The Importance of Farm and Livestock Records

Keeping farm records is a pain, so it comes as no surprise that farmers tend to avoid it. The common excuse is that record keeping is time-consuming - And let’s be honest, notes are only lost to the washing machine.

This means that record keeping is highly dependent on memory, which works for some, however, it is difficult for memory to adapt to ever-changing conditions. Realistically, if one of your kids comes back to the family farm or there are multiple employees working on the operation, farm record keeping cannot be avoided if the aim is to run a progressive farming business.

Mobble is a project that, at the time of this article, we had been working on for just 3 months. The aim was to simplify the farm recording system into a single piece of software, synced across multiple devices, for multiple users, all backed up to the cloud (no more washing machine worries). The vision we have for Mobble is to create simple, practical, flexible farm & livestock management software across any farming operation. This vision has been directly incorporated into our key design requirements.

>>> More on Mobble today here.

Simple

The app design is simple, eliminating clutter to show only what is necessary for farmers to make informed decisions and keep updated with all farm events. The software consists of two main parts:

• Paddocks
• Mobs

Below shows how mobs are shown on mobile (Note: these image may be outdated).

After selecting a paddock, you get three tabs of information:

• Paddock info
• Mobs in paddock
• Paddock history

When a mob is selected two tabs are presented:

• Mob information
• Mob history

Simple design does not only eliminate clutter it also saves time. By having a streamlined app design, record keeping becomes intuitive and efficient.

Practical

Mobble has the flexibility to fit all farming models - it is practical so that any task can be recorded in a way that reflects the job at hand. Here are a few examples to demonstrate how Mobble brings practicality to farm software.

A farmer drenches all the Merino Wethers

Mobble manages bulk logging of information using smart filtering. Filtering the information to view only what is asked for, in this case for Merino Wethers we can apply a bulk treatment. Smart filtering is also available for paddocks to assist in bulk paddock events and treatments.

Batch id’s and Withholding Periods (WHP) will also be logged to have you ready for audit.

A farmer boxes together all the Merino Ewes for scanning and re-classing

We understand that quite often mobs are merged together and reshuffled through the property on a number of occasions, so we built something to represent a virtual yard in which all this happens. The virtual yard is built to replicate the processes that is found in any yard.

Will there be practical summaries of the information?

To make this information useful, good reporting and summaries are necessary. Summaries include:

• Mob and paddock treatments
• Paddock stocking rates over time
• Casualties & livestock numbers
• Sales & more

Flexible

We know that every farm is different, so our goal is to provide the most flexible farm management software to date. A few examples of this are presented below.

What about mixed farming?

We discovered the demand for mixed farming software at the Australian Sheep & Wool Show in Bendigo, this drove us to explore software possibilities for farmers that deal with both, growing crops and raising livestock. After visiting a mixed farming operation near Skipton Victoria, we discovered the importance of flexible paddock treatment records. These records include sowing, fertilising, spraying, harvesting and soil tests which have all been incorporated into the Mobble design along with a chemical inventory.

Is it possible to class livestock my way?

Commercial operations need flexibility for livestock records, they need to be able to box mobs of any age, create custom classes, split age groups and most importantly, do it their way. So we have incorporated this into Mobble and have made the most fluid mob software available.

I forgot to log all the treatments for the week, can I backlog this information?

Another flexibility element is editable information, we don’t always count the right number of livestock out the gate and we don’t always remember the mixing ratios after spraying, which is why all this information is completely editable for when you do remember.

What now?

Thanks for reading and if you have any questions feel free to contact me at j@mobble.io or visit our website mobble.io for more information.

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Signing off,

Jock Lawrence (Chief Mobbler)

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