STEPS ON GETTING STARTED

STEP 5

Enter calving records.

Select File> Open> Calves

Select Add in the Calf dialog box.

Enter all calving records for the cows and heifers that were exposed to the bulls on or after the "Bull turn Out Date" you entered in Step 4.

Double left click with the mouse on the "Cow ID" or the "Sire ID" field, this brings up the respective inventory listing from which you can select cows or sires.

REQUIRED DATA

CALF ID: (8 characters max.) - May be any combination of letters and/or numbers. A sequential numbering system that includes a year designation is recommended. For example, calves born in 1995 would be numbered E001, 9501, or 5001. (E is the letter code for 1995, 95 indicates the last two digits of the year, and 5 is the last digit of the year).

NOTE: The use of blanks will be counted as a character. Do not use dashes as they may cause sorting difficulties.

COW ID: (8 characters max.) - May be any combination of letters and/or numbers. All cow ID’s must be unique. All ID’s should start with either the letter code for the year the cow was born or the last two digits of the year the cow was born. For example, a cow born in 1993 may be entered as C0001 or 93001.

NOTE: The use of blanks will be counted as a character. Do not use dashes as they may cause sorting difficulties.

CALF BIRTH DATE: (8 characters max.) - Birth date of the calf in the form of Month/Day/Year (01/01/YEAR, substituting the four digit year for "YEAR"). Use 01/01/YEAR for cows that didn’t calf or have calves with unknown birth dates. For example, enter 0/01/1995 for a cow that had an unknown calf birth date in 1995. The CHAPS 2000 program only allows a maximum of 15 01/01/YEAR birth dates for any one year.

CALF SEX: (1 character max.) - Identifies the sex of the calf. Valid inputs are: 1=Bull, 2=Heifer, 3=Steer, 0=Unknown. Calf sex is important when sorting by sex. When the sex of the calf is unknown (0), the management code of A or B should be used. These calves will all be listed on a miscellaneous calf report and reported as open or aborted in the calving distribution report. A temporary calf ID is given to those cows with unknown calf ID’s. For example, EMS1, where E indicates the International Year/Letter code for the birth year and MS indicates the calf is missing an ID and 1 specifies it was the 1st unknown calf listed. Dead calves at birth have a valid birth date and birth dates should be recorded for a complete calving distribution table.

OPTIONAL DATA

CALF BREED: (8 characters max.) - The breed of the calf. The program will automatically insert the sire and cow breeds, respectively, in this field. If a calf of a different breed is purchased, the breed will need to be manually adjusted for proper identification records.

SIRE ID: (8 characters max.) - The ID for the sire of the calf. All sire ID’s must be unique.  By double clicking this box, a list of sires will appear from which you can choose the correct ID.

BIRTH WEIGHT: (3 characters max.) - The weight of the calf at birth. The default birth weight is 75 pounds (steers) and 70 pounds (heifers) when calculating the 205 adjusted weight if the birth weight is omitted.

CALVING EASE: (1 character max.) - Codes that indicate the difficulty of birth. Only scores of 1-4 are used for averages in data summary. Refer to the CHAPS 2000 Guidelines under Calving Ease Codes for a list.

REGISTRATION NUMBER: (18 characters max.) - The registration number of the calf.

REGISTRATION NAME: (18 characters max.) - The registration name for the calf.

ELECTRONIC ID: (18 characters max.) - The electronic ID of the calf.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES: (10 characters max.) - May be any combination of letters and/or numbers and may include notes about the calf.