Homepage

Feedpad is a tool for intensive livestock production and quality assurance records. The software is designed to be used primarily for sheep, cattle, deer and goats for :  Identifying animal feed requirements for maintenance, growth and lactation. Stock reconciliation with livestock values. Breeding timeline for reproductive events. Formulating pasture and supplement mixes to meet feed requirements. Feed budgeting on pasture and supplements. Comparing costs of feeding options. Paddock and intensive cell grazing plans. Stock tallies and breeding calendar. Farm mapping. Database recording of paddock information.  Animal health history Stock location history and inwards and outwards movements A database of feed types is maintained for pastures and other feeds. Multiple farm databases and files may be maintained for multiple farming units and pasture growth profiles. Up to three feed types may be analysed, for example pasture with hay, or pasture hay and crop. Non-pasture rations may also be analysed for energy and protein content. The paddock database is used for recording paddock areas and feed covers (kg DM/ha). The nutri-meter is used to identify the energy and crude protein content of feed mixes and decisions made based on those levels. The main screen or panel after startup containing many of the branch controls is referred to in the text as the Feedpad. Pasture assessment The feed budget and grazing plan sections require measures of pasture cover from pasture cover walks. Pasture cover in kg DM/ha may be assessed using various methods including eye appraisal, the rising plate meter, a calibrated capacitance meter, height conversion or cutting, drying and weighing.  Feed utilisation percentage and animal numbers Wasteage rates may be built into feeding rates for intake assessments by specifying the utilization percentage for the feeds being considered. Feeding rates are increased accordingly using this adjustment. Animal numbers are also specified. Feed prices and livestock values Supplementary feed prices are entered into the feed database along with the feed description, dry matter percentage, energy and protein values and unit weights. A check box is provided when a price comparison is to be presented. Opening and closing and sale and purchase livestock values are included in the stock reconciliation. Mapping requirements An aerial photograph is required for farm mapping. Scale setting is by referencing a distances which may be obtained from surveyors' maps. The image may be stored as a bitmap (.bmp) or as a smaller sized . jpg or .gif file. Either colour or black and white images are suitable. Images may be of various sizes. It is recommended that the scanning resolution is such that the whole farm can be seen using a 1024 x 768 pixel screen. Animal health and stock location histories  Animal health and stock location (paddocks, blocks etc) may be transferred from current stock tally files to historical database files. These files may be retreived from within Feedpad and reports prepared for specified years sorted by stock class or date. These reports may be used to provide quality assurance information for other organisations. Print reports and data export Reports may be printed for stock reconciliations, tallies and stock units, paddock information, animal health and stock location histories, farm maps, feed budgets, grazing plans, feed formulations using energy and protein and feeding rates and feed prices. Feed budget, stock shift histories and stock reconciliation outcomes may also be exported to text files.

Homepage