Kansas State University agricultural economics and veterinary medicine staff have developed a record-keeping app for cattle producers that now is available for iPhones and Android devices. The CalfDex app is free to download and was designed for use in the field, even where cell phone service is not available.
According to K-State livestock economist Ted Schroeder, who helped develop the app, CalfDex enables producers to maintain efficient and accurate calving, weaning and treatment records, which helps mitigate the risk of data loss or misplacement that can happen with paper records. It consists of five respective tabs for which users can choose to enter data, including “Calving,” “Processing/vaccination,” “Treatment,” “Weaning” and “Postweaning." The app also stores records across calving seasons, provides for easy downstream data sharing and allows users to protect the information by establishing a unique email address and password.
“Because it has the capability to track multiple herds and individual animal information, CalfDex is tailored to meet the needs of all sizes of calving operations, from large purebred enterprises to a 4-H or FFA student beginning their first beef breeding project,” Schroeder said.
A tutorial on the app is available here, or questions can be directed to [email protected].