Herd Recordkeeping - How and what do you keep track of?

[Cormac]

Just starting out with registered Angus. What suggestions can you make for keeping track and organizing important information. The registration papers have a lot of info that I don't feel I need to duplicate all of it. What other info is important to track? I am guessing Birth date, birth weight, sire, dam, date bred, various births, sex of progeny. What else? Does anyone have a form or program they can recommend, send, or fax a copy. Thanks

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

We use "LonghornMax2" software for our herd records. For commercial cattle breeds, there is "CattleMax". Both are published & sold by http://www.cattlesoft.com

In addition to what you plan to track, we track horn length, hip height, semen inventory, animals color pattern. Of course, we track brand info, P/H (private herd numbers), and 5 generation pedigrees.

Weights we track: birth, weaning, yearly weights. With unweaned calves we try to weigh them every 2-3 months.

From our LonghornMax2 program we can also generate advertising fliers, a "sale pen" brochure, as well as cumulative health records, detailed vaccination & management data, etc.

Photos are downloaded from our digital camera direct onto our program. We take frequent photos to update our records as well as to email to prospective customers and others.

For a $295. investment in LonghornMax2, this program has been invaluable for tracking and managing our herd records.

 

[randiliana]

We raise commercial cattle. The numbers I find to be the most important are BW, WW, Birthdate and weaning date, sex, horned/polled, ADG, Electronic ID, Dam/Sire and Individual ID. The records that I use are Breeding, Calving, Weaning, Previous Calving, and Herd Health.

I keep both paper and computer records, and the computer program I use is Ranch Manager. I find it to be an easy program to use. The link to this program is http://www.lionedge.com, and it is a reasonably priced program. On paper, I keep both group records, and an individual record for each cow in the herd. I find that having paper records is not only good back up, but I remember what each cow does better too.

 

[txag]

http://www.cattlesoft.com/

the registered edition has breed association interfaces:

http://www.cattlemax.com/guided-tour-de ... nshotID=43

 

[got_cows?]

I keep mostly paper records. Spreadsheets from my Microsoft Works program come in handy. You can either fill in the cells on your computer or print them off blank and fill them in by hand.
On every cow I keep a spreadsheet for:

1. Medical - includes illness, injury, dates, meds, reactions, problems, vet calls etc.

2. General - birthdate, dam, sire, breed, previous owner, price, etc.

3. Vaccination - dates and type of vaccine/wormer used

4. Calving - date, BW, sex, AI, problems, horned/polled, notes, etc.

5. AI- protocol used, date, semen company, bull used, calf?, etc.

6. Calving pounds weaned - Age of cow, BW, WW, ADG, sex, bull used, calf's age in days, etc.

It sounds like a lot. :lol: O.k. maybe it is but I don't remember things like I used to and I like keeping track. It's much easier making decisions when I have everything right in front of me.
I also do a whole herd calving worksheet where I list all the cows, calves and where each calf ended up and the price for each.
All the registration papers are kept in a separate 3-ring binder.
I also have a farm calendar where I write everything from heat cycles to which pasture the cows are in. It's amazing what I can forget in a week.

 

[Hippie Rancher]

I keep records on notecards. Need to transfer to computer, just haven't got around to it (probably just as well, it croaked last month! and the last time I did a full back up was July of last year)

We don't have a scale so I can't do wieghts easily, but I keep birth dates, brand/castrate/vac, calving, prices and weights of calves when sold, etc. Even more important, I think are the general notes I add from observation.

I also think I am going to try and get at least one good photo of each to put in an electronic file, at least.

 

[plbcattle]

birthdate, birthweight
weaning weight yearling weight
sire/dam
ai or breeding date(time with bull)
yearling- scan data, scrotal measurment
any vaccs and worming
when I observe a bull breeding a cow, I write it down and usually she calves within 3 days of her due date every time