Hold Animals from Vet Lists
You can keep particular animals from being added to vet lists using hold dates. Assigning a hold date will keep specific animals from being added to the next generated vet list for a specified number of days.
Hold dates are defined using the HLDAT item in a command. When using HLDAT, there are two basic parameters you need to specify:
- How long you want animals held off future vet lists
- Which animals you want held off future vet lists
The HLDAT is usually set after vet results are entered and is tagged in a command like SETOPEN as part of the SETVET command. However, once a cow's vet results are entered, her VC value is cleared and set to 0.
To determine which animals to hold from future vet lists, you can use the animals' vet code or the remark from their most recent event. See the topics below to learn more:
Hold Animals using Previous Vet Codes
The most common way to keep animals off future vet lists is by using the reason they were on the previous vet list (PVET). For example, you might want to keep possible cystic animals off the next vet list. In this case, your command string might look like this:
HLDAT=TODAY+42 FOR VDAT=TODAY PVET=7
Here we've told DairyComp to hold the animals with a previous vet code of 7 (PVET=7, CYST) off future vet lists, and to keep them off these vet lists for the next 43 days (TODAY+42).
To adjust the hold date for possible cystic animals, change the number of days in the command string. For example, if you want animals held off future vet lists for the next 30 days, your command string would look like this:
HLDAT=TODAY+29 FOR VDAT=TODAY PVET=7
Usually, you would include your HLDAT parameters as part of a menu abbreviation. That way, you just need to run the single command to hold animals from future vet lists. For example:
VLIST ID VITEMS ID FOR VC>0 HLDAT<TODAY
It's common to have several menu abbreviations with HLDAT parameters. See Menu Customization to learn more about creating menu abbreviations.
Hold Animals using Event Remarks
Another way to hold animals from future vet lists is through the REM item. When you enter an event for an animal, the system allows you to enter a remark for that event. That remark displays as the REM item in the animal's CowCard. You can then set the HLDAT item to look for that remark.
For example, if you set a remark of "H1" for OPEN events, you can use that remark in your HLDAT parameters:
HLDAT=TODAY+42 FOR VDAT=TODAY REM="H1"
Notice that the equals sign (=) is used in the example above. The equals sign only works if the CowCard remark exactly matches the command string. In this case, the remark is simply H1. But what if the event remark was "H1 DAYS" or something similar? In that case, you'd use the greater than (>) symbol to hold that animal:
HLDAT=TODAY+42 FOR VDAT=TODAY REM>"H1"
Adjust the Hold Date (HLDAT)
The item HLDAT ("vet hold date") is used in conjunction with the VETLIST command to allow the user to set a number of days after the current vet check date to hold the animal before she can become eligible to be listed on the VETLIST the next time. This might be due to being checked in a bullpen, which usually means the user may want 28 or more days to go by before the cow needs to be checked again. Many cowfiles use the SETOPEN command to automatically adjust the HLDAT to a future date from today if a cow in a bullpen is found open, since a different diagnosis is weeks away then.
Another use of the HLDAT is to delay the ovsynch program for a cow based on a diagnosis at vet check that caused the cow to need time before moving forward within the ovsynch program. Those changes require a number of ovsynch related commands to be adjusted.
To learn about SETVET, see Enter Vet Exam Results.