Computer cowboys.One of the duties of a rancher, and probably not the favorite, is "paperwork." Paperwork and record keeping may be a relatively small part of running a ranch ranch, large farm devoted chiefly to raising and breeding cattle, horses, sheep, and goats. The cattle ranch was introduced from Latin America to Texas and the plains of the W United States and Canada. , but they do take time and money. Good record keeping can pay off, too, with valuable information and opportunities to improve the ranching operation's bottom line. This article examines the current record keeping practices of Montana's cattle ranches, focusing on the types of data ranchers collect and the methods they use to process it. In particular, we looked at ranchers' use of personal computers and software to track information about ranch finances and cattle production. The Survey Population The questionnaire was developed and tested with the help of the Granite granite, coarse-grained igneous rock of even texture and light color, composed chiefly of quartz and feldspars. It usually contains small quantities of mica or hornblende, and minor accessory minerals may be present. County Cattlewomen's Association, then sent to cattle ranches listed in the 1995-1996 Montana Cattle Directory, a publication of the Montana Stockgrowers' Association. Approximately 500 questionnaires were mailed and 253 returned, a solid response rate of just over 50 percent. We received responses from 49 of Montana's 56 counties, with concentrations of ten or more responses from Beaverhead, Fergus, Gallatin, Granite, Madison, Stillwater, and Wibaux counties. As Table 1 shows, respondents In the context of marketing research, a representative sample drawn from a larger population of people from whom information is collected and used to develop or confirm marketing strategy. averaged a cattle production herd of 378 head. Small percentages (4 percent in each case) reported herd sizes of fewer than 50 head or more than 100 head. Most ranchers (77 percent) maintained a production herd of between 51 and 500 head. The most common cattle breed listed was Angus Angus (ăng`gəs), council area (1993 est. pop. 111,020), 842 sq mi (2,181 sq km), and former county, NE Scotland. Under the Local Government Act of 1973, the county of Angus became part of the Tayside region in 1975. , followed by Hereford and Red Angus Red Angus a breed of beef cattle similar to the Aberdeen Angus in all respects except for its gold-red color. . Other breeds included Charolais, Simmental, Black Baldies Baldies was a real time strategy PC game for DOS and Microsoft windows which was released Nov 28, 1996 . It was produced by Creative Edge Software & published by Panasonic Interactive Media. It is currently Abandonware. , Gelbviegh, Limousin, Longhorn The code name for the Windows Vista operating system. After the client version was renamed "Vista" in 2005, Longhorn referred to the server version until it was officially named Windows Server 2008 in May of 2007. See Windows Vista. , and Beef Boosters. (See Table 2 for breakdown.) According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. our survey, most Montana cattle ranches are family operations. Three-quarters of respondents said two or more family members were employed by the ranch. Slightly over half (56 percent) said their ranch employed one or more non-family persons while ranches with more than four non-family employees were a distinct minority. Survey results also suggest that Montana ranches are being run by older professionals. The average age of respondents was 51 years old, the youngest 25 and the oldest 91. Respondents averaged 37 years of ranching experience; just over a third (36 percent) said they'd been ranching all their life. Financial Record Keeping Except for one ranch operating as an experimental station, all ranchers indicated they maintained records for income tax purposes. Most, 73 percent, hired an outside accountant for income tax preparation. Ranchers were much less likely to use outside accountants for tasks such as maintaining financial statements and payroll records payroll record, n a printed form on which detailed records are kept of the amounts of money paid to auxiliaries. The record has columns for all the necessary tax deductions so that a detailed record is available for tax reporting and cost accounting. , or for tracking cattle production costs. Our survey suggests that only about half of Montana ranchers are active "computer cowboys cowboys, in American history. 