Record-keeping is an essential component of effective cattle business management. With no written records, farmers must rely on their memories to make decisions about their farming operations. However, recollections might become unreliable after a few days, months, or years.
According to Ernest Makua, livestock technical advisor at Red Meat Institute for Transformation and Enterprise Development (RMITED), recording animal performances is much easier if the creatures have some identification or numbering. Thus, both animal documentation and identification are always necessary.
Farmers can use a variety of cattle record-keeping technologies to capture their information, including manual notes in notebooks, spreadsheets, computers, and mobile applications. So, depending on the tool chosen by the farmer, such tools must be able to convey information about what is happening on the farm while also preserving agricultural records for present and future usage.
“Maintaining [cattle] records involves more than documenting each animal’s daily activities. Not only is this a time-intensive task, but the resulting records may be extensive and challenging to utilise. Instead, farmers should categorise their herds, ensuring that the collected data is as practical as possible for the operation,” Makua says.
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What to track with livestock records
Livestock genealogy and selection: Understanding the intricate relationships within your livestock community is crucial. Delve into who is breeding with whom and evaluate the characteristics of the offspring. Additionally, consider the genetic lines that should be prioritised for continuity.
- Assess breeding pairs and their resulting offspring.
- Determine the desirable traits for future breeding.
- Make informed decisions on which genetic lines to continue for optimal herd development.
Animal treatments and health records: Maintaining the well-being of your herd requires meticulous record-keeping. Document the immunisations and supplements administered to the animals, including dosages and outcomes. Create comprehensive health records covering procedures like dehorning, castration, deworming, branding, insemination, and other treatments.
- Track immunisations and supplements with dosage details.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of health procedures.
- Establish a detailed health record for each animal in the herd.
Breeding records and reproductive monitoring: Efficient herd management involves keeping a close eye on the breeding records and reproductive history of your females. Monitor which females are nearing reproductive age, their breeding status, and the expected due dates.
- Keep tabs on females approaching reproductive age.
- Record breeding status and due dates for efficient management.
- Plan breeding strategies based on reproductive histories.
Birth and weaning analysis: Evaluate the success of your herd’s reproductive cycle by analysing birth and weaning statistics. Identify females giving birth to healthy calves and determine the optimal duration for calves to stay with their parents. Simplify tracking by assigning a brand or an ear tag number to each calf.
- Analyse birth and weaning statistics for herd success.
- Identify females with successful calf births.
- Implement a numbering system for efficient calf tracking.
Types of records to keep on a cattle farm
According to Makua, a farmer should maintain many sorts of cattle farm records to manage a profitable farm business. The sort of records kept varies on every farm, based on herd size, preferences, and value.
- Livestock registration: This register keeps track of the farm’s animals, including their identification number, calf date of birth, sire number, dam number, calf and sex, date of calving, date of purchase, and date of sale/auction/death.
- Calving register: This register documents calving events on the farm. It records the calf’s dam and sire numbers, calf number, sex, and date of birth, as well as any other comments such as calving type (normal/abnormal). The daily milk yield register captures the cows’ daily milk output performance.
- Calf register: Keeps track of calf records on the farm, including calf number, calf sex, sire number, dam number, and birth weight.
- Growth record of young stock: This record keeps track of the weight of young stocks at various periods.
- Daily feeding registration: This register keeps track of how much concentrate, dry fodder, green fodder, and other feeds the animals receive on a daily basis.
- Herd health registration: This register records diseased animals, including their history, symptoms, identified disease, treatment, and the name of the veterinarian who treated them.
- Cattle breeding register: This register records breeding practices on the farm, such as cow number, date of calving, date of heat and services, as well as bull number, date of successful service, pregnancy diagnosis records, expected date of calving, actual date of calving, calf number, and so on.
- Animal history sheet: This sheet details the animal’s number, breed, date of birth, sire and dam numbers, lactation yield records, date of drying, date of disposal/death, and cause of disposal.
Benefits of maintaining livestock records
Staying organised provides numerous advantages. Makua explains that maintaining thorough and up-to-date records across these areas will contribute to the successful management of your cattle farm.
- Keeping detailed records offers a foundation for evaluating animals based on previous records, aiding in the selection and culling of animals.
- Record-keeping facilitates the preparation of animal pedigrees and history records.
- Maintaining records assists in reviewing prior records and establishing better breeding plans to prevent inbreeding, select superior parents, and improve replacement and culling techniques.
- Record-keeping supports bull progeny testing.
- It aids in calculating feeding costs and assessing rewards from animal product outputs, thereby assisting in the development of economic feeding strategies to maximise production.
- Records help in the detection of aberrant conditions or disease status in the herd, resulting in weight loss, decreased milk production, and so on.
- They also aid in the detection of often occurring diseases in the herd, allowing for the development of timely precautionary measures such as vaccination, deworming, and so on.
The best practice for record-keeping is to regularly review and analyse this information to make informed decisions and continually improve your farm’s efficiency and productivity.
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