Flagging a calf — the 10-second insurance policy

Walk past a pen in the morning. You catch a calf in the corner, head down, just a beat slower at the teat than the others. You tell yourself you'll check on her later. Three days later, she's the one on the drip with the vet asking why you didn't catch her on Monday. A flag is the small habit that fixes that exact moment — it takes ten seconds, it sticks to the calf, and it survives the rest of your day.

Three flag types

Where to flag from

The fastest place is Feeding mode — when you're already looking at the calf. On the feeding screen, find her row, tap the ⋯ menu, choose Flag this calf….

You can also flag from the calf passport via the Actions menu, but 95% of flags happen at feeding — that's when you spot the symptoms.

The flag dialog

1. Tap the flag type (chip buttons).
2. Enter a Note. Required for Watch and Health check on a new flag (Calfmate insists you say what you saw — otherwise the next person opens an empty flag and has nothing to act on). Optional for Electrolytes.
3. Tap Raise flag.

What a good note looks like

Specific, not poetic:

• "Head down, not at teat at 06:00 feed"
• "Loose pat, day 1, mucousy"
• "Hunched back, breathing rapid"
• "Off feed yesterday PM, still off this AM"

What a bad note looks like:

• "Looks crook"
• "?"

If the next person reading your note can't act on it, it's not a note — it's clutter.

Adding to an existing flag

If the same flag type is already open on a calf (e.g. yesterday's worker raised Watch), the menu shows Flags / add note… instead. This appends your observation to the same thread rather than creating a duplicate — so the conversation across shifts stays in one place:

• "Day 1 06:00 — drank 1.5 of 3 L (worker: Sam)"
• "Day 1 16:00 — drank 2 of 3 L, looks better (worker: Em)"
• "Day 2 06:00 — full feed, energetic. Cleared."

Clearing a flag

When the calf is better: ⋯ menu → Clear this flag. Optional closing note ("recovered, full feed, normal pat"). Confirm. If she had no treatment, clearing the flag may close her health case entirely.

The secret weapon: Drank less

On the calf row's ⋯ menu in feeding, there's also Drank less…. Enter what she actually drank. Calfmate automatically raises a Watch flag with the note "drank less at [shift]" — and her row colours change for next shift.

This is how Calfmate catches calves who go off feed before they're visibly sick. Two short feeds in a row is almost always the first sign of trouble — and they're flagged before anyone's said the word "scour".

What happens downstream

• The flag opens a health case → calf appears on the Health page under Flagged.
• The calf passport's Activity timeline records every flag, note and clear with who and when.
• Badges on her feeding row tell the next shift she's being watched.

Three small habits from real sheds

• Flag generously. A cleared flag is free; an un-flagged sick calf is expensive.
• Own the review. One person per shift glances at the Health page after feeding. Takes 60 seconds.
• If you see the same flag-and-clear three times on one calf, she's telling you something. Open a Health check and examine her properly.

One thing to take away

The best flag is the early flag. By the time it's "obvious", it's already been three days. Trust your gut. Write a one-sentence note. Move on. Calfmate makes sure no one forgets.