When it comes to calving, we know how busy things can get so we've created the MINDA guide to calving! Instead of wasting time trying to figure out which reports you'll need from MINDA, get a quick a refresher on what you need to know when it comes to calving time 🐄💻✔
Pre-calving
Before you start calving, its important to record mating's or pregnancy diagnosis in MINDA. Why? Using these results, you can plan out your calving period and get a better idea of which cows are due and when.
Why record Pregnancy Diagnosis?
MINDA uses the pregnancy diagnosis or mating information for working out expected calving dates. Depending on how you record pregnancy diagnosis, the expected calving dates can be worked out a little differently.
If you record aged pregnancy diagnosis, MINDA will use this to calculate the expected calving date.
If you record non-aged pregnancy diagnosis or no pregnancy information, MINDA will use the last recorded mating.
If there is no mating information, there will be no expected calving information.
Note: The expected calving date will only update once a calving, mating or pregnancy diagnosis Event is recorded.
What pre-calving reports should I be checking?
Expected Calving by Cow
This report is designed to fit in the yellow notebook and shows the due date, sire and expected BW & PW of the calf. Using this report, you'll get an idea of the calves potential genetic worth making it easier to decide the calves fate i.e. keeping as a replacement or selling.
Expected Calving by Date
This report looks at the expected calving date for your animals and breaks them down into days and weeks.
Tip: You can use this to see what your busiest days or weeks will look like and plan staff on farm, grazing, feeding etc.
During Calving
When you start calving, it's important to record and approve calving Event's in MINDA. Recording a Calving Event updates your Groups & Reports, accurately reflecting what's happening on farm.
Why is it important to record Calving Events in MINDA?
When a 'reared' calving is recorded in MINDA, the calving date is used to determine the sire of the calf. MINDA looks back 282 days (+/- gestation length) to see if there were any mating's recorded. If MINDA picks up a mating within 11 days of the expected mating date, the calf will have an official sire recorded. If there's more than 1 sire within the 11 days, the calf will have an uncertain sire and you'll need to DNA test your calf.
How do I record my Calving Events?
You can record Calving Events in MINDA via the:
What reports should I be checking?
Cows without Recorded Calvings
This report provides a list of cows that don't have a Calving Event recorded for the season. If you have animals in this report, it's best to check that they match animals who haven't calved on farm and that you don't have cows that need to be removed from your MINDA records or cows that may have aborted earlier on.
Post Calving
Once calving is finished, it's important to review how calving went on farm and double check that the right information has been recorded.
What reports should I be checking?
Calves Reared
This reports shows all of the calves you recorded as reared. You can use this to see if there are any calves you might want to sell or check if there is any missing sire information. If you find you have missing sires, there might be some missing mating information or your reared calves might be non-AB calves.
Calving Rate by Age
This graph helps you understand how calving went for the season and what your calving spread was like. You can see the performance of each age group and use this to make decisions around mating.
