Field Notes
Practical, plain-spoken writing for people who rear calves for a living. The why behind the work, the how-to behind the app, and the occasional opinion from the founders.
There is one decision in calf rearing that has more leverage than any other. It happens in the first sixty minutes of a calf's life — and most farms still get it wrong.
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The big-picture pieces. Why the work matters, what the evidence says, and the habits that separate a good shed from a great one.
One decision in the first sixty minutes has more leverage than anything else you'll do that calf's whole rearing life. Here's the science, the targets, and the simple habit.
A walk-through of the three days that set everything else up. Navel dip, colostrum, transition milk, the first weigh — hour by hour.
Pre-weaning mortality, average daily gain, and the colostrum capture rate. If you can't quote all three at the kitchen table, you're flying on vibes.
The two opposite mistakes you can make on a slightly-off calf — and the three-level decision tree that gets most calls right.
We make a calf-rearing app. We still think paper is the right call for some farms. Here's the honest comparison, and the hybrid middle most sheds end up running.
The setup that pays you back from day one. Onboarding, mobile, shared device, and bringing your existing calves across.
The four setup screens, what to fill in, and the 10 minutes of follow-up that makes everything else easier.
Android install, sign-in modes, what works offline, and where to use phone vs web.
The shed tablet setup. One shared login, worker PINs, and proper accountability across shifts.
A clean CSV import that takes the columns most farm software exports. Format, limits, and the gotchas.
Births, feeding, weighing, moving. The everyday work, with one less thing to remember.
Every field on the calving form, why it matters, and the two-minute habit that fixes your records for the next twelve months.
Speed, volume, quality, source. The four fields that, more than any other, predict what kind of life that calf is going to have.
Shifts, mixes, mark fed, drank less, and the colour-coded calf rows that flag problems before you've finished the round.
How to weigh in, how to read ADG, and what targets to aim for. The two weights you should never skip.
Single move, bulk move, merge a pen, empty a pen to grass, archive when you're done. One screen does the lot.
Set the routine up once, then never forget another vaccine. Calfmate's age-driven tasks do the remembering.
Filter chips, due-now lists, mark-pen-done. What the page actually shows, and the daily habit it replaces.
Worked examples for disbudding, the first clostridial, Halocur courses and pestivirus. An hour up front, a year of "didn't forget".
Catching the sick calf early, treating her right, finishing the course, and the bit most sheds skip — the recheck.
Every sick calf goes through the same lifecycle. The Health page puts the whole shed's loop on one screen.
Watch, Health check, Electrolytes. Three flag types, when to use which, and how to write a note your next shift will thank you for.
From flag to recovery in one workflow. Multi-drug sessions, withdrawal tracking, the sale-block safety net.
The defaults library that feeds protocols and treatments. Get withdrawal periods right here and the whole app stays honest.
Saved multi-drug regimens for pneumonia, scour, lameness. Built once with the vet, used by every worker on every shift.
The numbers that tell you how the shed is really going — and how to record an exit properly.
Hero tiles, date chips, benchmarks, and a weekly five-minute habit. How to use Reports to make better decisions, not just admire numbers.
Doing the paperwork properly. The sale flow, the death record, the withdrawal block — and why the override checkbox matters.
Try Calfmate on your shed for 30 days. No credit card.
