Happy New Year! Just like last year, I apologize for being quiet but this year brings a lot of new changes to The Calving Book. Along with a ton of new features between last May’s update and this most recent update, we are also changing our pricing structure.
As we have been adding new features that allow for a more personalized experience, we have discovered that it takes more storage space. This led us to change our pricing structure. We will now be charging an annual database fee of $14.99 (USD) instead of the one-time fee of $24.99. Users are automatically enrolled in a 21-day free trial before their subscription begins. Since the transaction is handled by the App Store and Google Play Store, like before, you will have to subscribe in with the app store that aligns with your device. User accounts will note which app stores users have subscribed in so an operation will not need to subscribe more than once per platform.
If you have downloaded either one of our apps in 2017 or 2018, please call or email us (provide your username and the devices you use the app on) and we will extend your trial period so you don’t have to pay again right away.
Let’s talk features!
At the end of May 2017, we added a “Sires” page. From that page, you can look at a group of calves and analyze averages weights. We have also been working on our “Cows” page. From this page, you can enter and analyze vaccine records and purchase information, easily access cow history, and mark cows dead or cull (similar to calves). We are also in the process of revamping the “Cow History” page to make it easier to use. You will find some changes in this update but we have a few other things planned.
Of course, this update also comes with a lot of bug fixes and an overall enhanced user experience.
Here are a few good refreshers to get you ready for calving season.
- Delete old books. All data will still be available in “Cow History” but this helps speed up load times.
- If you choose to take advantage of shot records and the check boxes associated with each calf here is the color code system:
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- Royal blue: calf has been treated in the past two weeks
- Sky blue: cow/calf pair has been paired out
- Yellow: cull
- Red: dead
We have a few more updates planned for the time being but as always, we love to hear your feedback. Please feel free to contact us with any comments and questions!
Ellen
Will the new updates be able to handle larger volume of entries? We never could recover all our calves entered last year. If had more than 300hd in a book really slow synchronizing and sometimes wouldn’t.
Speed largely depends on internet reception. We generally recommend you keep each book size between 200 and 300 just to maintain a decent speed. We are always working on making the app run faster and more efficiently. If you notice it getting slow, put your phone in “airplane mode” and it will save immediately offline then sync it later.
Getting ready for the new year: how to move groups of calves which have been sold, moved to other lots etc. Do I really have to do one at a time?
You can send us an email and we can move groups for you!