This 3rd Bulletin confirms some further changes to the Red Sky reports and the release of our Farm Gate Nutrient Balance. In addition we have posted some new benchmarks, and we will be adding to these over the next 10 days. Our latest version available is v4.1.13 and although there is no need to upgrade to this if you are already using version 4, there are some further speed and database compaction benefits that are of advantage.
OPERATING PROFIT REPORT CHANGES INCLUDING PER HECTARE, PER STOCK, PERCENT OF REVENUE, AND PER MILK REPORTS
We have made some further changes to these reports and these changes do not need a new version release. The next time you synchronise you will receive any new report layout. Firstly in Dairy we have reduced the number of headings under Feeds/Supplements so that now a single heading of “Forages” captures all hay, silages, straw, byproducts, etc. This makes it easier for accountants to complete data entry, and also ensures all users can more effectively compare performance across years and farms.
Secondly all the per hectare, per cow or stock unit, per kilogram of milk, and percent of revenue reports have a sub-heading for Gross Expenses excluding Imputed Labour/Management and Depreciation. For some users this can be an important measure in regards to cost control within the business. Finally there are a number of other ratios such as Assets and Liabilities per Cow (Balance Rolling and Balance Market reports) and Liabilities per Kilogram of Milksolids (Summary Dairy report)
To ensure these reports are calculated accurately under this new format, you will need to open any Years already completed, go to Reports, then select the ‘Op Profit’ tab, then select each enterprise report (i.e. Dairy, Sheep, Beef), and then place your cursor in the first column of numbers of each of these reports, click right mouse, and then select ‘Recalculate all’. You do not need to do this for any of the Per Hectare, Per Cow/Stock Unit, Percent of Revenue, or Per Kilogram of Milk reports as these will all get updated from the ‘Op Profit’ reports. Nor will you need to do this for any new data that you enter into Red Sky. However you will need to follow this procedure with the benchmarks that you already have downloaded, or delete the benchmarks you presently are using and retrieve these benchmarks again from our server.
NEW BENCHMARKS
We have recently posted some Western Australian and Gippsland Dairy benchmarks, and will shortly produce updated Victorian Dairy and Sheep & Beef benchmarks. We have recently posted some Waikato ProfitWatch 2003 benchmarks and some comparative benchmarks for Large, Small and High Supplement NZ dairy farms. We will shortly produce some updated Red Sky NZ Dairy 2003 and our first NZ Dairy 2004 benchmarks, as well as producing a range of Sheep & Beef benchmarks in conjunction with Baker & Associates of Masterton, NZ. All our benchmarks have a mix of product prices so they should be of significant relevance across a number of years. All available benchmarks are listed on our website here
NEW SHEEP AND BEEF ‘SPECIAL’ REPORTS
There are four new sheep and beef reports with v4.1.13, each of which produces information on just the one year. These include an Economic Analysis which brings together a mix of physical and financial measures, as well as combining absolute financial data with per hectare, per stock unit, and percent of revenue data. There is also a Sheep Detail, Wool Detail, and Beef Detail report. All of these reports have been developed with direct input from Baker & Associates of Masterton, NZ.
NEW FERTILISER/FARM GATE NUTRIENT BALANCE
We have now launched our new Fertiliser/Farm Gate Nutrient Balance module with v4.1.13. This is only available under a Financial & Physical license, with the entry screen available from the Land & Adjustments/Land Details tab. The report is available from the Reports/Physical tab.
I hope there have been some further points of interest for you in this 3rd Bulletin. If you have some suggestions on how we can further improve Red Sky please let us know. Any and all feedback is most welcome via feedback@redskyagri.com