Farm Matters Software

How to use cattle flags

Cattle flags are a customisable feature of Farm Matters that allows to flag an animal as in a particular state. This offers a very flexible solution to tracking the management of your cattle.

Setup flags

While you can use the default flag names it may be more useful to give each flag a custom name. Giving custom names to the flags makes it easier for you to recognise what the flags mean. To setup the flag names right click and choose 'Setup Flags' as shown in the menu structure above. The 'Setup Flags' screen will appear as shown to the left. Simply enter the names you want to use and click 'Save'. Note: The To Cull flag cannot be renamed as it is a special flag linked to the use of servicing.

Setting a flag

Select the animals you want to flag on the grid, right click and choose 'Set Flags' as shown in the menu structure above. The 'Set Flags' screen will appear as shown to the right. Tick which flags you want to use and optionally a flag reason. You can set multiple flags at once. The existing reason if only needed want flagging an animal that is already flagged. You can choose to append the reason to the existing reason or overwrite the existing reason. Click 'Save' to complete setting the flags. You can also set flags for an individual animal inside it's record card on the 'Additional' tab.

Clearing flags

On the grid select the animals you which you want clear flags, right click and choose 'Clear Flags' as shown in the menu structure above. The 'Clear Flags' screen will appear as shown to the left. Tick which flags you want to clear. You can clear multiple flags at once. Click 'Save' to clear the flags. You can also clear flags for an individual animal inside it's record card on the 'Additional' tab.

Grid overlay

A useful companion when using flags is the grid overlay. You can switch the grid overlay on by clicking the button highlighted in the top right corner as highlighted on the image to the left. The grid overlay offers a lot of functionality with the highlighted section relevant to flags. By ticking the check box (or radio button when in row mode) the flag cells in the grid will be highlighted in the colours shown on the key in the overlay dialog. You can change these colours by clicking on the key box. You can also use this screen as a quick filter by clicking on the word 'Flags' the animals on the grid will be filtered to show animals which are flagged.

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