Herd Books has several features to cover most aspects of herd management (click on any image for a larger view):

The Cow Page displays 22 preset information items plus a photo. Type in a cow name and use the pop-up lists to enter her record. Click on Enter New Calf to record a birth. Click on Photo to enlarge it or to add a new digital photo. Click on Show Tree to display a maternal family tree.

The Calf Page will display up to 14 of the cow's calves. New calves can often be entered with no typing, by selecting from lists that pop-up beside text boxes. You can easily edit the lists to suit your operation. Heifers are added to the herd by displaying a calf's record and clicking Make Calf a Cow.

Each cow has a Maternal Family Tree that shows the cow's dam, her sisters and her daughters. This can help you spot genetic trends in cow lines. Once a cow is entered in the herd, her tree will automatically update as her heifers are added to the herd. You can navigate up and down the trees, moving from one cow's record to the next.

There are several Tagging System Options for both calf tags and CCIA tags to select from to allow easier entry of calves. These options allow the auto-fill of numbers for new calves; so the proper tag numbers will be entered for you when you enter a new calf.

The Tool Menu

To use a Pop-up List - click on an entry box - then click on a word from the list to pass it into the entry box.

You can customize the Lists that pop-up when you click on an entry box. Lists allow for fast mouse click entry of record boxes.

CCIA numbers can either be auto-entered on the New Calf Entry or batch entered later. Batch entry allows you to save your work anytime. Batch entry is fast and simple to use; once a CCIA tag number has been entered you won't have to type in another until you begin a new set of tags. The program will send the numbers to the Herd files and then create a csv. file with actual birthdates to upload to the CLIA website - no more spreadsheet (link to CLIA website is provided on the forms). Similar CCIA forms for Cross Referencing tags, Verifying Cows, Retiring tags, Moving-In and Moving-Out cattle are also included. In & Out will handle non-herd feeder cattle also. Gallagher tag reader session files are now uploaded to Move-In form - when sold load your Move-In file to Move-Out form to created upload file. The CCIA Tag Entry Form (for those of you who don't apply CCIA tags until fall). The form is set up for the fastest entry possible. Entering your CCIA tags is at most a point and click operation. If your tagging system reflects order of birth and the CCIA tags match that order - tags can be auto filled with this form. This page shows creating a file for CLIA Website. You select a year - enter your Account Number - load calves - create file and save it to Your Documents for upload to the website.

Herd Books to batch enter Weaning Weights (no yearling weights). The 200 day weights and AVDGs are sent back to the Herd files and are also saved in a Year file.

Cows are Sent to Pasture with a bull/bull type or culled. This sets the sire for the next years calf and records where and with whom the cow/calf pair spent the season. There are ten Breeding Pastures and room to save 50 bull names or types. All entries here are point and click.

Bulls Individual Records form: A place to record info on your bulls and their yearly activities. As bulls in the top list are selected their photo is shown and yearly record shows below. It also works with Send to Pastures for yearly records. As the pastures are selected the bulls in the pasture will show in a list to the side.

Mass Treatments provides a record of treatments given to your cattle. Cattle are selected from your records- Cows, Calves, or cattle that you have Moved-In. There are four types of treatments, antibiotics, vaccines, parasitics and hormones. Select the type of treatment used, select the product from the list and apply it to the cattle you have selected to treat. You may apply up to three treatments per animal at a time. Withdrawal times are shown and days remaining are displayed when the file is viewed. Cattle treated may receive different or additional treatments.

The Move-In form has 3 functions. (1) Moving in bought cattle, (2) Adding bought heifers or cows to your herd and (3) applying CCIA#s to your own cattle from a RFID tag readers .csv file. (it will also save weights from a RFID scale session to your calf records). If your tag reader is capable of entering a farm tag# it can auto match CCIA# and weights to your cattle. It is also possible to save a spreadsheet as a .csv file, access the file and transfer data to the Move-In form and then on to your Herd Book files.

Photo Page - Select cows & print 6 to 42 per letter sized page.

Here is a Yearly Notes page to type anything you want (like a notepad). Click on a list of past years to bring up your notes for that year.

There is a Search and Print section where you can assemble a group of cattle by almost any criteria and then print any or all of the record items. This is where you would, for example, print a list of red/polled/heifer calves born in 2007 between March 16th and April 20th; that shows the calf tag, dam, sire, granddam, dam's color and disposition. Set Search parameters... Calves found... Selecting what to print... Printed sheet - your name will show in front of_____'s Herd Books. If there is room on the paper multiple columns will be printed. Printing supports font sizes 8 to 16.

Graphs: Cycle By Cows Calved Cycle By Pastures Average Daily Gain by Pastures

You can enter your current herd and the current years' calves to start - then enter past records later. If you have good paper records you can enter Cows from as far back as you wish and progress through the years to current time; giving you a more useful Herd Book. For Producers who have separate herds for cross-breeding they may add up to three additional herds and save heifers from one herd to another. Family Trees are still linked for navigation between herds. Switching between herds is done at any time by clicking the "Herds" button and selecting the herd you want from a popup list.

Herd Books is available to try at no charge for 90 days - please visit our Order page for more information.