Message from Cattle producer Brett Hills, Victoria:
" I just thought I would share a personal story with you which is another prime example of the increasing importance data management in farming these days.
Our family trade in cattle and we buy from several locations throughout Victoria and South Australia and sell to feedlots and Coles. Last December we had a setback with a load of steers we sent to a feedlot in NSW. They docked us 10c/kg for the whole load because some of animals were not lifetime traceable in the NLIS database.
I looked into it and even though when we purchased the stock the vendor declaration was ticked lifetime traceable upon researching the NLIS database at www.nlis.com.au I found that a large number were not traceable. This could be due to a number of reasons but the main one was a previous incorrect transfer somewhere in it's history.
I found that over 25% of the animals we had purchased were not lifetime traceable yet I had no way of knowing this when I bought them. There is no reqirement to state whether they are traceable or not when they are sold so you are buying blind.
The good news is the lesson I have learnt from all this.
I have since scanned every animal we have purchased with my Ruggedised Palm, cross checked their lifetime traceability with a download from the NLIS database and then reimported whether or not they are lifetime traceable into the Alternative ID into stockbook. I then downloaded all that data to Stockhand on my palm.
Now when I scan and weigh an animal with the ruggedised palm the Alternate ID tells me whether they are lifetime traceable and I make an instant decision on what I am going to do with them.
Although it was an expensive exercise (we lost over $800 on the load to NSW) I now have a great system through Practical System software to ensure it does not happen again."
For more information on the herd management software Stockbook click here. |
