Brighton Gweshe

As explained in the previous article, there are five main types of animal production (physical) records and these are: individual records, stock registers, production registers, input records and inventories. This and the rest of the part 3 articles will take time to outline different types of physical livestock record which farmers may keep in livestock and animal production. Simple designs of animal record which farmers can use to increase both efficiency and accuracy in business management will be outlined.

• Animal individual records

Animal individual records enable the farmer to evaluate the performance of each animal in relation to the costs being met in keeping the animal. Unproductive animals must be culled (killed or sold) because they give little in returns for the feed consumed, drugs administered and labour used. Individual records enable the farmer to know: which females gave birth and which did not, which females to keep and which to cull, when a female is likely to give birth and make preparations, when mating took place so as to carry out pregnancy diagnosis, how many young were born and when the female should be mated again.    

Example of an individual record for a female rabbit is given below

NAME ___________________________________ D.O.B.:_____________

Date mated	Name of buck	Date and number born	Date and numbers weaned	Notes
10 / 02 / 1 9	Joe	12 / 03 / 19 6 kindlings	09 / 04 / 19 5 weaned	One died before 24hrs

• Stock registers

The number of animals on every farm is always changing. The number increases through births and purchases of new stock and decreases due to deaths and sales. The stock register as shown below is used to record numbers of animals. It is important to note that:

Opening Stock + Births + Purchases = Closing Stock + Deaths + Sales.

Stock register

Date	Opening Stock	Births	Purchases	Deaths	Sales	Closing stock
12/01	12		3			15
11/02	15	6			1	20
07/03	20	5				25
04/04	25				6	19
22/05	19			3		16