Back in August, we announced CattleMax Online. Those who visited our booth at the Texas A&M Beef Cattle Short Course had the opportunity to check out first hand the early versions of the Web and Mobile versions.

Over the recent months, we’ve been hard at work on the web-based version and it’s accompanying mobile friendly version. The technology we are working with offers many new opportunities that we think you will be pleased with.

This afternoon, those who completed our CattleMax Mobile Version Survey received an email with an invitation to join the CattleMax Online Early Access Preview. If you didn’t receive the email but would like to work with the current version, please email terrell at cattlesoft dot com.

With being only a few weeks away from a public-ready version, our main goal during this Preview time is to ensure each customer’s CattleMax CS records import completely & correctly and to ensure we have worked out any remaining bugs.

We will continue updating the CattleMax Online version after public release, with many additional features planned. A benefit of CattleMax Online is that updates and upgrades are included in your subscription and are automatically applied – no more downloads and no more buying upgrades.

Stay tuned – more information to come!

Written by Ken, Cattlesoft Customer Service Representative

Recently Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine in St. Kitts invited me to be a guest speaker for their Bovine Club meeting.

Being the loyal company man that I am I took them up on their offer.  After 3 long flights I was met at the airport by a young lady that took me to a really nice resort hotel to get settled in.

Another hard day at the office.

About 7:00 that evening Dr. J Q Robinson picked me up and we met several of the students for a nice Italian dinner.  The staff and students at the University made me feel right at home. There were a lot of questions about CattleMax and ranching in Texas.

Saturday I gave a presentation on the history of CattleMax and how it became a leader in Herd Management Software. I also talked about how some veterinarians are using CattleMax to help their customers with their herds. I presented the software and demonstrated how effective it is for managing cattle herds.  After that I talked with a group of students who had some specific questions about CattleMax.

I had Sunday off so I arranged a couple of dives with a local dive shop operator. It was really nice being back underwater again. The water was cool and clear and the visibility was very good. There were lots of fish and some nice coral. On the second dive we visited a wreck and a bulldozer that had somehow ended up a few miles offshore in 50 feet of water.

Monday morning we had another hands on session working with Dr. Robinson and other facility members. Ross University maintains a herd of approximately 70 donkeys and we found our EquineMax program would helpful in managing the herd.  Later we met with the IT staff and discussed adding EquineMax to the Ross University network.

Monday afternoon was open so I hired a cabbie to give me an island tour. St. Kitts was “discovered” and named by Christopher Columbus in 1493 on his second trip to the new world.  St. Kitts is a beautiful island, it is known  as the Gibraltar of the West Indies because of the Brimstone Hill Fortress constructed intermittently between 1690s and 1790s and occupied by both the French and the British at various times. It is the largest fortress ever built in the Eastern Caribbean and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Standing At the fortress you get a wonderful view of neighboring islands and the beautiful green lushness of St. Kitts.  I kept thinking of the terrible drought we are having here in Texas and how well my cattle could do in that deep St. Kitts grass.  Apparently there are not very many cattle being raised there. I was told the Kittitians primarily eat chicken, seafood, pork and goats and not a lot of beef.

I was very impressed with the students and faculty of Ross University, and I thank them for the hospitality they extended to me. I was given the nickname “SCUBA Ken” by some of the students and they presented me a Ken Doll from the Barbie collection to autograph for them to keep.

Porter Ranch, near Stanford, Montana, has seen a difference in the quality of their herd, thanks to their cattle record keeping with the CattleMax software.

Says Penny Jo (PJ): “The CattleMax program has helped us with a good culling program in the fall because we can look quickly at birth weight and weaning weight data for the offspring of bulls and cows”. A timely comment considering the current state of the cattle industry and the fall season being just around the corner.

Read the full feature of Porter Ranch

Ranches who use the CattleMax software are as varied as the breeds and types of cattle records that producers keep in the software.

Take for example, Jimmy Richardson and his family in New Mexico, who proudly produce only All Natural Angus Beef on their 145,000 acre ranch. Keeping track of cattle on that large amount of land can be a daunting task, so it’s no wonder that their favorite feature and report of CattleMax is the Cattle Inventory report.

Read the complete feature of Richardson Cattle Company