Today, we are “opening the gates” and are announcing CattleMax Online in our CattleMax Newsletter that goes to 21,000 cattle ranchers a month. Why the delay? We wanted to let a small group of ranchers work with it for a few months to address feedback and comments from a smaller group.

How is CattleMax Online different?

CattleMax Online has addressed many popular areas in previous versions of CattleMax and taken them to the next level in terms of power and ease of use.

• New Smart Groups automatically add/remove cattle based on criteria
• Integrated breeding, pregnancy check, and calving screens
• Inline Herd Update so you can update cattle right from the cattle list screen
• Unified reporting so you can customize columns, create new reports, and export to CSV & PDF from a single Reports area.
• Enhanced Pasture screen to know which cattle are in a specific pasture and when they were moved to that pasture
• Accessible from any Internet-connected device PC, Mac, Netbook, smartphone… you name it
• Mobile-optimized version for entering data in the pastures or on-the-go
• And much more…

CattleMax Online has a simple pricing structure – a single monthly fee starting at $12 per ranch. No more upgrades to buy, no additional license fees to use on multiple computers, and no online backup subscriptions to share & backup data.

Check out how CattleMax Online is different

Where CattleMax Online is headed

Going forward, all development resources are being focused on CattleMax Online. We are actively updating CattleMax Online each week based on feedback and suggestions from customers (and all those updates are automatically applied to your account at no charge).

What happens to CattleMax CS?

CattleMax Online is the latest version of CattleMax and is the successor to CattleMax CS. Going forward, new features and enhancements will only be made to CattleMax Online. For now, we will offer both CattleMax Online and CattleMax CS. However, we will eventually move to only selling and supporting CattleMax Online.

Recently purchased CattleMax CS, additional licenses, or online backup?

As per our Upgrade Protection Guarantee, if you purchased CattleMax CS and/or any add-ons such as online backup or additional licenses after March 31, 2011, you are eligible to have your purchase amount fully credited to your CattleMax Online account – just contact us.

How do I get started?

Click on over to CattleMax Online, check out the tour, and sign up for your free 30-day account. If you already have records in a CattleMax desktop program, you can easily have those records imported at no additional cost.

Over the past 12 years, I’ve utilized online marketing for Cattlesoft as well as the occasional consulting project. We have used search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising, banner advertising, conversion rate optimization, and domain names to help promote our products to ranchers in over 70 countries.

This past spring, we were approached by a company who partnered with a cattle industry organization to sell banner ads and directory listings. While I was skeptical of the $395/year listing fee, I still signed up as we wanted to support the industry organization.

Earlier today I received an email from an advertising rep at the company who wanted to let us know about a new advertising opportunity.

We have 1 Banner Campaign Available in [website name redacted]. This Guide reaches the 15,000 Beef Cattle Producers, Ranching Families and Business Members that account for the $864 Million Industry.

[URL redacted]

The banner campaign is $4,605 for 1 full year (12 Months) (creative included). This includes a Top Banner that acts a billboard for your company on every page and a Side Banner running left to right on every page. It is exclusive to only 10 companies. These banners are run of site in fair rotation and are in the most visible spot in the guide. It is first come first serve. Can I reserve your position today?

It all sounds good… and you can hardly buy a decent print ad in the organization’s print magazine for under $400/month. Sounds like a no-brainer, right?

Well the great thing about online marketing is the ease in tracking and measuring advertising performance. So I logged in to my Google Analytics account and went straight to the report showing traffic by source, filtered down to the site, and was appalled at the results.

Yes, 9 months in to our $395/year listing, we received a whopping 27 visitors. And on top of that, our conversion rate (the percent of visitors that download the free trial version) was 3.7% – a fraction of what see with ads on other sites like Steer Plant, Cattle Today, and breed associations.

Needless to say, we declined the advertising opportunity. And that’s how we saved $4,605.

For anyone who spends a dime on online marketing and doesn’t use an analytics package, I encourage you to have your web designer setup Google Analytics – it’s a free service and only takes a few minutes to setup.

