Beef inventory control for slaughter of beef, bison, sheep, and other large livestock. Full processing, cutting, and packing management, modern solution. Low cost hardware and low annual fees.

99% less meat packing waste

Accurate meat inventory management reduces waste through better FIFO stock rotation, stock-takes, and inventory alerts. RFID pallet control (optional) for precision inventory tracking. 

Save time packing meat 

Increase the efficiency of your meat packing plant using options like scanning incoming bar-codes to reduce data entry & errors, integrate with scales for automatic weighing, ore RFID for automatic livestock and cut meat inventory tracking.

Better meat quality control

Guarantee the quality of your meat with flexible QC testing systems from your cell or tablet. Customer feedback management, supplier livestock quality control and more...

Reduce meat  packing errors & control production

Project required inventory (and shortages), schedule orders to be cut & packed in batches & lots , automatic alerts to production line managers, schedule slaughter, cutting & meat packing services for customers.

100% accurate meat  order shipping

Shipping teams are guided through the dispatch process from picking using a phone or tablet (optional bar-code scanning), automatic picking, thru bill of lading, invoice, and automatic shipping notifications for customers, transport, and sales teams.

Reduce meat  packing administration costs by 40%

Automatic generation of fresh meat labels (outer box, inner packs, and meat pallet labels), bill of lading, invoice, picking documents and more; reduces administrative burden.

Easy audit & mock recall systems reduces compliance costs.

Faster meat inventory storage  & management

Accurate meat inventory management delivers reduced meat waste and increased employee productivity. Manage FIFO, improve stock-take accuracy, and keep a watchful eye on ageing your inventory... Easy stock-take identifies shrinkage and helps reduce. 

100% accurate meat inventory control

Maintain strict meat inventory control and high food safety standards at all times. Perform recalls based on animal tag, RFID, animal number, lot/batch, cut date, ageing date / cooler location, pack date, invoice #, inventory #, pallet #, delivery date, purchase order #, or perform a recall on your own user defined data. Perform instant recalls both up and down the supply chain. Makes audits easy and instant. 

Reduce meat  waste by 99%

Inventory control ensures there is no 'shrinkage', meat inventory is FIFO managed, and expiring inventory always monitored.

Reduce administration time by 60%

Automatic paperwork, labels, and reporting reduces the burden on administration teams and saves everyone's time.

Better meat quality now

Quality control and food safety has never been easier with industry standard quality tests, food safety checklists; or configure your own tests.  Test animal carcass, ageing sides, cut fillets, and packed meat products.

100% accurate meat ageing

Guarantee all meat is aged to correct age, no over / under ageing, reduce waste and ensures accurate ageing of meat.

Customers order animal processing online

Customers use the portal to request their livestock slaughtered, processed, and packed, including the cutting specifications & packaging & labeling requirements.

Management approves processing requests

Management is immediately alerted when a customer requests animal processing, and can change the delivery date or time for the livestock delivery.  An email confirmation is sent to the customer immediately with any updated info.

Self serve customer management make administration & planning easy

Customers are automatically sent alerts at each important processing phase including: livestock delivery, completion of slaughter, completion of cutting & packing.  Your customers can view the progress of slaughter, packing, and pickup of their finished goods, even print invoices and view old orders. 

100% accurate & automatic invoicing

Immediately when your customers goods are finished processing, they are sent harvest details, yield, itemized details of the packed goods, and an invoice for the slaughter, cutting, packing (and misc service like lab tests etc).  

Beef inventory control for slaughter of beef, bison, sheep, and other large livestock. Full processing, cutting, and packing management, modern solution. Low cost hardware and low annual fees.

Complete business management app for slaughter, meat cutting, meat packing and animal processing businesses with industry specific reporting and tools.    Farmsoft comes with full project implementation management, training, and support solutions to deliver a fully tailored meat processing & meat inventory control that matches your exact meat inventory control requirements and delivers maximum efficiency, reduces waste, and provides automatic inventory control.

Livestock inventory

Manage incoming livestock in unlimited pens; all animals issued tracking number, print / email livestock delivery receipt. Manage packaging (crates, cartons, labels, bags), receive alerts when inventory needs re-ordering.   Inventory audit trail and tracking.  Unlimited inventory items. Bar-code inventory management for meat packing.

