cattle management software

When Bill Fly and his sister inherited their grandfather's Gonzales County ranch in Texas originally purchased in 1940, cattle records were not quite as important as they are today.

Bill began recording cattle information in Excel spreadsheets and also tried a simple database, but he found data entry with those systems to be cumbersome, and it was difficult to share the information with his sister, who lives in Austin.

Last year's Texas A&M Beef Cattle Short Course in College Station, Texas, provided Bill the opportunity to meet with Cattlesoft, and introduced him to the CattleMax software, which he purchased shortly after. This July, Bill upgraded to the new CattleMax CS.

Today, he keeps all of his cattle records on 170 mama cows, five bulls and a calf crop in CattleMax, and says his record keeping is a breeze.

Bill is an attorney for Texas State University in San Marcos, and makes the hour-long trip to his ranch most weekends and during the week when it becomes necessary. He has a ranch manager who checks feed and water for his cattle daily, but Bill has remained the primary record keeper.

It used to be a hassle for his multi-owner ranch to share information, but CattleMax has helped him resolve this problem.

"Now I can share the information with my sister easily. I just scan the report and send it electronically. It is laid out ideally in an easy to read and understand format," Bill says.

He says there are two ways CattleMax has changed his record keeping.

"For one, the ease of entering data has vastly improved, which is most important. And two, the reporting is so much easier. I can print a full report of anything I need to give to my accountant or anyone else who needs it. They're a close second."

Fly Cattle Company usually sells their calves at weaning at the local auction barn. Bill says CattleMax has improved how he handles these records as well.

"I record each calf's weight and sales price," he says, "Since I am able to record the sale information, I can assess how each cow is performing."

"CattleMax has been a real good experience. It has really helped the profitability of our little ranch," Bill says.

He says he also appreciates the help he receives from the support staff when he calls or emails questions. Bill also regularly uses the CattleMax discussion forums.

"I note questions and answers there to see if I can apply it to my situation. I've gotten some good ideas from other people's questions and the responses on the forum on how to generally use the program," he says.

For more information on Fly Cattle Company, contact Bill Fly at 512-754-6772.