Lac-T FAQ
Many herd management systems scale by herd size and budget — small farms can benefit just like large ones. Lac-T is better suited for tie-stall environments or small to medium size herds not requiring exchange with their milking system. Lac-T successfully services the Quebec and Atlantic market and it’s now available in Ontario.
Training, help desks, and mobile apps make onboarding simple for you and your farm team. Out-of-the-box, Lac-T comes with all of the necessary resources and a Canadian support team. You’re simply never alone as support is available on-site, toll-free, or via remote internet access.
Many software applications, including Lac-T, work offline and sync when a connection is available. Our support team can test your internet connection and the software functionality with our 30-day FREE Lac-T trial – where you can explore all that Lac-T has to offer.
Modern tech tools monitor health, feed, breeding, finances, and more. Track, treat and triumph as Lac-T sets you up for decision making success beyond milk data. After all, healthy productive cows equal a healthy business.
With Lac-T, gains like better calving intervals and health intervention often appear in the first few months. You will also feel the ease of recording and reporting events that save time and streamline your management practice.
It’s simple. You own your data and it is never shared without your permission. As a trusted steward of national data, your information is also backed up at Lactanet’s secure data center should anything happen to your files or computer system.
You need tech that works as hard as you do. That’s why the Lac-T mobile app is included with your software subscription. Whether you’re in the barn, in the field, or between farms, the app keeps you connected to your data and daily tasks — so you can stay on top of your game, wherever work takes you.
What is AnaylsePlus?
Quickly and easily visualize lactation performance of individual cows or groups. AnalysePlus Lactation offers you the flexibility to not only manage comparison of current lactation information, but also predicted performance!
Information displayed in this section can also be consulted by lactation stage or by parity. You can also select to use information up until 305 DIM or information from lactations that exceed 305 DIM.
Lactation curves can display with low, medium, or high interpretation biases, based on the user’s preferences. You can also display ratios and compare selected groups to one another, for example, peak lactation values for parity 1 versus parity 2.
This module allows for the interpretation of your most recent milk recording results and other previous test results easily and quickly. In a few seconds you can display multiple component values and compare them in order to instantly gain a clear portrait of actual performance and progress since last test.
Values that can be displayed in this module are components (% fat, % protein, P/F ratio, F/P ratio, SNF/F, SCC, urea) and production (milk, persistence, BCS, BCS differential, and DIM at last service) on test dates.
Like the AnalysePlus Lactation module, it’s possible to visualise and compare this data by parity, by group, or by individual.
With PROM-S, you can track your heifer’s growth objectives more easily than ever. With as few as 2 measures per heifer, it’s possible to view growth curves and to group them by various characteristics: bred, open, animal breed, and more.
Heifer growth rates are presented with national data points to establish the 50th percentile and the 90th percentile by population, to help you better measure your growth objectives.
Technical Questions
ATQ (Attestra)
Go to the References Parameters item in the ribbon. Select Settings: My farm in the Parameters section. In the Parameter Profiles box in the work area, select Traceability. You can enter the ATQ Site number and the Contact (Submitter – PROXXXXXXX) number in the appropriate cells. Click on Save to save the information.
Bulls
You can first check the Reference Sires list (which is updated at the same time as the software updates). You can access this list by selecting any female from the Animals list. Then, click on the Breeding button below the cow image on the right of the work area. In the Breeding screen, click on the Display Active Reference Sires button. This will open the Reference Sires screen. In the Search bar at the top of this screen, you can search by Short Name, AI Code, Registration number, Birth Date or Full Name. If the bull you are searching for is not in this list, you can add the new bull by clicking on the +Add button at the top of the window. Enter the information for the bull then click on the Save button. The new bull will then be added to the herd reference sires. You can also add a new bull by clicking on the New item at the top of the drop-down lists in the Bull Used section of the Breeding screen. This opens the Reference Sires screen. Click on the +Add button to add the new bull. Enter the information then click on Save.
Herd Management
Yes, if you create a Planned Intervention for the Projected Dry-off event. To do this, go to the Tools item in the ribbon then click on Task Planner in the Wizards list. In the Task Planner screen, go to the Individual Treatments and Interventions tab. Click on the +Add button to add a new Planned Intervention. In the next screen, enter a Name (Ex. Projected Dry-offs). Select the Target Animals (Cows and/or Heifers). Select the Criteria option (radio button). In the Lactation tab, you can checkmark “Between” and enter a range of number of DIM (days in milk) OR, in the Projected Calving tab, enter the range of days “before projected calving”. Select the Year-round option. Finally, at the bottom of the screen, in the Intervention tab, select Dry-off. Animals meeting these criteria will then be displayed in the Management Grid with their projected dry-off dates. To complete the dry-off event in the Management Grid, double-click on the event then click on Save.
First, you need to display removed animals in the Animals list. Go to the Animals item in the ribbon. Click on the Filter button (funnel) located under the Bulls button, to the right of the Search bar. Checkmark the Removed box then click on OK. The Animals list should now display both Active and Removed animals. Select the animal you removed by mistake. In the bottom pane of the work area, on the right, select the Herd Exit event then click on the Delete button. The Herd Exit screen will open. Click on the Delete button at the bottom of that screen. The animal will then be active in the herd once again.