Stock-take

Perform stock-takes any time by category or storage location.  Know how much inventory (livestock, sides, finished product, and packaging materials) you have in real time, even search by storage location.  Report by product line and storage location or rail, or product category.  Manage the meat ageing process and ensure correct aged meat is provided for each customer.  

Animal processing

Use inexpensive tablet terminals so each team member can see where they are in the processing stage and rapidly record data for their tasks regardless of position in processing chain (weigh box, knock box, head removal, evisceration, inspection, further processing, retain rail, scale, packaging, shipping and export).

Sales, shipping,  orders

Print pick sheet to pick meat orders manually, or scan inventory / pallets onto orders, or auto select inventory,  or rapidly sell without an order.  Track paid, and unpaid invoices.  Attach documents to invoices / photos of outgoing shipments.  Rapid collection of customers processed orders.

Traceability & recalls

Instant mock recalls both up and down the supply chain tracks to livestock supplier, property, and establishment.  Recall using any key such as livestock supplier lot/batch, livestock supplier name, delivery date, invoice #, inventory # or animal number, RFID, pallet #, customer reference, order # and more..

Invoices, BOL, labels for pallets & inventory

Choose from a selection of export documentation, invoices, bill of lading, freight notes, and industry standard meat labels (HALAL, INSPECTED, EU) in all languages.   Our team will add new labels, export docs, and invoices if you have special requirements. 

Cutting station management

The production manager can use the Cutting Spec screen to rapidly set the cutting specification for each station / employee, each station can have an inexpensive tablet that displays their spec, and they can use voice control to skip to the next animal to ensure maximum meat processing efficiency and hygiene. 

Logistics

View open meat orders & balances. Assign orders to specific staff for picking, assign to trucks / driver, transport company.  Set loading order for multiple orders on one truck.  See when orders are ready shipped and print bill of lading, export documents, and invoices. 

Quality control

Perform QC tests on incoming livestock, carcass sides, packed meat, on shipments pre-shipping / sealing of export containers. Configure QC tests for ANYTHING you want to test, including livestock supplier quality control tracking.  Attach unlimited photos & documents to QC tests from your cell or tablet.  

Complete customer management

Customers can book animal processing online, specify animal details and preferred cutting spec, delivery date and notes for each cut and packing type.  Management reviews and approves or changes orders and farmsoft will send notification to the customer on approval of order, on delivery, on slaughter (harvest details), completion of cutting & packing with details of pack and yield, and automatic invoice for livestock processing services. 

Low cost hardware & on-going costs

Use inexpensive generic hardware with farmsoft (save $300,000 implementation costs) and continue saving every year with lower I.T. maintenance costs (see brochure

Finance apps

Integrate with Xero online, or with SAGE, MYOB, Quickbooks, etc: export invoices (AR) and Purchase Orders (AP) to your chosen finance app. If we don't support yours, let us know and we will add support.   

Beef inventory control for slaughter of beef, bison, sheep, and other large livestock. Full processing, cutting, and packing management, modern solution. Low cost hardware and low annual fees.  For USA Beef Packing & Sales in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas, Montana, Kentucky, North Dakota, and Florida.

Meat inventory control delivers production & meat packing control, quality control, animal delivery, batch processing, weight accountability with no unaccounted yield loss for processing all animal and fresh meat products.
MODERN meat inventory control solution works with INEXPENSIVE HARDWARE.


Use low cost meat packing hardware terminals, scales, and other equipment with farmsoft meat inventory controls. Use inexpensive hardware for meat packing, meat processing, and meat storage.


