GOAT logo

Join the conversation! The forum activity is now at GOATeach.org!  We are working to cross pollinate our conversations. Document and share tools at farm hack and talk at GOAT!  Also join GOAT riot and introduce yourself and your projects!

Livestock?

Topic Type: 
Question

Does this provide any support for livestock farming. For example: Beef cattle, diary cattle, goats, horses, sheep, ...? I'm looking for something that keeps track of all the farming Best Practices for the various industries and USDA/NRCS (and even a number of states and communities).

m.stenta's picture

Not yet, no. But that is something I've been eager to start putting together. The building blocks are in place... the only thing we need to do is define the different data types and relationships. I come from a vegetable background, and I don't have much experience raising and managing livestock. So I am open to ideas and insights about how best to build a tool for animal management.

Perhaps we can start some brainstorms! If you have any relevant links to resources from the USDA/NRCS, please share!

m.stenta's picture

To continue this thought process...

FarmOS is built around the concept of "Log Types". A log type is essentially a type of record. Think of it like a bunch of composition notebooks, each with a particular purpose. In vegetable production, you have a set of "Planting" logs, which keep track of plantings that have been seeded/transplanted/etc, what they are, where they are etc. You also have "Input" logs for keeping track of fertilizations, amendments, etc. Also: "Harvest" logs to record what was harvested.

So for livestock management, the first step is to define the various Log Types that will be needed. Here are a few I can think of off the top of my head (and keep in mind I don't have any experience with livestock myself, so this is just a start to the brainstorm):

  • Feeding log
  • Rotation log
  • Breeding log
  • Medicine/health care log
  • ... others?
m.stenta's picture

Continuing the list from the last comment:

  • Milking log (for cows/goats/etc)
  • Sheering log (for sheep)
  • Slaughter log
  • Birth log (does this need to be different from "Breeding" above?)
  • ...

The key will be narrowing the list down to the most general set of log types, which can be used broadly. More log types is more to manage, so if we can keep things general it will be easier to maintain. For example, in the crop management that is already in FarmOS, "Input" is used to represent ANY kind of input to a crop or field. So we don't need different log types for every type of input.

Just some thoughts to get the ball rolling... :-)

m.stenta's picture

I created a new feature request in the Farm Log project on drupal.org: https://www.drupal.org/node/2360771

We can use both for discussion and planning. I prefer to use drupal.org for Drupal module project management, so that is probably where I will start building the roadmap and specific tasks. I linked back to this discussion from there as well.