Locations Explained

Figure 1

A premises is a holding registered with the Ministry.  A location is any field, barn, yard, etc. that is sited within a registered holding.  One premises can have many locations assigned to it, but one location can belong to only one premises.

Figure 1 represents a premises and all the fields, barns, etc. within it can be defined in the program as Locations.  For example, Barn 1 can only be assigned to Premises A and no other premises.  When animals move between the locations on Premises A, no BCMS movement records are created, but the program will record each move so that you can view the full location history for all the animals in the herd.  To view this information, bring up the required animal's details in the Data Entry | Animal Details window and then right-click within the window.  Now select Movements from the pop-up list and the Movement Details window will display for that animal.

Example: Setting up Premises Locations and Land Links

L = Location (field, barn, yard, etc.)

Figure 2

Example Farming Situation (refer to Figure 2):

• Herd registered to the Main Premises, which is split into two geographically distinct units. There are 5 locations on this premises that need to be defined in the program.

• Premises A is a registered holding with whom the farmer regularly trades.  There are two locations to be defined. 

• Premises B is a registered holding owned by another business with whom the farmer shares grazing facilities on a regular basis and has set up a Land Link with the BCMS.  There are 2 locations to be defined

• Premises C is an abattoir so there are no locations to be defined

How to set this up in the program:

1. First, all the Premises (registered holdings) that the business deals with are recorded using the Setup | Premises menu item.  These will include other farm holdings, auction markets, abattoirs, etc.

2. In Setup | Herds, the Main Premises is assigned to the named herd (this is usually done automatically when you first install the software).

3. Animals from the herd are being sent to Premises C (abattoir) under the slaughter premium scheme.  In Setup | Premium Claim Parameters on the Slaughter Premiums tab, Premises C should have a tick placed against it.

4. All the fields, barns, yards, etc. on all the previously defined premises should be identified.  These are the Locations.  The locations are recorded in the program via the Setup | Locations menu.  The most important column in this grid is the "Assigned Premises" column.  You must assign each Location to the Premises on which it is physically sited so that the program can decide whether the animal movement should be notified to the BCMS.

5. In this example, animals move frequently between the Main Premises and Premises B for grazing purposes.  To avoid the need for reporting BCMS movements between these premises, the BCMS have previously granted a shared facilites Land - Link between the two holdings (denoted by the red line in Figure 2).  This needs to be recorded within the program by selecting the Setup | Premises menu and clicking Additional Land Links tab;  a new record should be created here with Main Premises as the Primary Holding and Premises B as the Linked Holding.  Doing this will prevent BCMS movement records being created by the program.

Example Movements:

The following table shows some animal movements and how they are treated by the program:

Further Examples of using Locations and Land-Links

1. An animal is purchased by the Main Premises from the farmer at Premises A, and is delivered to Location 1 (on the Main Premises).  When you enter the animal details and click Save, the program asks whether the animal was purchased.  Answering Yes causes the Purchase Details window to display (shown below).  The premises purchased from and the destination Location are selected from the drop-down boxes.  The MAFF movement details tab in the Movement Details window records the BCMS movement and the Locations tab records the Location changes.

2. A bull is hired by the Main Premies to the farmer at Premises A.   The animal moves from Location 3 (on Main Premises) to Location 6 (on Premises A).   The bull's record in the Animal Details window should initially show the Current Location as Location 3.  To record the move, simply change the Current Location to Location 6.  The program will ask if you wish to change the status to "Sold".  In this case, we will answer No, because ownership is not changing.  The end result is that a BCMS movement record is created, but the bull status remains as "Alive" i.e. still belonging the the Herd attached to the Main Premises.

3. A batch of animals is purchased on a certain date by the farm at Main Premises from the farmer at Premises A.  The animals are located at Location 7 when purchased,   but they cannot be moved to the Main Premises straight away.  In this case, when the Purchase Details window displays, record the Destination Location as Location 7.   This will allow the Purchase Date to be correctly recorded for financial management purposes, but no BCMS movements will be created since the animals are still residing on the premises of purchase.