Farmsoft gives you the freedom to use any low cost hardware with the farmsoft meat inventory control.
Low cost meat packing hardware inexpensive
Low cost meat packing hardware inexpensive (prices are roughly indicative for a meat processing plant with 10 meat processing / packing / meat boning stations). We do not sell meat packing hardware, you can buy your meat packing hardware from any vendor.
OLD MEAT PACKING HARDWARE SOLUTIONS
Old meat inventory controls tend to use expensive to purchase proprietary hardware that is often very expensive to install in a meat packing plant, and has excessive ongoing maintenance fees. These older meat inventory control vendors try to upsell you with hundreds of thousands of dollars of meat packing hardware. You don't have to waste precious resources that could be spent elsewhere in your meat packing plant.
Old solutions use outdated redundant and expensive technologies like RS232 networks which are expensive and inflexible, require a lot of expert configuration and maintenance. Old meat inventory controls often run only on Windows terminals which are slow, prone to viruses, and cost too much to purchase and maintain. Old meat inventory controls usually require you to purchase, administer, backup, and maintain your own server (expensive and a waste of your time and money).
Farmsoft offers an alternative, giving you the choice to use any inexpensive and low cost meat packing hardware for any sized meat packing and meat processing plant.
Administration and maintenance of meat packing plant hardware & I.T. infrastructure
Old meat inventory controls: $20,000+ per year
Modern farmsoft meat inventory control: $0
You don’t need to purchase & administer servers (Windows, MS SQL, anti-virus, backup software) because farmsoft runs in the cloud. Less Windows OS’s that need constant fixing & virus removal. No proprietary equipment with expensive repairs, parts, and maintenance. Less network equipment, complexity, and even less cables means less things go wrong; resulting in massively reduced network administration & maintenance expenses.
It just works.
Terminal for data entry during meat packing process:
Old meat inventory controls: $2000
Modern farmsoft meat inventory control: $200
Any Android / iOS tablet or phone / PC / Mac (old equipment is also compatible)
RFID reader (read animal RFID tags during slaughter, testing, evisceration, and inspection)
Old meat inventory controls: $3000
Modern farmsoft meat inventory control: $150
Any USB/wireless RFID reader in sleeve or ruggedized version, any Android RFID reading device
Barcode reader for inventory control of livestock and meat inventory:
 Old meat inventory controls: $3000
Modern farmsoft meat inventory control: $150
Any USB barcode reader (wireless), any Android professional Barcode reading device, any Android phone/tablet.
Scales & printers for weighing livestock and packed meat
 Old meat inventory controls: $3000
Modern farmsoft meat inventory control: $400
Any scale that can dump weight to PC clipboard via USB. Any 300+ dpi printers.
Meat packing plant network & network installation
Old meat inventory controls: $50,000
Modern farmsoft meat inventory control: $5000 (or as little as $200 for a small business)
Devices require only Wi-Fi, this cuts the cost of cables, routers, and installation drastically as opposed to running cables to every device.

farmsoft meat inventory control - Technical notes, hardware, requirements for the Meat processing & packing quality control app.   farmsoft meat inventory control FAQ

