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Mastitis Focus Trouble
Shooting
Are you having difficulty with your Countdown Mastitis Focus
report?
Below are a series of frequently asked questions that may
help.
note....this page is currently under
construction
How
do I generate a report?
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Check Points |
Explanation |
- Request one
through your Herd Improvement Organisation or adviser (Vet)
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If you milk record your HIO will be able
to either produce a report for you or send you the data files needed so
that you can generate a report. Note.. unless you provide clinical
case & dry-off data (hard copy or electronically) to your HIO, the files
produced by the HIO will only include herd test data |
- Through your
on-farm recording software
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MISTRO Farm (ver 1126)
and has incorporated an option under the report menu to generate a
Countdown Mastitis Focus report
Easy Dairy (2008 update)
is capable of generating the necessary DIF
files. Export the files, save them to your computer and then visit
www.mastitisfocus.com.au
Dairy Data (ver xx)
will shortly release a new version
capable of generating reports
Please make sure
you have the most recent version of these programs
If you use a
different package, it will need to be able to export the standard industry
DIF files : 101, 102, 103, 104, 107 & 116 |
- Visit
www.mastitisfocus.com.au
with the required DIFF files for your farm.
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The program uses standard industry DIF
files. Se below for details on possible file combinations |
I can't generate a report - I keep
getting an error message
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Check Points |
Explanation |
| Error
message |
You haven’t supplied
the correct file format |
| Error
message xxxxx |
|
| Error
message xxxxx |
|
| |
|
It won't accept the
data file to generate a report
|
Check Points |
Explanation |
| Check
that the data file you are trying to upload is zipped. |
Each zip file can validly
contain the data files for a single report only. Valid data file
combinations are:
1. A
single file ending in .DIFF OR
2. Files
with a .101, .102, and .103 extension and a combination of .104, .107,
and .116. Note that it is possible to have additional files (.105, .108
etc) but these are not used by the program. |
How do I zip my data files?
I can't open the report
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Check Points |
Explanation |
| Check that you have Adobe
Reader |
To view the pdf, your
computer will need to have Adobe reader installed.
Link to adobe reader |
Is this report for my farm?
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Check Points |
Explanation |
| In the header section of the
report check that: |
| The
name/address is
correct in the title box |
If it is
not your name, or the name of an entity that you associate with the
farm, then the report is probably not for your farm. Or perhaps the
information for your farm is recorded under a name you are not familiar
with. |
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The
Herd ID
number is correct for your farm? |
If your
report has been generated from a Herd Improvement Organisation, the Herd
ID should be the number by which you are known at the HIO – often this
is a Shire farm number. However if your report was generated out of
on-farm software, then the number may be a number assigned by your
software – in which case it could easily be unknown to you. |
Is this the correct report?
|
Check Points |
Explanation |
| In the header section of the
report check that: |
| The
report period calculated is the same as you intended |
This is
based on a twelve month period finishing at the end date you entered? If
this is not the period you wanted, then you should obtain another report
with the correct date |
| The number of “Total
calvings” is correct |
This is
not the number of cows that you are milking now – it is the total
number of calvings recorded for the whole twelve month report period
that you selected. |
| Now check that all the data
has been included (see below) |
The “Farm
data box” on page 2 of your report summarises the data used to generate
the report |
How can I check
that all my data has been included?
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Check Points |
Explanation |
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In the “Farm Data Box”
on page 2 of the report check that: |
| The
number of cows
milking through the
year looks correct |
If it looks too many, you may have a
number of cows not properly terminated in the system.
If you haven’t told the HIO or your software that a cow was dried-off,
died or was sold, then naturally the computer assumes that she is still
there!
If a cow milked for
only one day in that month, she will be included in this number. For
this reason months when a significant number of cows are calving, or are
have been dried-off will often look like an odd number to you.
|
| The correct
months and number of cows
herd tested
appear correct |
If some months are missing these herd
tests may not have been downloaded onto your farm PC.
If you find significant errors with the number of cows, check your
printed herd test records and also with your HIO. |
| The number of
cows calved in each month
appears correct |
If this seems low, not all calvings have
been recorded in the system |
| The number of
heifers calved in
each month appear correct |
Have heifers had their ages (date of birth) entered? Commonly, if too
few heifer calvings appear to be recorded, it is because your HIO or
software haven’t been given all of the birth dates for your cows –
without this the computer cannot know their age! |
| The
number of
cows culled or died
is correct |
|
| The
number of
clinical cases
appear correct |
All clinical cases
need to be recorded. Rougly compare the total number of cliniacal cases
to the amount of antibiotic treatments used for an easy way to gauge if
all cases have been entered into your on-farm software. |
| The
number of
cows dried-off
is correct |
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| The
number treated with
Antibiotic DCT |
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| The
number of cows given a teat sealant at dry-off |
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I only get a partial report - how do I get the rest of the boxes filled in?
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Check Points |
Explanation |
| See the
tick boxes on page 2 of your report to see what records are missing |
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| If your
report is generated from on-farm software, make sure all available
records are entered |
This includes
clinical case and drying-off records as well as herd test information
from you HIO |
| If you
report has come from your HIO, then you will need to supply them with
your clinical case and drying-off records |
Some HIO’s offer a
service to enter your clinical case and drying off records into their
system. Alternatively you can run a report through your on-farm
recording software. |
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I think some
of the measure's in the report aren't right
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Check Points |
Explanation |
| Refer
above to “How
can I check that all my data has been included?” |
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| Refer to
the corresponding performance measure in the “Nuts and Bolts” section on
page 2 of your report |
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| Refer to
the “Mastitis Focus Users Guide” |
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If you have a
different question, or you are still experiencing difficulty then please email
countdown@countdown.org.au for
further assistance.
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