Case 01 · A Midwest calf-sourcing operation
Every calf, one record. From the dairy alley to the carcass rail.
A calf-sourcing operation turned a drawer of birth lists, scale tickets and packer settlements into one traceable record per animal, and now sees what each head really cost and earned.
Case01
- Hundreds of calves a week
- Under 10 source dairies
- 2 to 3 depots
- 40 to 60 contract growers
- Several feedyards and packers
Scale shown as ranges. Client not named.
01The problem
No one held the whole animal.
Each calf passed through five or six hands between the dairy and the packer. Every hand kept its own paper: a birth list at the dairy, a manifest on the truck, a grade sheet at the depot, a grower's count, a feedyard closeout, a packer settlement.
None of those documents knew about the others. The feedyard's closeout showed the feedyard's profit, not the calf's. Missing head surfaced at year end, long after anyone could say where they went.
The work happens in alleys and pens with gloves on and often no signal. A system that needs a desk does not get used.
02The data that comes out
What the system records, and what it is for.
| Data produced | Decision or check it enables |
|---|---|
| One record per calf: source dairy, birth record, sire, pickup grade, depot regrade, cost, lot, grower, feedyard and carcass line, each fact tagged scanned, imported or inferred | Anyone can see what is known about an animal and how it is known. Gaps show as gaps, never filled with estimates |
| Landed cost per head, stacking purchase, freight, depot days, grower payments, then feedyard cost and packer proceeds | True calf-to-rail profit next to the feedyard's closeout profit, which only ever showed the feedyard's share |
| Head counted at pickup against head billed | Pay dairies on what was counted, not what was booked |
| Reconciliation at every handoff: manifest against received, placement against later grower counts, with a reason for each missing head | Losses are found where they happen, not at year end |
| Paperwork read onto animals: birth lists, closeouts and settlements matched by EID with lineage back to the source line | The office stops retyping; the owner's lot tracker fills itself and exports in the same layout |
| Outcome by dairy, sire and arrival grade, with sample-size bands | Buy from the dairies and sires that turn into calves that live, gain and grade |
| Ship-window and grid math | When one more day on feed stops paying, and which packer's grid pays most for this lot |
| Completeness rate: share of harvested head with a full record, broken down by cause | Data quality becomes a work queue: scanner fix, paperwork fix or packer follow-up |
| A governed data asset: lineage, rights flags defaulting to "no", keyed pseudonyms | The client owns a dataset it could license later, on its own terms |
03Decisions it makes possible
The questions it answers.
01
True cost per head
Purchase to packer proceeds, stacked on each calf instead of averaged over a lot.
Readout
Example data- Purchase
- share of landed cost
- Freight
- per head, per load
- Depot
- days × daily rate
- Grower
- contract payment
- Rail
- carcass value back on the calf
02
Paid on what was counted
Dairies are paid on head scanned at pickup, not head billed.
Readout
Example data- Billed
- 48 head
- Scanned at pickup
- 47 head
- Difference
- 1 · reason required
03
Reconciled at every handoff
Each transfer compares what left with what arrived, so a loss has a place and a reason.
Readout
Example data- Manifest
- 52
- Received
- 52
- Grower count, day 30
- 51 · 1 death, cause logged
04
Buying from what pays
Outcomes by source dairy, sire and arrival grade, shown with how many calves each figure rests on.
Readout
Example data- Group
- Dairy D-07 · sire BX-118
- Sample
- n = 38 · band: moderate
- Outcome
- live, gain and grade, side by side
04What we will measure
Results to follow after the first season.
The system has no season of operating history yet, so this page claims no time saved, errors reduced or money made. These are the measures we will report, published with the client's approval.
- 01Completeness ratePENDING
- 02EID attach ratePENDING
- 03Office hours on paperworkPENDING
- 04Time from settlement to filedPENDING
- 05Discrepancies caughtPENDING
- 06Heavy-carcass discount avoidedPENDING
- 07Death loss by arrival gradePENDING
05The other half of the chain
Where this case sits on the chain.
Each case runs on its own today. Together they cover the animal from the first tag read to the last mile.
- 01 · READTag readThe calf's EID is scanned at the dairy, with source and sire.EIDsire
- 02 · PENIntakeArrival counted against the manifest, graded, weighed.countgrade
- 03 · CAREHealthTreatments with drug, dose and withdrawal date.treatmentADG
- 04 · LOADLoadHead loaded, papers attached, the 28-hour clock starts.BOLCVI
- 05 · HAULHaulArrival times for both yards, route, time on truck.ETAtrail
- 06 · PROVEDelivery to railSigned count at the gate; closeout and carcass back on the calf.signaturegrid
Case 02 · Livestock hauling
Every load, signed for.
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