Is farmsoft a finance app?
NO. But you can integrate farmsoft with other solutions for finance, accounting, hardware, CRM, payroll, ERP using the fully open farmsoft API which can be used by your I.T. department or any external I.T. vendor. If you want us to perform the integration for you, additional costs apply for, please enquire. Existing integration with other apps is limited to insertion of invoices and purchases one way transactions (for Xero) and export of data via export feature unless otherwise specified in this document.
Do you share my data?
We will never sell or share your data with any person, company, or government.
How long does it take to implement farmsoft meat inventory control?
Implementation takes from 3 to 8 weeks, varies wildly based on business complexity. Average time 2-3 weeks.
Can I deploy farmsoft meat packing myself?
No, deployment is by professionals that have deployed many times. Without this experience your project would take 10 X longer to implement and has low chance of success. We will not provide farmsoft without managed implementation.
What languages is farmsoft in?
The interface is available in 14 languages, we can add more on request.
What if our broadband fails?
Keep a redundant internet connection through another company / infrastructure such as cable, OFC, ADSL, or phone hot spot, or keep a USB stick or 5G wi-fi router. The app requires an always on data connection.
Who develops & supports farmsoft meat packing?
We have been making food processing solutions since 2001, Tenacious Solutions Ltd 124 Broadkill Road #643, Milton DE 19968-1008 USA and have invested millions of $ in research and development to build farmsoft (current version is new, released in 2020). In Australia, the “official mark” and EXDOC/NEXTDOC part of our software is from our Australian subsidiary www.Producepak.com Pty Ltd PO BOX 7443 URANGAN, QLD, AUSTRALIA . Learn more about Tenacious Solutions Ltd here.
What are the costs if we need changes or additions to farmsoft meat packing?
We are happy to build new features or modify existing ones for your company. Please ask for a quotation for any special features you need added to farmsoft or use the API to add features through your I.T. department. We are unable to provide software development services for free, changing the app incurs an hourly fee. If you don’t want to pay this fee, don’t ask for changes.
What’s your refund policy for farmsoft meat packing?
Refunds will not be provided. It is your responsibility to perform full due diligence. Your project is not a trial or test.
Can you support my hardware?
If you didn’t buy it from us, we can’t support it, tell you how to use it, or configure it. We don’t sell hardware or accounting solutions and can’t tell you how to use or setup your financial solution, do not have a copy of your finance app or know how to use it. We provide support only for farmsoft, we can’t install your printer drivers or remove a virus from an old PC.
farmsoft meat inventory control hardware requirements
MEAT PACKING TERMINALS TERMINALS
All terminal devices must run one of these browsers: Edge, Chrome, Opera, Brave, with 800x1200 min resolution & an always on internet connection of 0.5 M/bit minimum, no data is saved on your device, no app is installed.
PRINTING MEAT LABELS
To print from Android or iOS Install AirPrint etc, or purchase PaperCut (or similar), or the app from printer vendor to print PDF from browser ( 300+DPI required if you print barcodes).
USING YOUR OWN SERVER FOR FARMSOFT MEAT PACKING
Don’t do this unless you absolutely must, standard solution runs from our nearest data center (New York, Berlin, or Sydney) and is included in your quote. Please enquire, there is a cost to use your own server (server etc not provided by us: specs: Win Svr2019+, 16GB RAM+, 4 GHz+, MS SQL 2019+). Or you can have an exclusive server in our data center (we administer & provide server, no other company will be using your exclusive infrastructure, available in USA, Canada, European Union, Australia).


Meat processing & packing quality control is made easy with farmsoft Meat inventory control; manage all QC, criteria, and testing processes for meat processing and meat packing quality testing for export/importers of beef, pig, and other fresh meat products.


Meat packing quality control for export of beef, pig and other fresh meat products.
Easy meat & meat packing quality control!
 Each test can be configured to send instant alerts to selected staff if a test fails. Receive full QC report and photos instantly.
 Configure unlimited quality tests for customers, internal QC, QMS, government mandated quality tests, regulated livestock quality testing
 Attach unlimited photos, lab tests & documents to QC tests
 Tests can be associated with anything such as animal, lot, batch, supplier, customer, order, delivery, shipment and more…
 Test types include pass/fail, score, value range, percentage of sample.
 Full quality control solution can be configured for livestock, meat during the curing or dry-ageing process, meat pre pack quality control, post pack meat quality control, pre-shipment and pre export QC.
The farmsoft meat inventory control guides each quality station for maximum accuracy & speed:
 Processes are configurable for each type of animal and station, perform basic meat processing, or perform value added manufacturing
 Each station can enter / access only data relevant to their tasks, and rapidly record outputs. Includes carcass processing and subsequent boning processes.
 Rapidly switch to next animal (or jump around if carcasses not being processed in the intended order)
 Each station can work simultaneously on different animals or lots.
 Easily pull a carcass for testing, suspicion of quality problem, or to condemn
 Carcasses market for testing can’t be further processed until the testing process is completed (this stops the carcass from being boned or sold)
 Marking a carcass for drag in automatically removes halal status
 Verify animal RFID in as many steps as required
 Automatically assigned animal inventory numbers
 Schedule livestock in batches (unlimited livestock pens for storage of livestock)
 Production management can:
 Schedule production to fill specific orders
 Monitor progress of each lot
 View outputs from production
Quality feedback management for meat customers
Manage & analyze customer complaints, capture customer comments, photos, documents, and more. Trace customer complaints back to the original supplier of livestock, or establishment. Instant alerts to relevant staff when a customer complaint/feedback is received.
Livestock supplier quality management
Simple or comprehensive supplier quality management using unlimited quality management programs, which can be supplier specific, livestock type specific, or generic for all suppliers. Each supplier quality program records notes, photos & more, linked to supplier delivery, batch, purchase order, etc.
Share quality results directly from the app with your suppliers. Instant alerts if a test fails.
Pick & send orders rapidly
 Scan inventory onto pallets or allow farmsoft to suggest exact inventory for each order based on FIFO & order specs.
 Build new pallets / shipping containers from existing inventory to fill orders
 Shipping container management
 The correct documents (invoice, BOL, shipping) are presented or automatically sent to admin when the order is filled and sent to government export systems via the cloud.
Complete meat sales process…
 Capture customer orders & specs (used on boning specification sheets) and meat quality requirements
 Monitor & manage the progress of meat order picking, quality control, and shipping from the Logistics dashboard
 Assign transport details to orders and perform quality control on individual shipments and individual shipping containers (truck, license, driver name, shipping container #, temp rec #, seal #, export details, etc)
 Assign loading order of each order
 Manage prices, including price list management for specific parts, and groups of customers (used on orders automatically)
 Attach unlimited documents to orders (international shipping documents, certificate of origin, lab tests etc)
 Capture any special information you need on the order, including fields specific to livestock processing (your consultant will configure this for you).
 Attach photos of truck / shipping containers to shipments for QC and insurance purposes

