As the year winds to a close and the holidays are upon us, I hope you have time to spend with your family and friends. With the new year on the horizon and calving season to follow, I would encourage you to look at your record-keeping system.
Records allow producers to look back over a period of time and determine what cows are the most profitable and fit the operation. One of the most common tools for records is the red book, which records information such as pasture use, calving records, supplement records and others. This information is great, but what do we do with it after the year is concluded? If the answer is that it goes in the trash when the new one comes in, then those records are not working for you.
There are many solutions for digital cow-calf records, and those can be used in place of or in conjunction with your red book. At the end of the year, put your records into the program and reference them when it comes to making culling or breeding decisions. Recording pasture usage and patterns related to weather can be used to estimate pasture yield, which will assist with grazing calculations for subsequent years to follow. Some software programs allow you to connect multiple devices so you and your employees are all on the same page, especially employees who perform night checks or when you have multiple people moving cattle across different pastures. Having a software program can assist greatly in analyzing records, as they generally can sort and filter data as needed.
When selecting a software program, ensure that it can track the records you already use or would like to utilize in the future. These software programs vary in cost, but they can pay for themselves quickly. Whether your record system allows you to make more informed breeding decisions, allows you to use pastures more efficiently or keeps track of the cow that did not calve and mistakenly goes back in with the herd, as you start the new year, meet with your crew and make sure everyone knows what records you will need for the upcoming year and how you would like them to be recorded. These records can inform what goals you have for the upcoming year and whether or not you met them. Records can seem tedious at times, but they are an essential tool in improving your beef herd.
