Software

[gberry]

I've read several of the previous threads about cattle management software. I have several questions that those of you who use software could answer if it's not too much trouble.
1. Do any of the systems that you are using have good ways to keep track of your pastures? (day in, day out, fertilizer application, yields, etc.)

2. Any systems that seem like they would be good for stocker operations?

3. Are there any features that your software has that you "couldn't live without"? And are there any features that you wish your system had?

Thanks in advance for any responses.

 

[dun]

I haven't tried keeping track of yeilds and fertilization other then on a spreadsheet. 17 pastures and I can see it pretty much at a glance that way.
Cattlemax has pasture managment stuff, cows in pasture, days, etc.
The ability to create special reports and export them to pdf format is one thing that I use a lot. The semen inventory is another.
That's besdes the normal, health, measurements, carcass, breeding, etc data

dun

 

[gberry]

Thanks for the response Dun. Anyone else got any insight or advice?

 

[Double R Ranch]

We have had cattlemax for several years now. I don't know what we did without it. It keeps track of everything and as was said before you can creat your own forms etc.
I highly recomend this program and if you contact cattlemax they will send you a trial CD or download free. You can try it yourself for a month. That is what we did and we were sold immediatly. Unfortunitly they don't have this wonderful program for any other animals.
Hope this helps. Any questions feel free to ask.
Double R

 

[TheLazyM]

I myself use ms excel and make my on database. I'm not say this is better it just works for me. I dont remember the names but i tried 2 different wares and they logged a bunch of stuff i dont keep up with. This way i can track only what i want to keep up with and in a format that control and orginize.

 

[randiliana]

You can track pasture use in Ranch Manager also. I have just started using that part of it, so I am not sure what all you can do with it. You can also use it for stockers, but it might be a bit too much in depth, depends on what you want to do I guess.

 

[gberry]

Thank you for the responses. I think ranch manager and cattlemax both offer free trials, so I will try these both. Thanks alot for the insight.

 

[Bama]

I tried Cattle max, It didn't work for me. It didn't have the capabilities to track the stuff I was interested in. I don't care for the bells and whistles, but I do want to know how much it cost me to run the train. I did my own program in excell to track each animals cost on a day to day basis.

 

[tom4018]

I tried Cattle max, It didn't work for me. It didn't have the capabilities to track the stuff I was interested in. I don't care for the bells and whistles, but I do want to know how much it cost me to run the train. I did my own program in excell to track each animals cost on a day to day basis.

Bama,

Maybe you need to market it. We tried Cattlemax demo, although it does some things I like it seems to be to complicated for me. We use Cattleworks but wish it did some things that it doesn't.

We have some spread sheets but I need to figure out have to do the date calculations. Would like to have something that would list cows due dates from when they were exposed to a bull.

 

[Crowderfarms]

Sometimes I think it might be easier just to keep it all on paper.

After all, it WAS done that way for years.

 

[Bama]

To do the date thing just subtract one date from another. The cell with the answer then needs to be formatted as a number. it will give you the number of days differance in the two dates.

 

[vs_cattle]

I Use Cattle Max For My Record Keeping You Should Check It Out

 

[dj]

http://agron.scijournals.org/cgi/content/full/94/3/493