Traceability matrix seafood meat, poultry. Meat inventory control requirements with farmsoft meat inventory control. raceability matrix fresh produce fruit and vegetable seafood meat:
[Meat Packing (Australian) edition of farmsoft - download brochure here]
Produce inventory control makes it possible to track produce from its point of origin to a retail location where it is purchased by consumers.

Produce inventory control is an important link in protecting public health since it allows health agencies to more quickly and accurately identify the source of contaminated fruit or vegetables believed to be the cause of an outbreak of foodborne illness, remove them from the marketplace, and communicate to the supply chain.

Since many fruits and vegetables are eaten raw, the produce industry‚ from farmer to retailer, works diligently to protect these foods from contamination. Despite their best efforts, foreign matter can occasionally contaminate produce in the field or orchard, in packing or processing, in transit or storage.

Because inventory control systems can provide information on the source, location, movement and storage conditions of produce, they also allow growers, packers, processors and distributors to identify factors affecting quality and delivery.

Beginning in 2008, an industry-led effort to enhance inventory control throughout the entire produce supply chain was launched as the Produce inventory control Initiative.


Try the pepper inventory control app from farmsoft:

Traceability matrix fresh produce fruit and vegetable seafood meat
The produce (including pepper & capsicum) industry continues to evolve to meet consumers’ needs. Consumers today are much more knowledgeable and demanding about the foods they purchase. The increased focus on food safety and consumer awareness raises the need to identify and adopt business practices and standards that will aid the produce sector’s ability to track and trace product throughout the supply chain. It is important to note that different regions may have different requirements. Users are reminded to be aware of the requirements in target markets (both business and regulatory).



Meat inventory control makes quality control, receival, batch processing, high weight accountability with no unaccounted yield loss for processing all animal and fresh meat products. The premium meat inventory control solution for modern meat packers and meat processors.


Complete meat packing and meat processing business management. The app manages meat deliveries, batch processing and meat packing, sales and distribution. Maintain high levels of inventory control during the meat packing process.


Meatpacking refers to the process of turning livestock into meat, including slaughter, processing, packaging and distribution. These days, the top meatpacking companies do not just produce meat, they also control how the animals are raised long before slaughter: in the chicken industry, companies oversee the process from chick genetics through supermarket packaging; in the beef industry, cattle come under the control of the big meatpackers four to six months before slaughter.
The ownership of all parts of the supply chain is called vertical integration. It gives integrators – the companies who have integrated all the different parts under one umbrella – control over price and quality; and the economies of scale they have achieved have helped to drive down the consumer prices of meat. Vertical integration has also allowed the meat industry to become highly consolidated, controlled by just a few companies: As of 2015, the four largest companies in each sector controlled 85 percent of the beef packing industry, 66 percent of pork packing, and 51 percent of broiler chicken processing. 1 The slaughter and packing plants these few companies run operate on a tremendous scale: in 2015, 85 percent of beef cattle slaughtered took place in just 30 US slaughter facilities (of the almost 650), with more than half slaughtered in 13 plants. These top 13 plants process more than one million animals per year, which is approximately 2,800 cattle/day, 365 days/year. 2

Pre cooked lunch meat manufacturing app for food manufacturers of meatballs, luncheon, baloney, frankfurter, hot dog, taco meat, sausage manufacturing: manages pre-cooked meat inventory, pre-cooked meat quality control, orders & production, sales & shipping for reduced pre-cooked meat weight.