How about you… do you use analytics to track your cattle advertising?  Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Penny and I have a tremendous amount for which we are thankful. Cattlesoft has been our full time business and income since we graduated from Texas A&M University in 1999. Without our team, partners, and technology providers, there would be no way we could develop and market our software to so many people in so many locations.

Our Team

Thank you to Ken Lyon for the over 4 years of helping Cattlesoft customers succeed with their software. Your passion for working with the hard-to-solve problems as well as interest in working with the equipment interfaces is so greatly appreciated. Also, I appreciate having another programmer who can empathize with some of the programming challenges I encounter… and remind me that it was even more challenging when you encountered the same type of problem 30 years ago.

Thank you to Ken’s wife Becky for being supportive of Ken as he is able to enjoy two of his interests, technology and cattle.

Thank you to Nathan Boles. You have been our jack-of-all-trades guy over the last 4+ years. Whether it’s helping with customer service, writing blog posts, or just sharing your experience and wisdom – I know you will be the one to help calm the choppy waters.

Thank you to Nathan’s wife Phyllis and her support of Nathan as he works in the house. Also thank you for all the wonderful crafts you make for our children, Lane and Paige.

Thank you to Jane Miller, my mother, for handling the customer service and fulfillment for the e-commerce stores. It takes a special type of person who has the diligence to make sure that we aren’t submitting an order for 3,000 tags with a typo.

Thank you to Paula Mariott, Penny’s mother, for always having a smile when Penny hands you a stack of 100 invoices to reconcile. Your accounting help saves us a tremendous amount of time.

Our Customers

Thank you to the 8,500+ cattle ranchers and horse owners in 71 countries who have purchased a Cattlesoft product over the last 12 years.

Thank you to our special customers who are always the first to jump into our new products, offer great feedback, and exercise patience as we work through the sharp edges.

Industry Partners

Thank you to Brandon and Cliff at Tru-Test who provide the weigh scales for our CattleScales.com store.

Thank you to Brandon, Kristi, and Donna at Allflex who help us keep up with the cattle tags and EID readers for our CattleTags.com store. Also thank you to J who is our go-to guy for EID reader support.

Thank you to Stacy at American Hereford Association.

Thank you to Robert at the American International Charolais Association.

Thank you to Jim at GPS Beef for your help with the Brangus, Braunvieh, and Texas Longhorn associations.

Thank you to Chris at American Brahman Breeders Association.

Thank you to Tommy at Beefmaster Breeders United.

Thank you to Lou Ann at the American Angus Association.

Thank you to Steve at the American Simmental Association.

Thank you to Mary at the North American Limousin Foundation.

Thank you to Tim and Stacy at the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers for publishing a quality magazine, hosting a good tradeshow, and of course looking out for the interest of Texas cattle raisers.

Thank you to Si, Kelly, and Jo Ann at Texas Farm Bureau also for publishing a great magazine, hosting a good tradeshow, and looking out for the interest of Texas farmers and ranchers.

Technology Providers

Thank you to Liquid Web for hosting all of our marketing websites

Thank you to Rails Machine for hosting our web applications and making sure everything stays running 24/7

Thank you to Google Apps for hosting our Email and saving me the time managing an email server

Thank you to GoToMeeting for making it easy for us to be able to teach ranchers about our software no matter where their ranch is.

Thank you to Ring Central for ensuring that a customer is routed to the right person, no matter which of the 5 toll free numbers the customer calls.

Thank you to Big Commerce for writing the E-commerce software so that I don’t have to.

Thank you to 37 Signals for the Campfire group chat that helps 4 people in 3 locations keep in-the-loop with 3 software programs and 2 e-commerce stores. Also a big thanks for your Ruby on Rails framework.

Thank you to Microsoft Access team for making Microsoft Access, an incredible software program that has powered CattleMax since 1999.

Thank you to Thoughtbot for making a great error notification service to help us have a more stable software.

Again, Thank You

Thank you to everyone mentioned above. I also apologize for those not on the list that should be… please know that we appreciate all of the support and that this post is far more spontaneous than it appears to be.

