Overview
Trev has developed a Farm Dairy Records (FDR) report to help Fonterra Farm Source farmers populate end of year reporting requirements. This is surfaced using Trev data which has been entered and calculated through the season.
In this article:
What are Farm Dairy Records?
As part of The Co-operate Difference framework, each year Fonterra farmers are required to submit their Farm Dairy Records (FDR). The FDR covers information relating to farm infrastructure, animal numbers, animal wellbeing, nutrient applications, cropping and more.
In return, Fonterra generates and provides back a Farm Insights Report that provides analysis of the farm across matters of environment, milk quality and animal welfare.
What information can Trev curate for Farm Dairy Records?
Trev shapes the data for the major sections of your FDR (Animals, Feed and Fertiliser) which together cover the majority of the report. Each shaped section is built from records you’ve entered in the corresponding Trev module.
Fonterra FDR section | Trev shapes it? | Trev module(s) used |
Farm Profile | — | — |
Land | — | — |
Animals (includes Animal Wellbeing) | ✓ | Livestock + Weights + Animal Health |
Feed (includes Crop) | ✓ | Feed + Land |
Fertiliser | ✓ | Fertiliser |
Milk Supply | — | — |
The sections we don’t shape (Farm Profile, Land, Milk Supply) are either data Fonterra already holds on their side, or one-off settings you complete directly on the Fonterra portal. A handful of smaller fields — NAIT location number, Co-operative Difference, evidence photo uploads, hours-grazed-per-day for in-situ crops also live on the Fonterra portal and aren’t populated from Trev.
If a module isn’t part of your subscription, the matching FDR section will let you know it can’t be populated. Turn the module on (or get in touch with the Trev team) and the data will start flowing through.
Trev follows Fonterra’s annual FDR specification, which changes a little from season to season. When you open an older season’s FDR, Trev shows it in the format it was submitted in.
Does this data automatically flow through to Farm Source?
If you have a Pro subscription then yes, the Trev x FDR integration lets you share your Trev data with Farm Source for your FDR. Please see How do submit the FDR for a step by step guide. However, if you are on a Essential subscription then you will need to manually copy the data from this reports review screen into the Farm Source FDR interface.
Subscription | View & review | Submit to Fonterra |
Essential | ✓ | — (copy across on Fonterra’s site) |
Pro | ✓ | ✓ (Trev sends directly to Farm Source) |
Where can I find the Farm Dairy Records report?
To navigate to the Farm Dairy Records reports:
Open the main menu
Select Integrations
Locate the Farm Source tile and click Manage Connections (Note: you'll need at least one farm with an active Fonterra Farm Source dairy supply number to access this tile)
Select the Farm you wish to view the Farm Dairy Record report for.
Click on the relevant season you wish to review inside the 'Farm Dairy Records' section.
Stock class basics
When you record an animal in Trev you put it into a stock class (MA Cows, R2 Heifers, R1 Heifers, Heifer Calves, Bobby Calves, Breeding Bulls etc.).
Fonterra’s FDR groups animals into a smaller set of categories: Milking Herd, R2 Heifers, R1 / Calves, Breeding Bulls, and Other Animals.
Most stock classes map onto a Fonterra category unambiguously - MA Cows are
Milking Herd, breeding bulls are Breeding Bulls, beef cattle and steers and most
other species land in Other Animals. There’s one place where farm conventions
differ (option 1 vs Option 2), plus a consideration for autumn-born animals.
Option 1 vs Option 2
The difference is about rising-2-year-old heifers. Some farms count their R2s as
part of the milking herd as soon as they start producing. Other farms keep R2s as a separate cohort until the next 1 June rollover. Fonterra recognises both conventions:
Option 1 — R2s are part of the milking herd. Trev’s R2 Heifer animals are counted in Fonterra’s Milking Herd category. The rest of the cohort shifts up: R1 Heifers fill the Fonterra R2 group, and Heifer Calves fill the R1/Calves group.
Option 2 — R2s are kept separate. A direct one-to-one mapping: R2 Heifers in Trev are R2 Heifers in Fonterra, and the R1/Calves group is filled by your R1 Heifers and Heifer Calves combined.
The same Trev records report differently depending on which option your farm
uses:
Fonterra category | Option 1 farm fills it with… | Option 2 farm fills it with… |
Milking Herd | MA Cows + R2 Heifers | MA Cows |
R2 Heifers | R1 Heifers | R2 Heifers |
R1 / Calves | Heifer Calves | R1 Heifers + Heifer Calves |
Your option choice is set on the farm’s Fonterra integration page. Open the Fonterra Data Connections Hub section, then click the settings (cog) icon next to your DSN to view or change it. You don’t need to re-classify or rename mobs to switch — Trev applies the mapping at FDR time based on the option you’ve chosen.
Spring-born vs autumn-born
The dairy season runs 1 June to 31 May. At the start of each new season, animals
roll up to the next class e.g. last season’s R1s become R2s, R2s become MA Cows,
and this season’s calves become R1s. Most farms calve in spring, so a single 1 June rollover catches everyone however some farms also calve in autumn. Autumn-born animals are about six months younger than their spring-born peers in the same class, so a 1 June rollover would put them in the wrong category for half the season.
Trev tracks autumn-born animals against a parallel set of stock classes (Autumn
MA Cows, R3 Autumn Heifers, R2 Autumn Heifers, R1 Autumn Heifers, Autumn
Heifer Calves). Fonterra’s FDR now recognises autumn-born animals separately and applies a mid-season 1 January rollover for them — so an autumn-born R1 sits in the R1/Calves category from June through December, then shifts up to R2 Heifers from January through May. The split is automatic; as long as autumn-born animals are recorded against the autumn stock classes, the FDR handles the mid-season shift on your behalf.
Why this matters at FDR time
When you see counts under “Milking Herd” or “R2 Heifers” on the Animals
section of your FDR and if a number looks off, the cause is usually one of: an animal
classified into the wrong Trev stock class, an Option 1 vs Option 2 setting that
doesn’t match how you actually run the farm, or an autumn-born animal
recorded against a spring stock class (or vice versa). Fix the underlying record in
Trev and the FDR will update.