Pre cooked lunch meat manufacturing app:
For food manufacturers of meatballs, luncheon, baloney, frankfurter, hot dog, taco meat manufacturing: manages pre-cooked meat inventory, pre-cooked meat quality control, orders & production, sales & shipping for reduced pre-cooked meat weight.
[Meat Packing (Australian) edition of farmsoft - download brochure here]
Processed Meats: Convenience, Nutrition, Taste
Pre cooked lunch meat manufacturing app
Pre cooked lunch meat manufacturing app
Processed meat and poultry products like bacon, hot dogs, sausage, ham and other deli meats are great American traditions and iconic foods. In fact, bacon is often called the ultimate “conversion food” because it tempts even the strictest vegetarian. Processed meat and poultry products are commonly called “convenience meats” because they have already been prepared for easy and safe consumption by consumers. These products are offered in a variety of choices so the consumer can make the best food decision for their lifestyle.
Ninety six percent of Americans make meat and poultry products part of their diets. But recently, questions have arisen about processed meat and poultry products. What are they? How are they different from fresh meat and poultry products? Are they safe and nutritious? This consumer guide aims to provide the facts about processed meat and poultry products. It also offers a guide to the many choices available in the meat and poultry case today. In this way, armed with information, you can make the best choice for you and your family. 

One platform for your cattle record keeping
Say goodbye to spreadsheets, cow cards, and slips of paper!​
Organize all of your cattle and ranch records in one place. Cut record keeping time by working smarter. Make better decisions with better information.



Process and distribute meat and protein better.
Farmsoft ERP software for meat processing and deconstruction has been designed to help companies operate efficiency, comply with global food safety regulations and scale business operations. Farmsoft meat customers are able to accurately measure and account for variable weight, set up custom safety audits and trace materials throughout deconstruction and processing.


Warehouse / Inventory
Manage variable weight
Account for the entirety of your output with variable weight functionality. Processed materials are individually weighed and in the system allowing for the true value of materials to be accounted for.


Food Safety
Mandatory safety audits
Establish mandatory safety audits from pre receipt of materials all the way through deconstruction and / or processing. Configure safety audits to comply with global food safety requirements.


Manufacturing / Production
Accurate yield management
Get a better understanding of your cost of production with real time inventory, processing and purchasing data. Set strategic prices that are both attractive to customers and increase your profit margins.

Features for meat processors and distributors
lot traceability
quality assurance (QA)
bill of materials (BOM)
serial tracking
variable weight
work in progress (WIP)
yield management

Here's what Farmsoft users have to say!
"Having Farmsoft has allowed the cattle producers in our program to to make more informed management decisions based on performance data on each individual animal."

Michelle Elmore
Alabama Beef Cattle Improvement Asc.

"Farmsoft allows us to run reports which compile several years of production information on our cattle"

Will Carter, DVM
Carter Cattle Co. Pintlala, AL

"Farmsoft has made it where if we have cell service, we have Farmsoft and can access our record where ever we are in the touch of a button"

Bill Cawley
Stalwart Ranches, Crockett, TX

Join the Farmsoft community & get your ranch organized, operate more efficiently, and make informed decisions

Ranch record keeping shouldn't be hard, messy, complicated, or time consuming.
We understand that record keeping can get complicated, that is why we created Farmsoft, the all in one record keeping software that houses all of your ranch records in one place.

Farmsoft is a cloud-based program that allows you to view your ranch records on the go. Using our newly enhanced mobile version on a smartphone or tablet makes updating or accessing records in the field easier than ever before!


Get Organized
Keep all of your records in one location, accessible from any device.


