To take full advantage of the business planning potential of Red Sky Farm Performance Analysis there is a range of information regarding animal performance, supplements fed and staff hours that needs to be entered. For each farm type (dairy vs sheep vs beef vs other) there is a single report produced that summarises these physical results.
The factors relative to animal performance that need to be entered include quantities of saleable product produced over the year, liveweight or condition score change, time that animals grazed on the farm, pregnancy rates, liveweight of animals, maintenance requirements for mature livestock, and environmental conditions.
The factors relative to the supplements being fed that need to be entered include both quantities and cost of feed produced on owned and leased areas as well as from other sources, the duration in time that farm area was used to grow crops and the time that the crop was stored prior to being fed, wastage rates and energy density for the different feeds, and then some detail on how Red Sky should distribute costs between pasture, forages and concentrates.
The factors relative to staff ratios that need to be entered include the number of hours that staff work on a weekly basis. This results in an assessment of the number of full time staff equivalents on the basis of a standard 50-hour working week.
Although entering the physical data could add approximately 50% to the time taken to complete a Red Sky analysis, the result of calculating these additional ratios would be that there would be a clearer picture of how the business is performing and where the opportunities are to improve performance. In particular, the calculation of animal performance, pasture dry matter harvested per hectare and the full cost of pasture, forages and concentrates could increase the confidence you would have in assessing present and future business performance.
To assist with the collection of data from farmers you can print off a hard copy of entry forms by going to the Data Entry tab on this website. There is a selection of forms depending on farming type and whether only financial reports or financial and physical reports are to be completed.
Under the Checklists & Definitions tab there is a list of the definitions for all terms used in Red Sky Farm Performance Analysis. In addition there is a list of the Key Performance Indicators for each farming type and a description of how these are calculated, as well as some suggested coding for monthly recording of expenditure on farms.