at the end"...?

Anyone out there pay to have someone else go over their records or is it not that common? I've got at least one professor that analyzes records for his clients. Sounds like it's a package deal including preg check, records analysis, and consultation. Had a DVM guest lecturer yesterday who partnered on a dairy for a few years- he offered a local vet $1500/month to go over his dairy records. (Local vet turned it down as he couldn't/didn't want to do a 3-day turn around.) If you had someone analyze your records- what would it be worth to you and what would you want to learn from that analysis?

 

[randiliana]

I keep pretty in depth records on performance. I have a good cow program, and I love Excel. Health records are mostly kept just so I know what, why and when the withdrawal is, the only time they ever really get looked at again, is to make sure that we aren't retreating something to soon, or to decide that we need to try another treatment for something sick. I've never payed to have someone analyze my records, but I do that my self. And I really find that I like my records when I am trying to convince DH that a certain cow should be culled, especially if it is a good looking cow...lol

I keep an individual page on every cow. Mostly this just covers her calves and their performance, and basic info about her. I keep track of Birthdate, BW, Sex, Description, Assist, horned/polled, sire, wean date, WW and ADG as well as space for comments. This is probably the most used part of my records. I will cull off of this record. I've picked up on cows that have a higher than expected # of malpresentated calves, poorer performing calves, poorer health calves, high BW calves. I will use this when trying to decide whether to keep or cull an old cow, using BW and WW especially.

Then, I have a spreadsheet where I evaluate the performance of bulls calves. I enter each calf and then average the BW, Assists, WW, ADG and 205 day weights. Of course this is only possible if you know who the sires are. This has been pretty useful when deciding what cows to breed to what bull, or if a bull is throwing exceptionally high or small BW or WW calves. I have some cows that I know have a tendancy to have high BW calves, so I don't want to breed them to the highest BW bulls we are using.

I also use Excel to keep track of calving to breeding to calving for each cow.

The cow program (Ranch Manager) I like because it puts the vast majority of my info into 1 place. I can look up a pedigree, the # of calves, their BW's, treated cattle, what cattle are in what pastures, with what bulls etc all in one place. I use it a lot to sort by breed or colour or age. I wish it was more performance orientated, but they are working on that.