Save Time
Update animals in groups and leverage Farmsoft's automatic processes


Make Improved Decisions
Get insights into your ranch, including cattle, pastures, and equipment.


Work Better Together
Everyone can actively collaborate on ranch activities



LINKING FROM THE FARM TO THE TABLE
Farmsoft – Management tools that naturally integrate into your business

Farmsoft

Farmsoft
Farmsoft allows collection of all info on an animal throughout its life. Information flow across seed stock, cow calf, feedlot and packing sectors will allow you to make better business decisions including selection of replacement females and sires. Always accessible and always secure, we make information easy and relevant!


bioLinks
bioLinks offers an affordable, unique, customized for smaller meat processing or retail management operations to get in the game with the big guys in a way you can afford and that makes sense for your business. bioLinks helps you gain more control over pricing and inventory management.


Testimonials
“I wouldn’t want to run our business without bioLinks”
Tim Hofer, Pine Haven Colony Meat Shop, Alberta

“I don’t understand why more people don’t have genetic evaluations for their animals after seeing our success.”
Paul Ferguson, Ontario

“I don’t know of anyone else in North America doing this in the meat industry”
Cory Van Groningen, VG Meats, Ontario

PRESERVE IDENTITY & INCREASE PROFIT
Farmsoft – Use everyday technology to track your investment every step of the way


 Stay up to date with the latest news from AgSights and how our services have helped farmers and producers just like you improve their profits.


CME: Inventory of Frozen Meat Down
US - USDA's monthly Cold Storage report, released on 22 November, indicates that the total inventory of frozen meat and poultry as of 31 October was smaller than either last month or the October 2010, write Steve Meyer and Len Steiner.
calendar icon24 November 2011
clock icon4 minute read
North America
Detailed data appear in the table on page 2 of the full report (see link below).

Some key features are:

Total meat and poultry in freezers on 31 October amounted to 2.034 billion pounds, 4.4 per cent smaller than on 30 September and 1.6 per cent smaller than one year ago.

This is the closest that freezer inventories have gotten to the two billion pound level this year after spending much of last year below two billion pounds.

The decline in frozen stocks was led, as one would expect in October, by a sharp reduction in turkey inventories to 407.167 million pounds, 20 per cent lower than at the end of September and 3.7 per cent lower than last year. The normal further reduction of inventories in November will likely draw turkey stocks down to under 200 million pounds.

Chicken inventories were 5.3 per cent lower than one year ago but increased in October by 26 million pounds or 3.9 per cent. That increase in chicken stocks does not bode well given that production during October, based on weekly data, was down 6.9 per cent.

Chicken leg products were the main contributor to the October increase in freezer stocks, growing by just over 28 million pounds or 20 per cent from the end of September. When placed against the dramatic (at least, by chicken industry standards!) year-on-year reduction in production, this increase in leg product stocks suggest that October chicken exports were soft, to say the least.

Breast and breast meat stocks remain sharply larger (26.9 per cent) than last year but were steady for the month. But again — versus a nearly seven per cent reduction in production, steady inventories provide little encouragement regarding product movement.

Pork inventories actually declined in October by 0.2 per cent from their 30 September level. That’s not unheard of but is still pretty unusual (three times in the past 12 years) given that October is usually the peak month for pork production due to seasonally larger hog supplies and there being no holidays during the month. Inventories of 490.695 million pounds were 1.9 per cent larger than one year ago.

Belly inventories led the year-on-year decline in percentage terms (-63 per cent) and were second in tonnage terms (-14.637 million pounds). Ham inventories were 13.2 per cent lower than one year ago at 134.125 million pounds. That figure is over 20 million pounds lower than one year ago. Stocks of all other cuts except variety meats were higher than last year.

Hams – as expected – accounted for nearly all of the October reduction in frozen pork stocks, falling by nearly 30 million pounds (18 per cent) from 30 September.

Beef inventories of 414.215 million pounds were virtually even with one year ago and were 3.1 per cent lower than last month. Stocks of boneless beef were 2.5 per cent higher than one year ago.






How much money is “product shrink" costing your clinic?

A recent in-house survey of AABP members showed 21% of respondents believe their product shrink is could be over 5%, and well over half said shrink could cost them $1,000 to $10,000 per year, while one-fifth said their operational shrink could be $10,000 to $50,000 yearly.