Go to the Animals item in the ribbon and select the animal from the list. Click on the Details button in the work area on the right. The Animal Details screen will open. You can then enter or edit the information in the Identifiers tab. Click on the Save button to save the information.
To change the display for the Animals list, go to the References Parameters item in the ribbon. In the Parameters section beside the ribbon, click on the Settings: User item. Select Animals List in the Parameter Profiles box. On the right-hand side work area, checkmark the Work Identifiers you want to work with. You can change the order in which the identifiers are displayed by using the Up and Down arrows beside the box to move the identifiers up or down the list, in order of preference. To do this, select the identifier (for example, Barn Name) then use the Up arrow to move it to the top of the list. Click on Save to save the new setting.
Go to the Animals item in the ribbon and select the dam of this calf. Double-click on the Calving event for this animal, either in the Lifetime or the Reproduction tab, then checkmark the “Add to the herd” box. Complete the rest of the information then click on Save. The animal will be added to the herd.
Go to the Animals ribbon then select the calf from the list of animals. In the work area for the animal, click on the Details button. The Animal Details screen will open. You can then enter or edit the information in the Identifiers tab. Click on the Save button to save the information.
After you’ve added the protocol in the animal’s Events (from the Animals list), you then need to complete the protocol actions in the Management Grid. In the Management Grid, there will be a new line for each step of the protocol. Complete each step by double-clicking on the corresponding step of that protocol then click on the Save button. After doing this, if the protocol had a medication with a withdrawal period for milk or meat, the animal will be displayed on the Animals Under Withdrawal report.
The Projected Calving date will be displayed after a Positive pregnancy test. However, you can activate the projected calving date calculation without a pregnancy test. To do this, go to the References Parameters item in the ribbon. In the Parameters box, click on Settings: My Farm. In the Parameter Profiles box, click on Reproduction. At the bottom of the work area on the right, checkmark the box at the bottom of the list to Activate the projected calving calculation without pregnancy test. When this box is checked, a projected date will be displayed in the Animals work area but with an asterix * beside the date, to indicate that there hasn’t been a positive pregnancy test.
Medication
To create a medication go to the CQM – References, Medications List tab. Click the + New Medication button. The Medication window will open. Complete the information then click on Save to save it. The medication will be added to Your Medications list.
You can’t add or change DIN numbers for Reference Medications. The list of Reference Medications in Lac-T is supplied by the Centre de distribution des médicaments vétérinaires (QC). This default list can’t be modified. However, you can create a new medication with exactly the same name as the Reference Medication. You can then input your own DIN number. This medication will replace the one in the software. You can then edit the DIN number. This medication will be displayed in Your Medications list.
Talk to our Lac-T support team about our 30-day free trial to help you find the best herd management software solution for you.
Contact us:
1-877-850-1714
lac-t@lactanet.ca
Lac-T Update
Previous version: 2.2.4.3
Current version: 2.2.5.2
In order to download your file, you must fill in the below form. Then you will be redirected to the downloads page:
- An addition of father, mother, maternal grandparents, and breed information now available in custom inventories
- Several improvements to XML import
- Pedigree status is no longer crushed
- Empty TimePeriodCodes are identified as 3 (N/A)
- The possibility of having dynamic XML for producers outside Quebec
- Some changes for Heatime and Cow manager
- Group and transponder numbers are removed when an animal is taken out
- The list of cows contains only active animals
- A Bulls Update for July 2024
The new version 2.2.4.3 of Lac-T is available in the upper Tools menu, Update (software)
In the Help menu, About Lac-T, you can see if you have the latest update, the current version should be 2.2.4.3
The big news of this update is to fix a problem for sending registration requests
Registration requests can be made entirely in Lac-T without having to deposit a DEVE file on the Holstein site, for those who had problems with sending.
In Tools, the Record wizard does not change. The changes are in the Data Exchange, Communication Registration menu.
Here’s how the new module looks :
We can see that herd 60601 is ready to transmit 3 Holstein subjects. In the Number of subjects column, by hovering the mouse over the eye, you can see the details of the 3 subjects that will be transmitted.
The Submit button will forward requests to breed associations.
In the event of a validation error, the eye icon allows you to see the subjects in error.
Hovering over the validation error status shows the details. In this case, the registration number is missing for animal 7
History of communications:
Using the filter, it is possible to see the records already communicated by this Lac-T for your herd. You can also select communications before or after a specific date.
The strikethrough filter allows you to cancel the selection and return to the default view.
N.B. The list of submitted animals is still available in the General Reports, Registration Group, Submitted Animals
During the first communication, the authentication window will appear and you will have to enter your My Lactanet site credentials with your password.
These are the same credentials you use to view your Lactanet reports.
In subsequent communications, authentication is verified, but the window will not appear when everything is valid.
It is also possible to manually enter your credentials with the Credentials button.
These are improvements that will make your registration requests easier!
This version also contains:
- An addition of father, mother, maternal grandparents, and breed information now available in custom inventories
- Several improvements to XML import
- Pedigree status is no longer crushed
- Empty TimePeriodCodes are identified as 3 (N/A)
- The possibility of having dynamic XML for producers outside Quebec
- Some changes for Heatime and Cow manager
- Group and transponder numbers are removed when an animal is taken out
- The list of cows contains only active animals
- A Bulls Update for July 2024