1 Tory marauders, adherents to the British cause in the American Revolution, who fought in the contested area of Westchester co., N.Y. ." Just 56 percent of respondents said they used a personal computer for some or all of their financial record keeping. Financial statements were the most commonly computerized computerized adapted for analysis, storage and retrieval on a computer. computerized axial tomography see computed tomography. task. Each respondent In Equity practice, the party who answers a bill or other proceeding in equity. The party against whom an appeal or motion, an application for a court order, is instituted and who is required to answer in order to protect his or her interests. could list up to three software titles used by themselves or their accountant, and the clear choice of financial software was Quicken A popular financial management program for PCs and Macs from Intuit, Inc., Mountain View, CA (www.intuit.com). It is used to write checks, organize investments and produce a variety of reports for personal finance and small business. and Quickbooks (see Table 3). As shown by Table 4, respondents were quite satisfied with their current financial record keeping system. Fifty percent said their present system was very effective; only 8 percent felt that it needed improvement. Among those who used a computer for some part of their financial record keeping, 60 percent said it was very effective and only 4 percent felt it needed improvement. Cattle Production Record Keeping As with financial information, nearly all ranchers maintained cattle production records. For this task, however, few relied on "outside" help from an accountant or their breeders' association, preferring instead to maintain their own cattle production records. Cattle production systems generally include (in descending descending /des·cend·ing/ (de-send´ing) extending inferiorly. order of frequency) calf calf (kaf) sura; the fleshy back part of the leg below the knee. calf n. pl. calves and cow records, breeding and bull records, yearling yearling an animal in its second year of age, e.g. yearling cattle, yearling filly, yearling colt. yearling disease rinderpest in wildebeeste in the Serengheti. records, nutrition records, and carcass carcass, carcase 1. the body of an animal killed for meat. The head, the legs below the knees and hocks, the tail, the skin and most of the viscera are removed. The kidneys are left in and in most instances the body is split down the middle through the sternum and the vertebral and feedlot feedlot a management system in which naturally grazing animals are confined to a small area which produces no feed and are fed on stored feeds. See also dry lot. backgrounding feedlot records. Forty-seven percent of the respondents said they had computerized at least some of their cattle production paperwork, usually calf and cow records. Ranchers used a wide variety of software for this purpose, including systems from breeders' associations or packages from other specialty companies. Ranchers also used spreadsheets The following is a list of spreadsheets. Freeware/open source software Online spreadsheets
Respondents were generally less satisfied with this aspect of their record keeping, as shown by Table 6. Little more than a third (37 percent) felt their current system for tracking cattle production was very effective; 19 percent felt it needed improvement. Satisfaction was greater among those who'd computerized some part of the process - to 45 percent for "very effective."
Table 1
Size of Production Herd
Number Percent
of Responses of Total
1-50 9 4%
51-100 29 11%
101-200 57 23%
201-300 52 21%
301-400 30 12%
401-500 25 10%
501-750 16 6%
751-1,000 15 6%
1,001-2,000 5 2%
over 2,000 4 2%
did not answer 11 4%
Table 2
Cattle Breeds
Number Percent
of Responses of Total
Angus 89 35%
Hereford 59 23%
Red Angus 30 12%
Black Angus 24 9%.