Weighing is one of the three key components of a complete cattle management system, which also includes cattle identification and cattle records. With the launch of CattleScales.com, Cattlesoft is able to offer a complete solution through it’s CattleMax software, CattleTags.com Ear Tags Store, and CattleScales.com Scales Store.

Choosing the right weighing solution is essential, so it’s important for you to choose the right set of scales for the weighing needs.

The first question in determining the right weigh scale setup is centered around how cattle will be weighed – in a permanent location such as under a squeeze chute or in a portable setting such as an alley.

In addition to determining how cattle will be weighed, it is essential to determine how to record the weights and any additional information. Some scale indicators simply offer a display output, meaning the weight needs to be recorded on paper or manually entered into a herd management software. Other scale indicators offer a memory which can store weights and additional information in the field for later downloading to spreadsheet or herd management software.

Finally some scale indicators allow for real-time connections directly between the scale indicator and cattle software for instant recording of weights as cattle are weighed.

Since CattleMax integrates with many weigh scales, we are often asked for our recommendations and the answer is always “it depends on your operation.” To help you answer this question, we have created a “Guide to Buying Cattle Scales” that helps you identify the three key questions to answer before selecting the right indicator, load bars, and platform for your operation.

For more information, visit CattleScales.com.

Over the recent months, we’ve been hard at work on the web-based version and it’s accompanying mobile friendly version. The technology we are working with offers many new opportunities that we think you will be pleased with.

This afternoon, those who completed our CattleMax Mobile Version Survey received an email with an invitation to join the CattleMax Online Early Access Preview. If you didn’t receive the email but would like to work with the current version, please email terrell at cattlesoft dot com.

With being only a few weeks away from a public-ready version, our main goal during this Preview time is to ensure each customer’s CattleMax CS records import completely & correctly and to ensure we have worked out any remaining bugs.

We will continue updating the CattleMax Online version after public release, with many additional features planned. A benefit of CattleMax Online is that updates and upgrades are included in your subscription and are automatically applied – no more downloads and no more buying upgrades.

Stay tuned – more information to come!

Written by Ken, Cattlesoft Customer Service Representative

Recently Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine in St. Kitts invited me to be a guest speaker for their Bovine Club meeting.

Being the loyal company man that I am I took them up on their offer.  After 3 long flights I was met at the airport by a young lady that took me to a really nice resort hotel to get settled in.

Another hard day at the office.

About 7:00 that evening Dr. J Q Robinson picked me up and we met several of the students for a nice Italian dinner.  The staff and students at the University made me feel right at home. There were a lot of questions about CattleMax and ranching in Texas.

Saturday I gave a presentation on the history of CattleMax and how it became a leader in Herd Management Software. I also talked about how some veterinarians are using CattleMax to help their customers with their herds. I presented the software and demonstrated how effective it is for managing cattle herds.  After that I talked with a group of students who had some specific questions about CattleMax.

I had Sunday off so I arranged a couple of dives with a local dive shop operator. It was really nice being back underwater again. The water was cool and clear and the visibility was very good. There were lots of fish and some nice coral. On the second dive we visited a wreck and a bulldozer that had somehow ended up a few miles offshore in 50 feet of water.

Monday morning we had another hands on session working with Dr. Robinson and other facility members. Ross University maintains a herd of approximately 70 donkeys and we found our EquineMax program would helpful in managing the herd.  Later we met with the IT staff and discussed adding EquineMax to the Ross University network.

Monday afternoon was open so I hired a cabbie to give me an island tour. St. Kitts was “discovered” and named by Christopher Columbus in 1493 on his second trip to the new world.  St. Kitts is a beautiful island, it is known  as the Gibraltar of the West Indies because of the Brimstone Hill Fortress constructed intermittently between 1690s and 1790s and occupied by both the French and the British at various times. It is the largest fortress ever built in the Eastern Caribbean and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Standing At the fortress you get a wonderful view of neighboring islands and the beautiful green lushness of St. Kitts.  I kept thinking of the terrible drought we are having here in Texas and how well my cattle could do in that deep St. Kitts grass.  Apparently there are not very many cattle being raised there. I was told the Kittitians primarily eat chicken, seafood, pork and goats and not a lot of beef.

