Last winter we put our toe in the water and developed an App that can be used to monitor Body Condition Scores within your beef cow herd. We have had less than a year to use and collect feedback from cattle producers now and learn how we might be able to improve it. An updated version is now available with additional features and added content that we think will make the App more responsive while retaining its simplicity of use. Some of the updates are related to housekeeping items. You can now delete records that are no longer of use to you to help clean up your herd’s information. In addition you can edit/save a record as a draft which provides the opportunity to collect the photos in the pasture but to actually score the cattle at a later time or edit the records if needed. This will allow producers to quickly collect photos and then score the cows when time permits.
The value of a picture record is that, when taking BCS photos of the same cow 45 to 60 days later, a producer can determine if the management changes are having the desired effect. Producers are encouraged to body condition score cows at least 4 times during the year to determine best management practices: 1) Weaning, 2) Pre-Calving, 3) Breeding and 4)Late Lactation. Now is a good time to be evaluating cow condition with the recent drought stricken pastures and the timing of traditional weaning for spring calving herds. It will be a good visual record of how cows are going into the fall as there is still plenty of time to put some condition back on the cows if needed.
A new feature of the program is the flexibility of using photos of cows within your own herd or cattle type to use in the reference gallery. No matter what color or breed type of cattle you own, you can now build your custom collection of BCS photos to use in your reference gallery. We understand that it may be easier to compare cow body condition within a breed type and added this flexibility so Hereford producers can use Hereford cows, Brangus owners can use Brangus cows and any Composite operations can use their Composite cows.
We also realized that once you have collected BCS measurements from a pasture or group of cows at one point in time and then followed up with BCS measurements at another point in time, you probably would want to know what is the actual difference in Body Condition Score. We have now added a feature that will calculate the mean or average for a date range that you provide. You can then compare that with another point in time and determine if cows are gaining, slipping or maintaining their condition.
We have had very positive feedback with the BCS app and its usefulness as a quick and easy tool for collecting extremely important information when managing beef cows from small to large herds. It is available on iOS (iphone) and Android platforms and you can go directly to the App stores with the QR codes or hot link below.
Scan the appropriate QR Code with your iPhone or Android to download your app today!
Iphone QR Code
Android QR Code