Angus Cross 24 9%
Hereford-Angus 19 8%
Registered Angus 18 7%
Charolais 18 7%
Saler 18 7%
Simmental 11 4%
Black Baldies 11 4%
Gelbviegh 10 4%
Polled Hereford 7 3%
Limousin 7 3%
Longhorn 4 2%
Commercial Angus 4 2%
Beef Boosters 3 1%
Other 36 14%
Did not answer 4 2%
Table 3
Financial Record-Keeping Software
Number Percent
of Responses of Total
Quicken 97 64%
Quick Books 12 8%
QuickPay 1 1%
Excel 8 5%
Lotus 123 9 6%
Quattro Pro 5 3%
Microsoft Works 6 4%
Other spreadsheet 2 1%
Tax Specialized Software 3 2%
Peach Tree 3 2%
Red Wing General Ledger 3 2%
Microsoft Money 3 2%
Moneycounts 2 1%
Real World 2 1%
Other (listed once each) 27 18%
Table 4
Satisfaction with Current Financial Record Keeping System
- All Respondents -
Number Percent
of Responses of Total
Very effective 112 50%
It's "ok" 95 42%
Needs Improvement 19 8%
Didn't answer 27
- Computer Users -
Number Percent
of Responses of Total
Very effective 85 60%
It's "ok" 51 36%
Needs improvement 5 4%
Didn't answer 1
Use of Personal Computers Overall, 65 percent of the ranchers we sampled used a computer at least occasionally for ranch record keeping. Just 8 percent said they had no use for a personal computer. The most common configuration was an IBM compatible (computer) IBM compatible - A computer which can use hardware and software designed for the IBM PC (or, less often, IBM mainframes). This was once a key phrase in marketing a new PC clone but now in 1998 is rarely used, the non-IBM wintel personal computer manufacturers such computer with a 486 processor and Windows 3.1 operating system operating system (OS) Software that controls the operation of a computer, directs the input and output of data, keeps track of files, and controls the processing of computer programs. . A smaller percent were cruising with Pentium processors and Windows 95. Only 8 percent used a Macintosh computer, but typical of Mac users everywhere, they loved it. Almost half of the users had more than five years experience with a computer, while only 10 percent had been using one for less than a year. The remaining tables summarize sum·ma·rize intr. & tr.v. sum·ma·rized, sum·ma·riz·ing, sum·ma·riz·es To make a summary or make a summary of. sum responses regarding computer usage. Summary The financial record keeping reported in the sample is probably fairly representative of many small, family run businesses. There was a high reliance on outside accountants for income tax preparation, which is probably as complicated for cattle ranching as for most other businesses. A majority of the ranchers went beyond income tax preparation, also preparing financial statements, collecting budgeting information, and analyzing cattle production costs; most of this financial analysis was done by the rancher without the aid of an outside accountant. Cattle production record keeping is not as clearly defined as financial record keeping, but whether kept in a rancher's head, a shirt pocket notebook, or a computer, most ranchers track data on their cows and calves calves 1 n. Plural of calf1. calves Noun the plural of calf . Seedstock producers need to maintain genetic and other records and are likely to rely on their national breeders' association for information, record keeping, or computer software. Commercial producers maintain calf and cow data to improve calving calving act of parturition in a bovine female, and presumably in any animal that bears a calf as its newborn. See also block calving, ease of calving. calving-to-conception interval success and weight gain; they operate in a larger and less controlled environment and are more likely to be on their own without the help of a national organization. Slightly less than half of our sample used a computer for cattle production record keeping. No particular software package dominated this niche, and in fact, many respondents commented on the need for an inexpensive, user-friendly cattle production program. Opinions about computers ranged from "couldn't get along without it" to "the world would be better off without the damn computer." The rancher who presently uses a personal computer is likely to be quite proficient pro·fi·cient adj. Having or marked by an advanced degree of competence, as in an art, vocation, profession, or branch of learning. n. An expert; an adept. with it, and apt to be slightly more satisfied with his record keeping system than respondents in general. However, computers can be expensive to acquire and difficult to use. And, as one rancher put it, computers can't do anything you can't do with a pencil and a sheet of paper. Ranchers' Comments (from the survey) Comments on financial record keeping: * Would like a cost effective ag (cattle) accounting software to do budget proposal; financial statements; cash flows; * I customize my built-in IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) windows spreadsheet spreadsheet Computer software that allows the user to enter columns and rows of numbers in a ledgerlike format. Any cell of the ledger may contain either data or a formula that describes the value that should be inserted therein based on the values in other cells. . Need to be able to easily call up and print a net worth statement using the input spreadsheet. Comments on cattle production