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dun

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I'm evaluating a couple of pieces of managment software, would do you like and dislike about CattleMax and Herd Managment 2000?

dun
 
I bought herd management. I thought it would do everything I needed for a lot cheaper than the others. But I bought something just to keep simple records of inventory and progenies. It will keep up with costs and health as well as notes on each individual animal. Not real user friendly and you have to be a computer geek to figure out the report writer. But it does do everything I need. I believe CattleMax is a step up and has a lot more features.
 
What are the prices for CattleMax and Herd Managment 2000 software?

I have seen CattleMax and heard good things about it, but have never used it personally.
 
I guess the only bad thing I could say about 2000 is definitely not user friendly. Once you get used to it, it works good. I like the group features. You can assign cattle to a group and adjust a record for the entire group with one entry. I put all cows in one pasture in a group, so when I turn the bulls in, I just enter one breeding date for the whole herd instead of going to each record, etc. etc. You can attach EPD's and a picture to each animal if you desire. View a cow or bull's progeny with one click. When you work cows you can enter the actions with one record as a group too. Customize reports (once you figure out how) is nice and you can export anything to an Excel spreadsheet. I've got reports set up for calving dates, calf crops, pasture inventories and all sorts of stuff. I haven't figured out how to compare performance of calves with one click yet.
 
D.R. Cattle":1p89edx5 said:
I guess the only bad thing I could say about 2000 is definitely not user friendly. Once you get used to it, it works good. I like the group features. You can assign cattle to a group and adjust a record for the entire group with one entry. I put all cows in one pasture in a group, so when I turn the bulls in, I just enter one breeding date for the whole herd instead of going to each record, etc. etc. You can attach EPD's and a picture to each animal if you desire. View a cow or bull's progeny with one click. When you work cows you can enter the actions with one record as a group too. Customize reports (once you figure out how) is nice and you can export anything to an Excel spreadsheet. I've got reports set up for calving dates, calf crops, pasture inventories and all sorts of stuff. I haven't figured out how to compare performance of calves with one click yet.

we have cattlemax seedstock edition & it's great. sound like it has all the features of herd management. cheaper than cattlepro & most of the same features. we've had it for a couple of years and i would highly recommend it. they have a sample program they can send you to try out. it has an imaginary herd & you can move around & see all the features. also, the owners are aggies! whoop!
 
I bought the Cattle Works program a couple of years ago. I run a small cow /calf program and this product was very inexpensive and tracked all the data i needed.

I mostly lease bulls for breeding, the company modified the software so i could track the leased bulls and which cattle were bred by them.

I also track my horses on the system. Check 'em out.

http://www.cattleworks.com/


Alex
 
We have Cattle Max seedstock and have updated to the latest edition. It is very good, user friendly and the support they offer is excellent. Actually get to talk to the guy that develops it. And, they take you comments seriously and improve the software based on them - that is if you recommend something that is actually an improvement.

Cattle Max Rocks :lol:
 
We use the "Longhorn Max" edition of their products. Has been an excellent program, especially since they released their "Longhorn Max 2" edition. If I remember correct, this program was $295.

Good Points:

  • 1. You can do a lot of things, including printing out a custom sales catalog with photos and pedigrees, maintain a mailing list for labels and "blind copy" e-mails.
    2. Just because these programs say "Cattle" you are not limited to cattle. Anything with a name and birthdate can be used--people, hogs, dogs, llamas, etc.
    3. Numerous types of specialized reports can be easily done as well as creating custom reports for your special needs.
    4. Very good search and filter searches by names, sex, etc.

Bad Points:

  • 1. My own problem has been that the program will ONLY accept a .bmp file and if you try to save a .jpeg photo the program will crash and you have to re-start.
    2. I haven't been able to figure out yet how to send a bulk e-mail--no instructions on help page--I can select the names I want to do; however, there is no option to select to type your message to "send" to the names you have selected. Jury is still out--waiting on further instructions from the Cattle Max people.

My 2 cents worth for now... ;-) :? :)
 
FWIW, I ended up going with CattleMax. They were the only ones that were willing and knowledable in answering some peculiar how to questions. Two companys never even responded either by e-mail or telephone.
It's a little pricey, but since I don't ever plan on having to get any other software in the future, what the heck.

dun
 
dun":15wtdqko said:
FWIW, I ended up going with CattleMax. They were the only ones that were willing and knowledable in answering some peculiar how to questions. Two companys never even responded either by e-mail or telephone.
It's a little pricey, but since I don't ever plan on having to get any other software in the future, what the heck.

dun

i think you'll be happy w/your choice. i mentioned the upgrade in my earlier response & wanted to clarify a little. they sometimes have small updates & upgrades that are free. we've had the program for several years and this is the first major upgrade that we'll have to pay for. their customer service is really good & they even had a training class a while back. i couldn't go but i wanted to because i'm sure there's things it can do that i haven't discovered yet.
 
You made a good choice Dun I've been testing out a bunch of the 30 day trials and Cattle Max was the only one I was really impressed with.
 
dun":3alqqpn8 said:
FWIW, I ended up going with CattleMax. They were the only ones that were willing and knowledable in answering some peculiar how to questions. Two companys never even responded either by e-mail or telephone.
It's a little pricey, but since I don't ever plan on having to get any other software in the future, what the heck.

dun

Don't blame you. My biggest problem with the cheaper stuff is support. If anything ever goes wrong with it, I suspect I'll have to buy something different because of that.
 
Circle A are you using Cattle Works to track your exspenses or just breeding history? I am trying it out and thought about adding a event for fertilizer that is used on pasture. Thanks.
 
Tom,

I just use it to track breeding / calving history, and basically any time i "touch" the cows. Vets, movement to pastures, if i add grain to their diet, etc.

I bet you could add an event for fertilizer. You could create a "cow" that is each pasture and then apply events to that entry.

I also keep track of my horses in the same way.

i also found the company to be very response to my questions, you might send them an email.

Alex
 
We use the LonghornMax product because we run Registered Texas Longhorns and Commercial Brangus. It works great for both herds and I even keep the two herds separate in the software under different file names. Works great!
 

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