Getting Your Calving Book Ready for This Season

Every day brings us closer to calving season. For some, it is time to start thinking about what you want to use as your calving book. Here are some tips to help you you the process started.

For the people not using an app:

If you are not using an app to keep track of your calving records, it is definitely time to consider it. We are living in a world that has technology everywhere and the agriculture industry is not an exception.
I have found that the people contacting me for more information about the app are most commonly asking about using it on multiple devices. That is EXACTLY why I began developing a calving book app. You can have this app on all of your devices (iOS, Android, and Amazon). As long as you sign in with the same credentials, you will have access to your whole calving book at your fingertips.
Another thing to consider is that if you use an app like The Calving Book, all of your data is backed up to the cloud so even if you ruin your phone, all of your data is still saved. If you have a traditional paper/pen calving book, once you ruin it, you’ve got nothing.
If you are fearful of the transition from a hard copy to doing it all electronically, fear not. This app was designed with simplicity in mind because we wanted to make sure that it was easy enough to use without having to mess around with it a lot.

For the people using the ‘Lite’ app:

If you tried out the ‘Lite’ app last season, BRAVO!! That is a big step for some people. Hopefully you liked what you saw. The purpose of the this version isn’t to be your calving book forever. It is supposed to give you a little taste of what you’ll get if you upgrade to the ‘Pro’  or ‘Plus’ version. It simply isn’t designed for use over multiple years or for many calves for that matter.
If you are considering upgrading, keep this in mind…if you do, you’ll have the ability to separate your calving book into different books (or folders). You will be able to easily sort out what was from last year and(or) you could sort calves out by pasture. Another one of the many advantages to the ‘pro’ app is the ability to search. It isn’t convenient to scroll through a ton of records so there is an easy-to-use search bar at the top of the page.
These are not the only differences between the apps so for a comparison of them, check out this post.
December 2016 Update:
In the past year, we have taken the Lite app out of the app stores. It was no longer an accurate representation of what our other apps are. While you can still continue to use it if you already have it, we highly recommend updating because of the added features!

For the people using the ‘Pro’ app:

There isn’t a lot to think about if you have already purchased the ‘pro’ app. One thing that I would recommend is to delete old books or books that you don’t use. If you go to the ‘Books’ page then click on any book, you will have the option to delete. This will not delete all of the records, but it will prevent them from loading at start-up, which will make it run faster.
Don’t worry about not being able to access the old records since you deleted the book they were stored in. There is  a ‘Cow History’ page where you can see the details of every calf you have created.
If you have any questions, do not be afraid to contact us at any time.
Ellen