record keeping: * Output is only as good as input, there are things that are amazing a·maze v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es v.tr. 1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise. 2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex. v.intr. , but things I'd like to do better. We send information on cows & calves to the American Angus Association The American Angus Association was founded in Chicago, Illinois, in 1883, with 60 members. Its original name was shortened in the 1950s from the American Aberdeen-Angus Breeders' Association. . They're computerized & send back extensive cow records. (weights, EPD's, etc.) * Need better - user friendly - system for more complete record system. * We don't do a lot of weighing calves and keeping calving records every year on every cow because we haven't the time or the manpower to do more than cowboy cowboy Horseman skilled at handling cattle in the U.S. West. From c. 1820, cowboys were employed in small numbers on Texas ranches, where they had learned the skills of the vaquero (Spanish: “cowboy”). logic and cull out Verb 1. cull out - select desirable parts from a group or list; "cull out the interesting letters from the poet's correspondence"; "winnow the finalists from the long list of applicants" winnow on virtual performance and preg testing. * It's only as good as the guy with the pencil. * It would be nice to have a better system but the question is whether I would make decisions differently. * A good, inexpensive cow/calf record system would be nice - for a MAC. * My husband knows his cattle personally by working with them and has a memory for traits problems & style. His father had that trait trait (trat) 1. any genetically determined characteristic; also, the condition prevailing in the heterozygous state of a recessive disorder, as the sickle cell trait. 2. a distinctive behavior pattern. and so he does and our son seems to have it also. * Production record keeping systems are overpriced o·ver·price tr.v. o·ver·priced, o·ver·pric·ing, o·ver·pric·es To put too high a price or value on. overpriced Adjective costing more than it is thought to be worth Adj. and oversold Oversold In technical analysis, it is a market in which the volume of selling that has occurred is greater than the fundamentals justify. Notes: It is the opposite of overbought. - they can't do anything you can do on a sheet of paper. * I would like to find a good user friendly complete cattle record software system that doesn't cost more than $300. * There are more pounds to be gained by culling culling removal of inferior animals from a group of breeding stock. The removal is premature, i.e. before completion of its life span, disposal of an animal from a herd or other group. off the bottom then by concentrating on the few top individuals. * Maintaining individual cow production figures will require more data gathering and inputting than I'm to do at this time. When scanners can read top and use a scale under a working chute then we will gather the info, Data gathering needs to be automated au·to·mate v. au·to·mat·ed, au·to·mat·ing, au·to·mates v.tr. 1. To convert to automatic operation: automate a factory. 2. . * Need more user friendly computer program - such as putting in calf numbers at calving & weights at weaning weaning, n the period of transition from breast feeding to eating solid foods. weaning the act of separating the young from the dam that it has been sucking, or receiving a milk diet provided by the dam or from artificial sources. - Quicken was a big step in the right way.
Table 5
Cattle Production
Record Keeping Software
Number
of Percent
Responses of Total
Angus Herd Improvement Records 21 16%
Angus Herd Management System 13 10%
American Hereford Assoc. Software 6 5%
Total Herd Inventory System, Red Angus 5 4%
Herd Handler, American Simmental Assoc. 3 2%
Limousin Records, North American
Limousin Foundation 3 2%
Cowtrax 7 5%
CowCalf Herd Management System 4 3%
Red Wing Cow/Calf 3 2%
The Cattle Manager 2 2%
Cow Card 2 2%
C.H.A.P.S. 2 2%
Standardized Performance Analysis (I.R.M.) 2 2%
Beef Wean 2 2%
Other (listed once each) 7 5%
Excel 13 10%
Lotus 13 10%
Microsoft Works 13 10%
Quattro Pro 6 5%
Other spreadsheet 4 3%
Database software 8 6%
WordPerfect 4 3%
File Maker Pro 2 2%
Custom written programs 5 4%
Other general purpose software 11 8%
Table 6
Satisfaction with Current Cattle
Production Record Keeping System
- All Respondents -
Number Percent
of Responses of Total
Very effective 77 37%
It's "ok" 92 44%
Needs improvement 40 19%
Didn't answer 44
Totals 253 100%
- Computer Users -
Number Percent
of Responses of Total
Very effective 51 45%
It's "ok" 44 38%
Needs improvement 19 17%
Didn't answer 6
Table 7
Interest in or Use of Personal Computers
Number % of
of Responses Total
We have no use for a computer 19 8%
We do not use a computer, but
are interested 32 13%
We do not use a computer, but
plan to start using one soon 14 6%
We use a computer, but not for
ranch record keeping 19 8%
We use a computer occasionally
for some ranch record keeping 56 22%
We use a computer very frequently
for most ranch record keeping 109 43%
Did not answer 4 2%
Table 8
How long have you used a personal computer for ranch keeping
records?
