PORKPLANNER: A MICROCOMPUTER RECORD KEEPING SYSTEM FOR PORK PRODUCTION

Transcription

1 PORKPLANNER: A MICROCOMPUTER RECORD KEEPING SYSTEM FOR PORK PRODUCTION A. Ahmadi i, J. L. Farley ii and S. L. Berry i ABSTRACT PORKPLANNER is a computer program for recording and assessing the biological performance of the breeding swine herd. It provides descriptive summaries of breeding, farrowing, weaning, postweaning and carcass information. PORKPLANNER is written in the dbase III PLUS programming language and runs on an IBM compatible computer with 640 K of memory and a hard disk. PROGRAM DESIGN PORKPLANNER consists of sow, litter, death, carcass, and event databases which are linked to each other by relational scheme (Fig. 1). Figure 1. Main menu: PorkPlanner program.

2 Data entry, searching, sorting, and printing are flexible and can be customized to fit the user's need. PORKPLANNER offers 28 pre- defined canned reports and also allows the user to create new reports by using an interactive report generator. It checks for 30 different errors and offers 28 options for manipulating data. PORKPLANNER contains a statistical module for mean, variance, ANOVA and regression and also has a graphics module for summarizing and displaying performance data. In the command mode, the user has access to more than 200 different dbase commands and functions. PORKPLANNER is designed following the National Swine Improvement Federation guidelines. DATA ENTRY To enter data in the PORKPLANNER program, you must first open a sow file. Once the sow file has been opened, you can then enter sow and litter information. The Sow Screen (Fig. 2) consists of three parts. The three parts are: (1) the Sow Card displayed in the middle of the screen, (2) the Sow Menu, displayed in a bordered box above the Sow Card, and (3) the Status Line, located at the top of the screen, on the first line. To add a new sow card to a new file, select the Add option from the Sow Menu. The computer then displays a blank sow card on the screen. This card consists of a series of blank slots for the following fields: Sow Id, Ear Notch, Birth Date, Entry Date, Entry Parity, Origin, Breed, Dam, Sire, Management Code, Removal Type, and Comments. For each of the above fields, enter the corresponding data. The only data required is the Sow Id; the rest of the information is optional. Figure 2. Sow screen: PorkPlanner program. You can enter all of a sows litters from within the sow file. From the Sow Menu, choose the Ltr option. The computer will then take you to the Ltr Screen (Fig. 3). The Litter Card consists of a series of blank fields for breeding, farrowing and weaning data. There is no restriction on the required data, i.e., all fields are optional. After you have entered the sow and litter information, select the Recalc option from the Sow Menu. The computer then posts the litter data to the sow database and recalculates lifetime averages for each sow. Figure 4 shows a list of litters for a specific sow. Note that the information is arranged as one line per litter. 2

3 Figure 3. Litter screen: PorkPlanner program. Figure 4. Litters of sow: PorkPlanner program. 3

4 REPORTS PORKPLANNER offers 26 canned or pre-programmed reports (Fig. 5). The canned reports are divided into four groups. 1) Action reports, 2) Performance reports, 3) Carcass reports, and 4) Other reports. Figure 5. Canned reports: PorkPlanner program. ACTION REPORTS. The reports that result in potential management action are grouped in this section. one of most useful reports is sows due to farrow. This report gives a list of all sows that should farrow in a specified time period. PERFORMANCE REPORTS. These are designed to evaluate performance during a specified period of time. The time period could be one year, one month, or possibly even one day. You can also select a parity range for the report. This allows you to generate a report that looks at a certain performance measure, but only for sows of the specified parities. The herd summary report compiles information about five different segments of an operation: breeding, farrowing, weaning, post weaning, and inventory. The default time period for the report is one year previous to the current date, although that period can be changed. It is suggested that you begin by creating a report at the end of each month for the previous year. At the end of 12 months you will have 12 reports that give you a snapshot of your hers on year at a time. CARCASS REPORTS. These are reports to summarize and evaluate the carcass data. OTHER REPORTS. These are a collection of miscellaneous reports that may be useful for decision making. The last three reports in the section offer the option of developing on-screen graphs to help you see how various production measures compare. 4

5 PORKPLANNER offers user-defined reports for more advanced users. These reports can be defined by the producer and be printed as needed. The FIND routine is powerful and allows the user to search the database for a special group of sows and litters. The retrieved records then can be sorted and printed as desired. The program has finished beta testing, has been reviewed, and is ready for distribution. For more information please contact authors. REFERENCES National Swine Improvement Federation Guidlines for uniform swine improvemebt programse. National Pork Produces Council, Des Moines, Iowa. i ii Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, CA USA. University of California Cooperative Extension, Merced, CA USA. 5