What are the best beef events to talk to farmers at?

Herdwatch

Member
Can you also run your program on a desktop computer and use scanners to input passport data? Also what support do you offer to businesses switching over from competitor products in the way of transferring data from existing programs. I ask because as a long time Farmplan cattle manager user I like the program very much and am very familiar with it BUT I have been asking for years about a mobile version so I can carry my animal records with me without printing out reams of paper to take to the crush with me. If your program offers the usability as CM with the mobile aspect I wouldn’t hesitate to switch but the loss of historic data would be a shame.

Hi @beefandsleep The next version of Herdwatch which is currently in testing has scanning built into the app which will allow you to scan in passports and animal medicines from anywhere.
In relation to transferring data, we sync your Herd directly from BCMS so we would be able to pull in most of the herd information, however, we don't transfer data in from other packages.

Herdwatch is certainly user-friendly and works 100% offline, however, it stores everything in the cloud which means your information is always safe and can be accessed by multiple people on the farm. It works on PC, Mac, Android and Iphones.
 

Herdwatch

Member
Hi @Chae1 I'm not sure what I can do about the scantily clad women ;) but we do have a 30 free trial which allows you access to all Herdwatch features.
It allows you to get a feel for what Herdwatch can do for you.
 

holwellcourtfarm

Member
Livestock Farmer
Hi @beefandsleep The next version of Herdwatch which is currently in testing has scanning built into the app which will allow you to scan in passports and animal medicines from anywhere.
In relation to transferring data, we sync your Herd directly from BCMS so we would be able to pull in most of the herd information, however, we don't transfer data in from other packages.

Herdwatch is certainly user-friendly and works 100% offline, however, it stores everything in the cloud which means your information is always safe and can be accessed by multiple people on the farm. It works on PC, Mac, Android and Iphones.
So if I were to migrate from Farmworks I would have to print a historic copy of our medicine book, herd register etc. and either manually enter the historic info or just rely on the printed copies for historic evidence I assume.

We have 15 years records on Farmworks.
 

beefandsleep

Member
Location
Staffordshire
If it’s like Farmplan there’s nothing stopping you keeping the old program on your pc for those purposes. If you stop paying the subs you just lose access to cloud storage, software support and upgrades.
 
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Samcowman

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Cornwall
To consider it it would be quite important to be able to transfer data off of the old program onto yours there is a lot of important information on there built up over years particularly with breeding cows. For example this week working through heifers for bulling I need to be able to access mothers information and lifetime performance straight through the daughters records.
 

Herdwatch

Member
Hi @holwellcourtfarm At present, we don't have any way of importing data into Herdwatch from another programme, so if you were to start with Herdwatch you would have to keep a record of it somewhere else, either printed off or on a USB or PC.
However, the information we get from BCMS is quite good and Herdwatch is clever enough to be able to connect related animals if they are still in your Herd.

@Samcowman That sounds like information we would get down from BCMS, it would be worth getting set up on the free trial to see if that information is there.
 

holwellcourtfarm

Member
Livestock Farmer
Hi @holwellcourtfarm At present, we don't have any way of importing data into Herdwatch from another programme, so if you were to start with Herdwatch you would have to keep a record of it somewhere else, either printed off or on a USB or PC.
However, the information we get from BCMS is quite good and Herdwatch is clever enough to be able to connect related animals if they are still in your Herd.

@Samcowman That sounds like information we would get down from BCMS, it would be worth getting set up on the free trial to see if that information is there.
Thanks @Herdwatch , I thought that would be the case. Shearwell's business plan is based around restricting your access to your data to their software. Their software (Farmworks) does not allow you to export any data in a readable format as far as I can tell, only to print hard copies or link direct to BCMS.
 

Samcowman

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Cornwall
Hi @holwellcourtfarm At present, we don't have any way of importing data into Herdwatch from another programme, so if you were to start with Herdwatch you would have to keep a record of it somewhere else, either printed off or on a USB or PC.
However, the information we get from BCMS is quite good and Herdwatch is clever enough to be able to connect related animals if they are still in your Herd.

@Samcowman That sounds like information we would get down from BCMS, it would be worth getting set up on the free trial to see if that information is there.
It's the performance information which is quite important for me. As @holwellcourtfarm said other providers aren't going to give up your information on their system easily
 

Herdwatch

Member
Hi @holwellcourtfarm and @Samcowman, We take a slightly different approach. Any information a farmer records in Herdwatch can be exported, we feel that the data belongs to the farmer not us. Obviously, we want our member to stay with us for a long time but we can't trap them either.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.5%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 65 34.9%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.1%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 6 3.2%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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