I was very impressed with the students and faculty of Ross University, and I thank them for the hospitality they extended to me. I was given the nickname “SCUBA Ken” by some of the students and they presented me a Ken Doll from the Barbie collection to autograph for them to keep.

Recently, Rachel at Ranch House Designs had a blog post on .CO domain names and Jeff at Cattle.com had a follow-up post. The subject of domain names doesn’t come up often in the cattle blogosphere, so I thought I’d share more of my thoughts in hopes it helps others in the industry.

One of my side businesses is investing in domain names, of which we own several hundred. I have attended domain name conferences from Vancouver BC to Los Angeles to Miami and a few places in between. We’ve met some fascinating people along the way… many millionaires and even a couple of billionaires. If you’ve ever landed on a webpage with just tons of ad links, we’ve probably seen the owner at a conference.

A few examples of our domain names in use

I’ve purchased a lot of cattle-related domain names over the years for current and future projects. A few of those have been developed into full websites including a trial download site for CattleMax at CattleSoftware.com, an e-commerce store at CattleTags.com, an in-progress e-commerce store at LivestockSupplies.com, and our online magazine at CattleManagement.com. Personally for our ranch, we are working on establishing our longhorn beef business and will be using LonghornBeef.com.

As you can see, I don’t even have to tell you what the site is about as the domain name is descriptive. All of these sites rank well in the search engines because of a great domain name, relevant content, and relevant links. The domain name is not a silver bullet all by itself but it is a great springboard.

How well do domain names work for us?

Within 6 months of launching our Cattle Tags online store, we were ranking #1 on both search engines for many of our main keywords. Not only that, but our use of the category-defining domain name helped us stand out from our competitors who had longer domain names including several who had “cattletags” in their domain name. The amazing thing was this domain name was acquired in an auction after the previous owners, an ear tag company in the UK, failed to pay the $10/year to renew the domain name.

In early 2009, we paid just under $1,000 for FarmSoftware.com. Shortly after buying the domain name, we created a small site with information related to farm records and added a small banner for CattleMax. While I won’t share the exact revenue, I can say the domain name paid for itself within a matter of months.

Why are some domain names so expensive?

Since domain names are one-of-a-kind and a seller can only sell a given domain name once, domain names are often priced on the optimal buyer. Since many domain name owners are waiting around for this “ideal buyer”, it’s not uncommon to see great domain names that resolve to a page full of ads instead of an actual content site. This passive development of “online real estate” is similar to the passive development in “offline real estate” and why you see valuable land in and around cities underutilized with car washes, parking lots, or agriculture uses like hay bailing or cattle.

I’ll save all the SEO (search engine optimization) stuff for another day, but I will say it’s a known fact that search engines give a domain name an “exact match bonus” when the domain name matches the keyword exactly. In addition, search engines rank you higher when you have quality links that contain the keyword… so when your domain name is the keyword your links naturally are keyword-rich. Some SEO experts feel that exact match bonus has declined, but none the less it’s still a great boost. When you have valuable and highly searched keywords, having a website that ranks well can be extremely valuable.

Is a good domain name really worth paying thousands for?

Our reason for getting into the domain name business has been because they work so well for us in our extensive online marketing efforts. We found they offer a higher return on investment than print ads that just gets set aside a few days after reading and trade shows that only reach a limited audience.

If you are a small breeder or a local business who depends more on word-of-mouth or a breed association directory to help promote your product, you are just as fine with a newly registered .com that represents your ranch name. However, if you are looking to reach visitors online and willing to make the commitment to building a strong web presence which also includes social media, search engine optimization, and great content, then you may want to see if a domain name upgrade works for you.

GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons after he spoke at a conference earlier this year

A few of the benefits of CattleMax Online:

• Always up-to-date – never download another update again
• No upgrade fees – upgrades and updates are automatically included with your subscription
• Always backed up – no more backing up to flash drives or the online backup service
• Works on any computer with a web browser
• No more emailing herd files between location – everyone in your organization enters into the same herd file
• No more up-front costs – economically priced starting at $15/month

Mobile Version – Cattle Records in Your Hand

Mobile access to your cattle records has been one of our top requests over the past few years. While we’ve made several attempts at a mobile version over the years, we never felt comfortable enough with the finished product to put the CattleMax name on it.

