Cattlesoft Blog

Over the past ten years, we have heard from so many producers who have experienced a computer crash, fire or other disaster that destroyed years of cattle records. Unfortunately, they had not kept good backups of their records. They either didn’t make them at all, just stored them on their hard drive, or had kept them on CDs or disks in a drawer next to their computer.

This meant they had lost not just their current working file, but years of historical information they could never retrieve—a situation we want to help you avoid. We know how important it is for you to always have access to your cattle records, and how lost you might be if they disappeared. We have always suggested for you to backup your records often, and store these backups in a separate location from your computer.

This fall, we decided to help you out even more. We created the CattleMax Online Backup Service, based on 13 years of proven technology from Amazon.com.

Now, when you backup your CattleMax herd file, there will be an option for “Online”. This system guarantees your records are safe and secure, accessible from any computer with CattleMax and an Internet connection, and protected from any disaster.

Learn more about the CattleMax Online Backup Service, including all the benefits it offers, or order your subscription to keep your records safe, secure and accessible.

Greetings

We wanted to let everyone know about the new CattleMax CS 4200 Update that we released yesterday.

As ranches who have used previous CattleMax versions know, the new CattleMax CS version includes a new reporting system, known as “Customizable Lists”, which addressed feedback from many customers who were seeking a way to customize reports without the need to use the Report Wizard to make custom reports.  This new style works great for many because producers could dynamically resize the columns, add and remove their own columns, and change formatting styles.

However, one of the downsides of this new reporting is that it lacks certain functionality of the reports in the CattleMax 2006 version.  We came to the conclusion that both options were needed in CattleMax CS so that you have the right tool for the right job - sometimes we want to customize and sometimes we just want it to print.
So, a summary of reporting options in CattleMax CS 4.2.4200 and later

• Customizable Lists - basic lists where you can change columns and formatting
• Preset Reports - based on CattleMax 2006 reports, advanced functionality, nicer looks, columns can’t be customized
• Report Wizard - Located in the Access Companion, this lets you create your own reports from scratch, including selecting columns, sorts, and formatting.  You can look at it as Customizable Lists’s big brother.  Microsoft Access is not required for this part of the Access Companion.
• Microsoft Access - The MS Access Companion, accessible from the Reports tab in CattleMax, lets those familiar with MS Access work with their own reports and queries.

If you are a new customer or not as tech savvy, the Preset Reports and Customizable Lists are a quick and easy way to get the information you need.
Other significant updates/changes in this update:

• Enhanced Electronic ID Tag list import from files, vendors, and readers
• Improved international date formatting
• Export button now on customizable lists
• New breed interfaces for Red Angus, Gelbvieh, Maine-Anjou, and Yak
• Updated breed interface for Brangus
• Easier backing up and restoring of custom reports and queries in Access Companion

Currently using CattleMax CS?  Download the update and let us know what you think

Thanks

Terrell & Penny Miller and the Cattlesoft Team