Number % of
of Responses Total
Less than 1 year 16 10%
1-2 years 27 16%
3-5 years 50 30%
More than 5 years 74 44%
Table 9
How difficult has it been to learn and use a computer for your
record keeping?
Number % of
of Responses Total
Extremely difficult 27 16%
Not too difficult 111 67%
Easy 28 17%
Table 10
How did you learn to use the computer and/or software?
Number % of
of Responses Total
Self taught 136 74%
Training program 37 20%
College/vo-tech class 23 13%
Table 11
Please indicate the uses of your computer besides ranch
record keeping
Number % of
of Responses Total
Word processing 165 90%
Children's educational
software or games 97 53%
Access to the Internet
or online service 29 16%
Comments on learning how to use the computer: * The record keeping is not too difficult - my wife does it. * Still don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. how to use it. * Kids prodded us! General comments: * I prepare a detailed set of worksheets for the accountant. I hate it. If it weren't for income tax, I never would. My husband doesn't lift a pencil in this regard. My tax information could be manipulated in other ways with a computer. I think it would be interesting. My husband doesn't see the point. He keeps daily records of what cows are in what pasture pasture, land used for grazing livestock. Land unsuited for cultivation, e.g., hilly or stony land, may be used as pasture. Tilled land and meadow may be pastured after the crops are removed. and how many of what kind - but sometimes it's hard. Its a lot easier to think about it in an office than on your feet in the manure manure, term used in the United States to refer to excreta of animals, with or without added bedding; also called barnyard manure. In other countries the term often refers to any material used to fertilize the soil. . * I salute your interest. I was a Ag. Banker for 28 yrs. before returning to manage the family ranch. Records are essential. "Can't manage if can't Measure." Computers make it easier. I am also involved in the Farm Financial Standards Council. * Boy, I'd love to have a better system but must consider the COST, ease of start up and time to train to work a computer system. Perhaps a better manual system is the answer. * I would like to take a class on Quicken or Quickbooks but none are available now. * I believe keeping ranch records is very important. Computers are fun, but timewise it can be just as fast to keep written records. Especially if your computer crashes and loses all. * My dad does all the bank statement data entry on Quicken. He's 70 and does rather well with it! We've had a computer since 1985. It's part of our daily life. * Computers are very overrated Overrated was a Horde World of Warcraft guild, based on the US Black Dragonflight Realm. On November 2 2006, the majority of the guild members were indefinitely banned from the game for use of (or directly benefiting from) a third-party "wall-hack", used to bypass content mostly by people in academia that want to impress folks who know little about them. The best computer is between my shoulders. * The first four ranchers that I know of that started using computers all went broke within five years! Riding the Net The World-Wide Web (World-Wide Web, networking, hypertext) World-Wide Web - (WWW, W3, The Web) An Internet client-server hypertext distributed information retrieval system which originated from the CERN High-Energy Physics laboratories in Geneva, Switzerland. is spawning new sites every day, and some of them may be of interest to the "computer cowboys" on Montana ranches. You can find information on cattle markets, from national breeder's associations, and from various universities' agricultural research stations. The variety and global reach of the Web is exciting. But it can be frustrating frus·trate tr.v. frus·trat·ed, frus·trat·ing, frus·trates 1. a. To prevent from accomplishing a purpose or fulfilling a desire; thwart: and expensive, especially if your modem is slow and you have to pay long distance charges to cruise the Net. Data from our survey suggests that only