What is a production group in Velos?

It is important to group the animals in Velos the same as it is in real life, to retrieve the most correct and valuable information out the system. In that way, you can indicate management issues and take action upon them.

At least 1 group/pen must be defined in Nedap Velos. If this is not defined, a red exclamation mark appears in front of the Production groups link in the service checklist.

System with a Farm management program

1. Run the Farm management program and check on this page if the production groups are exactly how the animals are housed.
   1. Are the groups exactly the same as they are housed? No further action is needed. The group/pen will automatically update in Velos when an animal moves to another group/pen.
   2. Are the groups not how the animals are housed (for example, multiple production groups are housed together), go to step 2.
2. Merge the production groups into bigger groups of animals that are housed together. Click on the production group that should be merged with one or more other production groups.
3. If necessary, change the name of the production group.
4. In the field Group / pen, select one of the locations where this group of animals is housed and click on Submit.
5. Repeat for all production groups that should be merged with other production groups.
6. Go to Settings > Farm > Farm layout and remove the group / pens that are not in use. If necessary, rename the groups/pens that are used.

The group/pen will automatically update in Velos when an animal moves to another group/pen.

System without a Farm management program

1. Click on Add group.
2. Choose a name for the group, for example "In lactation", "Dried off" or "Youngstock".
3. In the field Group / pen, select Create new location.
4. Click on Submit.
5. Repeat the steps for all necessary groups in which animals are housed together.

When the groups/pens are added, the animals must be added to Velos and coupled to the correct group/pen:

1. On the Dashboard, click on Unknown animals.
2. Fill in all animal data. In the column Group / pen, select one of the groups/pens that you just added to Velos.

Make sure the group/pen of an animal is always up to date, otherwise the system isn't able to work correctly. This can be done manually or automatically:

• Manually - Select the correct group/pen on the animal page when an animal moves to another group/pen, or change the group/pen for multiple animals at the same time via the Quick Entry.
• Automatically - Use the production based housing (Settings > Calendar > Production based housing) to automatically move animals to a different group/pen when the production state of the animal changes.

When do I have to "Update group/pen of animals"?

When using a Farm management program and you changed the groups/pens of the animals (manually) by accident,

you can reset the group/pen for all animals at the same time with the Update group/pen of animals button. Velos then

changes the group/pen to the production group of the animal (the situation as it was before changing the group/pen by

accident (Animal page > Edit > Field Group/pen changes to Link to production group)).

This option is not applicable for systems without a Farm management system. When the group/pen of an animal must be corrected, change it manually.