Groups

Overview

Best Practices

Use Cases

Overview

The term "Group" in StockManager can be equated to a Flock, Herd or Mob in that it is intended to represent a collection of animals. In StockManager we have created two types of Groups to accommodate different scenarios. Specifically, how to Group animals with and without individual records in the system. 

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For animals without individual records, the system enables you to capture attributes of "physical" groups using Non-ID Groups. Once a Non-ID Group is created in the system, group data can be added to the Non-ID Group record and viewed using the Animal / Non-ID Group screen. 

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For animals with individual records, the system enables you to manage "virtual" groups by adding an ID Group designator to individual animal records and then using this to analyze Group attributes, add common data to all Group animals or draft animals based on their Group designation.

For more on the differences between ID and Non-ID Groups and how to create or manage Groups in StockManager, please click here

Best Practices

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To avoid the scenario where a long list of Groups is created in the system, making it is difficult to remember what each represents, it is recommended to define the full list of Groups that will be used each year in advance and implement these in the system. 

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To do this:

1. Start with one animal type (Cattle, Deer or Sheep)

2. Pick a starting month associated with the start of your annual management cycle - typically birth or post-weaning

3. Write down names for each group that you manage separately from other animals during the month. If you combine or separate groups during the month, develop the list in the order that this is done.

4. Make sure the names are unique and descriptive enough that you will remember what they represent but as brief as possible (for display purposes in the app). NOTE: Animal Type and Year should not be part of the name as this is a required part of each group setup

5. Document the attributes of the animals in each group

6. Document whether the animals in the group have individual records in the system or not (or a combination)

7. Once this is done for a full 12 month cycle, check that all Group names are unique (per Animal Type and Year)

8. Repeat this for other animal types

9. Once complete, implement these in the system using the Group Settings screen

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A blank planning spreadsheet along with some completed reference samples can be found here.

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Some common scenarios, to avoid:

• Creating new groups because you are not sure if you have created a similar one in the past

• Creating ID Groups to provide a one time designator for animals that you would like to analyze later

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Use Cases

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Non-ID Groups

• Track the characteristics of common groups of animals each year to compare year to year results and progress

• Quickly collect data on a sample set of a larger group of animals to project group averages without having to sample each animal

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ID Groups

• Draft animals based on stock class for mating

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