Now, with this CattleMax Online mobile version, you can view and update records from any device that can be connected to the Internet. Plans for a native iPhone application that supports offline mode are down the line but on the roadmap. The mobile web version will be included with your CattleMax Online subscription at no additional charge.

CattleMax CS Plans

We realize not everyone is ready to move online, so we will continue to sell and offer CattleMax CS which does not require Internet access. If you recently purchased or purchase CattleMax CS this Summer or Fall, you will be covered by our upgrade protection policy. Don’t worry, all of your records and photos can be imported into CattleMax Online when you upgrade.

How To Get Started

Over the next few weeks, we will be putting finishing touches on CattleMax Online and begin opening up limited spots as we gather feedback and ensure a smooth transition for all of our customers. If you are interested in getting started, please complete this short survey if you haven’t already.

Also, feel free to let us know if you have any questions.

Terrell, Penny, Ken, and Nathan
The Cattlesoft Team

Says Penny Jo (PJ): “The CattleMax program has helped us with a good culling program in the fall because we can look quickly at birth weight and weaning weight data for the offspring of bulls and cows”. A timely comment considering the current state of the cattle industry and the fall season being just around the corner.

Read the full feature of Porter Ranch

This Spring, we’ve received a lot of questions on 64-bit Windows. I thought I’d take a few minutes and address a few of these questions.

Does CattleMax work on 64-bit Windows?

YES!  Since CattleMax is based on Microsoft’s Office Access technology which is compatible with both 64-bit and 32-bit Windows, CattleMax is also compatible.  I was actually a bit surprised to see this question pop up until I found out that those asking this question were looking to convert to CattleMax from another cattle software program that the vendor has stated is not 64-bit compatible.

Buying a new computer – 64-bit Windows or 32-bit Windows?

Our general recommendation has been that power users opt for 64-bit Windows if they are running many applications simultaneously or will be running complex applications like Photoshop, video editing, or CAD.  Also, anyone who is buying a computer with more than 4GB of RAM will need 64-bit since 32-bit Windows does only recognizes the first 4GB.

For reference, a quick survey around the Cattlesoft team computers shows 1/3 of the computers are 64-bit… and those systems are also the newest computers.  Computing is transitioning from 32-bit to 64-bit, so it 64-bit is inevitable and there’s no reason to avoid it unless you have legacy software or hardware that is not compatible.

How do I ensure my EID Reader and/or Weigh Scale work on 64-bit Windows?

Some customers have just plugged in their equipment and were good to go while others have experienced odd connectivity issues.

Many of these connectivity issues have been related to issues with software drivers for bluetooth and serial-to-usb adapters.  A driver is a program that allows the computer to communicate with the adapter – in the case of equipment it maps the connection to a COM port.  In some cases, it is simply a matter of visiting the vendor’s website and downloading an updated driver.  Another option would be to purchase a new 64-bit compatible driver online for $20 or less.

This has been probably one of the trickiest areas to troubleshoot this Spring.  In some cases, the problem was related to buggy or unavailable drivers for the computer’s bluetooth adapter or serial port to usb adapter.

We have received a few isolated incidents where some customers had trouble with connecting their equipment to CattleMax even after updating to 64-bit compatible drivers.  If you have ensured you are using 64-bit drivers for your connector (bluetooth or usb adapter) and still experiencing connectiviity issues, please download this small update to CattleMax called SerialUpd.exe.  This update will be incorporated into the next CattleMax update.

Where to buy livestock scales or EID readers

Cattlesoft is an authorized reseller for Tru-Test livestock scales and Allflex EID readers and we can help you determine which model of scale or EID reader can work best for your operations needs… and of course we know how to help you utilize it along with CattleMax.  While you may can find weigh scales or EID readers through your local animal health dealer, they may not necessary have the experience to help you find the best model that suits your needs.

Allflex EID Reader Kit

Tru-Test ID3000 Livestock Scale Indicator

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave a comment below or contact us.