What is a fresh cow and what is a cow on hold ?
A fresh cow is a cow that has only been calved as few days. The time that a cow is considered fresh is specified in the setup screen.
What is a cow on hold ?? A cow on hold is clear of antibiotics and colostrum, and is waiting to return to the herd. When a cow calves, she becomes a fresh cow. Once she has served her 4 days as a fresh cow, she then becomes a cow on hold. A cow treated with antibiotics becomes a blue cow. When she has served her withholding period she also becomes a cow on hold.
A cow remains on hold, waiting until you tell the computer that she can return to the herd !
To obtain a list of the current fresh cows and cows on hold in your herd press the F10 key.
When you display the list of cows, they are sorted in order of calving date. During calving, the cows that have been calved longest are at the top of the list. This gives you a list of the cows that should be ready to enter the herd, and that you need to check for mastitis. When you check a cow, and she is clear to enter the herd, you select the cow in the list using the arrow keys, and press the F5 key to release her.
When cows clear their antibiotic withholding period, they also appear on the cows on hold list. They will usually be the first cows in the list. Once again, you should check these cows, and if they are clear you press the F5 key to release them back into the herd.
If you have a long list and wish to search for a cow, you can resort the list using the F1 key. The list will switch between sorted by cow and sorted by calving date.
Press the Esc key to close this window when you are finished with it.