about 16 percent of computer-using Montana ranchers currently access this rapidly evolving resource. Following is a sample of internet addresses There are two kinds of addresses that are widely used on the Internet. One is a person's e-mail address, and the other is the address of a Web site, which is known as a URL. Following is an explanation of Internet e-mail addresses only. For more on URLs, see URL and Internet domain name. related to ranching: http://www.angus.org/ - American Angus Association http://www.hereford.org/ - American Hereford/Association http://www.simmgene.com/ - American Simmental Association http:/hoss.agsci.colstate.edu/~aga/ - American Gelbviegh Association http:/www.agdirect.com/ - AgDirect http://www.cattlepages.com/ - The Cattle Pages http://www.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/Agriculture/ Livestock/Cattle/ - Yahoo search directory for cattle http://www.agcenter.com/ - The Ag Center (Texas) http://www.livestockweekly.com/ - The Livestock livestock Farm animals, with the exception of poultry. In Western countries the category encompasses primarily cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, horses, donkeys, and mules; other animals (e.g., buffalo, oxen, or camels) may predominate in other areas. Weekly (also in Texas) http://www.montana.edu/~uaspb/arnr.html - MSU MSU Michigan State University MSU Mississippi State University MSU Montana State University MSU Minnesota State University MSU Morehead State University (Kentycky) MSU Montclair State University Department of Animal and Range Sciences http://www.ncanet.org/ - Livestock Virtual Library-Oklahoma State University http://www.cattlehome.com/ - "Cattle Industry's Link to the Future" http://www.cowtown.org/ - "Cowtown America" http://www.gkg-com.com/ - "CattleWeb" References Montana Seed Stock and Commercial Cattle Directory, a publication of the Montana Stock Growers Association, 420 N. California. Quick Tips, Information for using Quicken for Cattle Ranching, Damona Doye, Extension Economist, University of Oklahoma University of Oklahoma, abbreviated OU, is a coeducational public research university located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory 17 years before the two became the state of Oklahoma. , Stillwater, OK 74078. Integrated Resource Management News, National Cattlemen's Association, 5420 S. Quebec St., Englewood, CO 80111. Cow Calf Record Keeping Systems Comparison, by Duane Griffith, Montana State University Montana State University, at Bozeman; land-grant; coeducational; chartered 1893. It is primarily a technical institution specializing in agriculture, engineering, and applied sciences. The Museum of the Rockies is there. , Extension Service, Bozeman, MT 59717. Dr. Michael W. Tess, Animal and Range Sciences Department, P.O. Box 172900, Montana State University-Bozeman, Bozeman, MT 59717-2900. The survey grew out of a class project completed by Jackie Manley in her course work in accounting at The University of Montana. Her project entailed creating a Lotus 123 spreadsheet to maintain cattle production and financial information for her family's cattle ranch in western Montana
Western Montana is the western region of the state of Montana, United States. Western Montana is usually considered to be administered by the Missoulian, and the city of Missoula; Billings . Jackie has graduated from UM and is currently working for an accounting firm in Missoula. Lee Tangedahl is a professor of management at The University of Montana-Missoula The University of Montana is a state university located in Missoula, Montana, USA. The school was founded in 1893. It is the largest campus in the five-campus University of Montana System. . He teaches courses in microcomputer microcomputer Small digital computers whose CPU is contained on a single integrated semiconductor chip. As large-scale and then very large-scale integration (VLSI) have progressively increased the number of transistors that can be placed on one chip, the processing capacity applications. |
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