The wise herdsman not only watches his flock or herd carefully but also can tell you about the patterns of activity and health of his charges over the course of each year. If you are new to herdsmanship, and the excitement or thrill of your band of four-legged producers has yet to delve into the nitty gritty then now is a good time to begin a basic record. It doesn't have to be fancy. It just has to be useful. You will tailor it to the type of livestock you have and the purposes they are working to achieve.
A very simple and inexpensive way to keep your barn record is to obtain a 'composition' book from your local office or school supply store. This is a stiff bound notebook of blank pages. In it you will record data such as fleece or milk production, feed and equipment purchases, veterinary services, illness & medications administered, kidding or lambing dates, and even weather conditions that can affect health or costs. These are essentially the notes from which you will eventually transfer compiled data to a spreadsheet so that you can figure your capital costs and operating expenses.
The interior of your barn record book might look a little like either of the following examples:
| Production | Daisy | Pumpkin | Blackie | |
| August | milk a.m/p.m. | milk a.m/p.m. | milk a.m/p.m. | Weather / Comments |
| 1 | 32/33 oz | -- | Mastitis | (vet) $65 |
| 2 | 33/33 oz | -- | -- | rained |
| 3 | 32/33 | 31/31 | -- | 80 degrees |
| 4 | 33/33 oz | 31.5/31.25 | -- | 85 degrees |
| 5 | 33/33 | 32/32 | off medications | 100# oats $15 |
| 6 | 32/32 | 32/32 | 12/32 | goat kids to market - ($215) |
| 7 | 31/31 | 32/32 | 12/32 | trimmed hooves |
| … | ||||
| or | ********* | ********** | ************ | ******************************************** |
| Production | ||||
| 2011 | Fleece | Lambs | Distribution | Weather / Comments |
| Ewe 215 | 10 lbs | 2 | Stock | treated for hoof rot |
| Ewe 15 | 12 lbs | 1 | Market | Aged Ewe |
| Ewe 31 | 11.5 lbs | 2 - lost 1 | Market | Ewe rejected both lambs |
| Ewe 114 | 12 lbs | 3 | Stock | |
| Ram | 12.25 lbs | 8 | Stock | passed pre-breeding check |
| Hay | 25 qty 1T | $50 ea | ||
| Medications | -- | |||
| Oxytetracycline | $5.89 | |||
| Enterotoxemia C& D | $2.99 | |||
| Pasturella | $10.00 | |||
| Equipment: | -- | |||
| Marking Harness | $98 | |||
| Hoof Shears | $35 | |||
| Market: | -- | |||
| 7 lambs @ 85 | $1,291 | 217 cwt | ||
Your Barn Record will give you a snap shot of your production year and can be used to compare the results of your efforts over a multitude of years. It can help you determine where problems are occuring and where improvements might be made. It makes creating a business balance sheet easy and can help you with setting reasonable goals for your enterprise.
There are many good products out there that are ready made for keeping barn records. Some are vinyl bound record books and others are computer spreadsheets or database programs. From personal experience however, I'd recommend using a hard copy in your barn for day to day record keeping and use the power of the computer for your year end and long term records such as pedigrees or breeding records.
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