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by Dr. Dale Blasi, Kansas State University Numerous industry experts have recently commented that the beef industry is moving rapidly from being production-driven to an industry committed to meeting consumer preferences and demands. The evidence for these observations is the creation by various alliances and cooperatives of numerous branded beef products that are convenient, tasty and safe. The ultimate success of branded beef products will likely center upon the delivery of consistent quality from one eating experience to the next. The responsibilities associated with the creation, maintenance and protection of the value associated with the brand name, will ultimately force members of the value chain (cow/calf - stocker - feedlot) to adopt and document pre-harvest nutrition, health and management practices that promote animal health and well-being. Verifying the required pre-harvest processes and specific veterinary health products that would be required for a beef animal to qualify for inclusion in a specific branded product line will undoubtedly require excellent record keeping systems on the part of participating beef producers. While pad and pen represent a relatively easy avenue for collecting data, this method falls short in terms of the extra time required to transfer the data to an electronic format with a minimum number of errors in a timely manner. Because of this, handheld computers will play an increasingly important role as a data collection and transfer tool. In the previous two articles, different handheld computer types and models were compared and various kinds of software were evaluated from the perspective of use in the feedlot industry. To illustrate the value of handheld computers for applications in the feedlot industry, this article will focus specifically on a software program called Chuteside(R) that was developed by Kansas State University personnel in the Colleges of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine for collecting health and health treatment data from newly arrived stocker cattle during the initial processing period and when subsequently treating sick cattle. Chuteside(R) was conceptualized and written using HanDBase(R), an off-the-shelf database program designed for use by either the Pocket PC(R) and Palm(R) operating system hand held computers. HanDBase(R) requires a minimum of 180K and 300K available memory, respectively for Palm and Pocket PC devices and may contain up to 30 different fields of data for each record. HanDBase(R) is a relational database program which allows the user to link two databases together, thereby allowing a record of one database to act as a key to other databases. This feature enables users to jump from one relational database to the related items in a linked database. A very handy feature that is incorporated into HanDBase(R) is the ability to scan bar codes. When this software is loaded on a Symbol(R) SPT 1700 handheld computer, the ability to quickly find an animal's record via the use of a bar-coded ear tag makes record keeping incredibly easy to manage and keep up with the processing crew. Moreover, Chuteside(R) can be completely customized for any individual operation's specific receiving and treatment protocols and may also include the attending veterinary practitioner's medication and treatment recommendations. Chuteside(R) is essentially an umbrella program which is composed of seven databases that are effectively interlinked together to provide for a practical, low cost entry beef quality assurance and records keeping program. Chuteside(R) comes equipped with a desktop manager which allows for the manager to sort and generate reports by lot number and time period. The remaining article will provide a short description of each of the databases contained in this program. Manifest: The Manifest database was designed for the cattle manager to collect specific data for cattle received on a truck load basis. Information such as date and time of truck departure and arrival, weather conditions, percent shrink, trailer model, lot number assignment and truck driver name and signature are the data elements collected. Cattle: When anticipating the arrival of a load of calves, the manager may utilize an Excel(R) spreadsheet on the desktop computer to input information for each individual calf such as designated ID number, lot number, gender, receiving date, weight, source and receiving protocol. Once completed, the information can be transferred or "hotsynced" to the handheld computer to take away from the office environment for use at processing time. (Figure A.) Processing: The processing protocol database allows the feedlot manager to list the various receiving protocols that may be routinely used for calves that are purchased and received from different locations or production situations . For example, assume a manager employs the services from two cattle buyers from different parts of the country. Over a period of time, the manager may realize that for a variety of reasons, calves purchased from one buyer respond better to one particular receiving regimen than the other. Drug: The drug database contains the entire formulary of all FDA-approved cattle vaccines, biologicals, antibiotics and other products such as implants with associated information such as whether it is a prescribed drug, route of administration, approved dosage and the withdrawal period (Figure C). This database could be managed and locked by the attending veterinarian regarding extra-label drug prescriptions for assurance that health care recommendations and the new withdrawal period is not modified once the instructions are out of his/her control. Protocol: The treatment protocol database contains a listing of the entire treatment protocols that a manager has established for the various ailments and diseases that may be encountered. An example protocol for the treatment of footrot is shown in Figure C. Again, the attending veterinarian may play a central role in the design of the various treatment protocols that can be selected once the animal is restrained in a chute and a diagnosis for treatment is established. RX1: When a sick calf is pulled and run through the hospital shack, the user opens the RX1 database and selects the ID of the calf. Once the clinical signs are evaluated and the appropriate protocol for treatment is selected, the calf's weight is entered. Automatically, the calculated amount(s) of the correct medications that comprise the treatment protocol are correctly determined for the cowboy to administer (Figure D).Each particular treatment episode is automatically recorded and is "backed up" when the next "hot sync" session is conducted. Loadout Manifest: Essentially a mirror image of the manifest database, this component of the program allows the feedlot manager to document the load out of cattle that leave the operation on a load-basis. This article has reviewed Chuteside(R), a Palm(R) operating system software for managing beef calf health records. Development of other Palm(R) software applications related to bunk calling and feed inventory management is in the works. Additional information may be obtained by contacting Dr. Mark Spire at (785) 532-4201 or myself at (785) 532-5427. © |
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