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38 THE RURAL VOICE
AgriTech
Beef info accessible in 3 formats
By Janice Becker
As the availability of information
on CDs and the internes continues to
expand at an astounding rate, compa-
nies trying to get their product to the
consumer must take into account the
range of technical literacy and use.
When the Ontario Cattlemen's
Association issued their first refer-
ence guide on CD more than two
years ago, they did just that.
While the Beef Info CD
was the focus of the promo-
tion offering producers
information on quality, effi-
ciency, animal health and
finances, to mention a few,
a binder entitled Canadian
Cattlemen Quality Starts Here —
Good Production Practices for
Feedlots, was available for those not
wired.
The CD carries all the binder infor-
mation plus much more.
On-line farmers can link to the
same material through the OCA's site
at www.cattle.guelph.on.ca.
Another familiar link, Agri Info
provides connections to beef, dairy
and the maple syrup industries at
http://131/104/112/18/.
This site has had some difficulties
in the past and if an error message
interrupts your surfing, simply click
OK and carry on.
The OCA site has a tremendous
amount of material and may be diffi-
cult to fully appreciate or make use of
if studied solely on-line.
An advantage I found with the CD
was the option to load it in three
ways to minimize the hard drive
spade required.
Installation of the program files
takes just 7 Mb while the custom for-
mat, making use of the videos on the
CD, needs 45 Mb. To put everything
on the hard drive and eliminate use of
the CD, 90 Mb is needed.
While the binder is easy to use, the
CD adds the dimension of graphs,
slides and videos to the presentations
and three levels of tutorials allow the
user to take full advantage of the
information.
Now that you have tracked down
the style of information best suited to
your needs, just what does it do for
you.
The stated function of the infobase
is to achieve the initiatives of the beef
industry which are to maximize prod-
uct quality, improve returns in all
sectors of the industry and to estab-
lish procedures at the production and
processing levels to ensure a safe and
healthy product.
The Beef Info CD and binder pro-
vide de ailed material on all aspects
of the:industry from good
record keeping to noncon-
formance factors and costs,
pharmaceuticals and sanita-
tion procedures.
The binder deals with
feedlot issues while the CD
includes material on
cow/calf operations.
One aspect I found very informa-
tive was the dollars lost on the pro-
cessing floor due to unnecessary non -
conformities. The charts and graphics
bring it into focus.
A bonus on the CD is the infobase
which provides great material on
environmental management, financial
and information systems, forage and
pastures, genetic improvements, mar-
keting, research, specialty cattle and
much more.
Each of those sections is then bro-
ken into subcategories. For example,
under research, producers can find a
study on the effects of season of birth
on calving weight, assistance and
treatment rate.
A helpful addition is the inclusion
of contact names for further informa-
tion.
It is difficult to do justice to the
abundance of information here, but it
may be worth checking out for beef
producers.
The CD can be ordered on-line.
Minimum requirements are Windows
3.1 or 95 with 4 Mb of hard drive and
RAM, a 386 processor, VGA monitor
and CD-ROM drive.
The original CD costs $40 with a
$10 charge for updated versions as
they become available. A new ver-
sion is expected by next'spring.
For the paper format, contact your
local OMAFRA office.
Contact me at becker@wcl.on.ca.
Cattlemen's
Association
goes on-line,
offers CD
Janice Becker is a computer enthusi-
ast and journalist living near Walton,
ON.