Keeping a log

[chadreed88]

How do most of you keep up with cows age,calves,breeding dates, and other information? I know it can be kept by just writing it down but I thought maybe someone had a spreadsheet or something they developed that they would share with us. I really don't want to buy anything like cattlemax because its a little to in depth and I wouldn't use a lot of the stuff on there. Any help would be great.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Notebook and a pencil.

 

[ga. prime]

I tried cattlemax but could never figure that thing out. Had to wait on my sister to visit to log the info in and that wasn't often enough. What I do is simply use a notebook with a page for each cow with her pertinant information and under that a line for each calf she has with sire, birth date, weight, color, sex, tag#, weight when sold, price/lb, extraordinary circumstances, etc. recorded on the line. Works very well for me.

 

[skyline]

I do it just like my Papaw did it. Buy a red daily planner (one page per day) the first week of the new year and write down calves, sales, purchases, pasture changes, fertilizing, seeding, baling results, changes in feeding, etc... Works for me and I can even retrieve information when the electricity is out.

 

[Fred Belknap]

I use Excel and it works ok for me. Keep cattle records and tax info on seprarate spreadsheets. Once you get it going it is pretty easy. Put in any info that you need to retain.. Comes end of year I print it out and put it in a three ring binder.

 

[msscamp]

How do most of you keep up with cows age,calves,breeding dates, and other information? I know it can be kept by just writing it down but I thought maybe someone had a spreadsheet or something they developed that they would share with us. I really don't want to buy anything like cattlemax because its a little to in depth and I wouldn't use a lot of the stuff on there. Any help would be great.

I kept a spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel. It contained the birth dates of every animal born on the place, old ear tags, replacement ear tags, calving dates, estimated birth weights, sex, calf tag number, what bull the animal was bred to, etc. We have since sold out, so I do not have that particular spreadsheet anymore. But I do have a similar spreadsheet for my goats that I would be willing to e-mail you if you're interested. Another option would be to check with your local vet or feed stores for a pocket sized booklet that will do basically the same thing.

 

[Bez+]

How do most of you keep up with cows age,calves,breeding dates, and other information? I know it can be kept by just writing it down but I thought maybe someone had a spreadsheet or something they developed that they would share with us. I really don't want to buy anything like cattlemax because its a little to in depth and I wouldn't use a lot of the stuff on there. Any help would be great.

I kept a spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel. It contained the birth dates of every animal born on the place, old ear tags, replacement ear tags, calving dates, estimated birth weights, sex, calf tag number, what bull the animal was bred to, etc. We have since sold out, so I do not have that particular spreadsheet anymore. But I do have a similar spreadsheet for my goats that I would be willing to e-mail you if you're interested. Another option would be to check with your local vet or feed stores for a pocket sized booklet that will do basically the same thing.

Hey kiddo!

Grrr .... folks like you make me growl - how do you find the time or the patience to sit down at a computer and do up NUMBERS!!??

We just do it on paper here.

If the filing cabinet burns, all my little note books go - and we are in trouble

Bez+

 

[TexasBred]

We keep everything updated on a computer program which we use to use in the dairy business but all day to day activities are simply kept in a handy dandy little spiral notebook and given to the wife to put in the computer when she has time.

 

[Limomike]

I tried cattlemax but could never figure that thing out. Had to wait on my sister to visit to log the info in and that wasn't often enough. What I do is simply use a notebook with a page for each cow with her pertinant information and under that a line for each calf she has with sire, birth date, weight, color, sex, tag#, weight when sold, price/lb, extraordinary circumstances, etc. recorded on the line. Works very well for me.

Kinda the way we do it around here too. Keep a notebook, with each cow listed on a single page (with photo), date they were born, dam and sire. If they are registered the paperwork is right there too. Listed on each page is a list of each calf they have had each year. Calves have date they were born, sex, color. I list on a separate page every calf born and the dam, as well as when they are vaccinated, date sold, (or pulled for weaning), average daily gain, and any other particular concerns.

 

[I luv herfrds]

I use Ranch Manager. Also have the little pocket books. So I have it in both the computor, saved on disc, and in a book.

 

[gotfire]

We keep all our cattle info in access. At one point I was using excel but once we hit 100 head it was too much. We have tried 2 different cattle programs but I didn’t like them.

We keep all our farm stuff on 2 access and one excel file. Every year we start a new access file for the tax / bills / income. Every 6 months we update the master cattle record and pull all the cattle we still have (30 min).

Every time we run the cattle through the shoot a laptop goes with us and my 10 or 12 year old updates the laptop as we work the cattle.

When I want to find a trend or get a statistic out of my data I can do it with some creative sorting of the data.

 

[cfpinz]

I use CattleWorks, relatively inexpensive compared to CattleMax. Doesn't have all the features of CattleMax but it's easy to use. If I had it to do all over again I'd spring for CattleMax but I can't stand the thought of entering all of that data again.

 

[Angus Cowman]

I refer MDI,s cow/calf mananger one of the things I like is I store all my own data is not store by their server and it is also simple enuff for ME to use

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

We use LonghornMax for our herd statistics. Very comprehensive program and easy to use (for those that are halfway computer literate). Their Commercial Cattle software is "CattleMax".

Other options include a spreadsheet such as Excel, a "pen and ink" entered columnar pad, etc.

At the "bottom feeder level" of record-keeping: "A big crayola and a Big Chief Tablet"...lol

Whatever serves one's purpose, skill level, and record-keeping sophistication. On other hand, a computer managed system is an excellent way to produce reports almost instantly for your management and/or submission to your customer.

 

[dun]

I ised a looseleef bonder wityh a sheet for each cow. Got tired of entering the same data twice for a calf and the cow so I wrote a hairy COBOL program that took care of everythin. I got tired of scrweing around "improving" it so I did an evaluation of a bunch of the software that was available. Finally settled on Cattlemax. Great customer service. Haven;t regretted it for a minute

 

[denoginnizer]

I have been branding the heifers on the shoulder with there year model.

 

[nap]

I agree with dun. I have been using CattleMax for several years and I am very pleased with the results. Writing down everything in a notebook is fine, but it becomes very cumbersome when you are looking for specific data. With CattleMax I have everything at my fingertips and can call it up immediately. In addition to cattle data of every conceivable form, financial records can also be kept on the program. This is particularly important when we are all operating on very thin margins. One final comment, I use a MIG grazing system and I can track all my cattle rotations on the program.

 

[randiliana]

I use Ranch Manager. Also have the little pocket books. So I have it in both the computor, saved on disc, and in a book.

Same here, although I also use spreadsheets for stuff Ranch Manager doesn't do for me.

 

[Phil in Tupelo]

I suspect almost everyone carries a book or pad in their pocket or truck dashboard. I carry the IRM Redbook from NCBA. Works well for me.