Further, the survey showed more than 70% of shrink was happening in the field, not at the clinic.

Dr. Eric Rooker of Dairy Doctors Veterinary Services in Wisconsin recently shared how their group cut shrink from almost 13% to less than 1% over a two-year period. He says in the Dairy Doctors group, shrink happened by a variety of common means, such as leaving a bottle of medicine on a farm, picking up medicines from the storeroom and not making note of it, then forgetting to add it to a ticket, or just failing to list products used on a farm call on an invoice.

Innovating

Dr. Rooker talked to the partners about this issue and took on the project to bring their clinic's shrink in line with what he believed was a reasonable level of 1% or less. Here's how he says he arrived at that assumption:

"I cannot find any published recommendations for large animal practice shrink. Due to this I have used the US retail industries benchmark of 1.5% (2018 numbers are 1.33%). However, given we don't have to contend with theft (generally), I would argue that we should be able to get about 1%."

Retail theft is estimated at about 36% of the 1.33% measure, Dr. Rooker says, and employee theft was 33% in the 2017 National Retail Security Survey. Based on those facts, he said he decided it was realistic to think it possible they could get under 1% in veterinary practices.

Dr. Rooker said research and reckoning told him a successful inventory management system needed these four attributes:

1. Portability

2. Real-time synchronization

3. Ease of use for all

4. Quick usage to match ease

He says he looked at several systems which might but used as they are, or adapted to fit your operation. His group chose Animal Health International's Pharmacy Inventory Control System, but Dr. Rooker did not elaborate extensively on this program because he did not want to appear to be endorsing one product.

Gather consensus

Dr. Rooker says based on his experience, clinics wanting to start down the path of better inventory management need first to make a true commitment to the transition. Know also that typically the older vets have the most resistance to the change, he adds.

Second, you need to thoroughly explore your options to see what programs and systems might work best. Among other things, keep in mind the statistic that most shrink of inventory happens in the field, which should tell you a mobile capability is a necessity.

Third, you need to appoint your inventory manager. Expect that employee to commit a significant amount of time to the work and make it possible for them. Depending on the operation, this may amount to one-fourth or more of the employee's time.

Fourth, Dr. Rooker says, put the system in place and go forward.

Get organized

In the Dairy Doctors practice one technician is 100% responsible for ordering all drugs. He says this not only provides a better handle on inventory and purchases, but reduces the chances for inventory error accumulation.

Also, vet techs now handle all the inventory in house, from shelving and logging it into the system, to stocking it in the trucks. This helps eliminate the veterinarian as the primary source of loss, Dr. Rooker says.

Further, it's important the veterinarians form a habit of creating an invoice for the customer and including products used before leaving the farm. Dr. Rooker says he does this on his smartphone before leaving the driveway.

Besides saving thousands of dollars of previously lost inventory, the Dairy Doctors service has leveraged its inventory management system to serve clients as well, further reducing any costs they incur.

"We defray the cost of this system by providing inventory management to our clients," Dr. Rooker says. "We have about five large herds that do no inventory or stocking; they rely completely on us.

They are able to bill out about $40 per hour tech time and each dairy requires about 15 to 60 minutes per week to do this task. Add that up over time and you can get a nice payment toward the system, Dr. Rooker says.

"Finally, we have been able to package this service with other services our technicians can provide to the client, therefore getting them to use us a little more because we are there already," he adds.

dusanpetkovic-GettyImageschecking inventory on list
Dr. Rooker says the clinic must support its inventory manager.

Eric Rooker's 4 tips

Support your inventory manager. Don't just grab drugs off the shelves, for example. Always talk to one of your inventory people so changes get recorded.
Keep doctors involved. Every time one of the veterinarians takes a drug off the truck, they need to think about whether the number of drugs on the truck match the inventory number.
Don't sweat the small stuff. Manage all disposables by the box or package. Don't waste your inventory manager's time counting needles, for example.
Remember nobody is perfect. Despite the best efforts of all, you will still lose some products. Identify the source of the loss, discuss it at a team meeting, and set a minimum goal for loss in this category, then move on.