A day on the road, billed from memory
A farm vet starts at seven with a calving, then routine fertility work on another farm, then a lame cow, then a call-out in the afternoon. Between visits, drugs are taken from the car and left with the farmer. Time on farm varies. The vet drives a long way.
At the end of the day, the vet writes up the visits, from memory or from scribbled notes, or rings them through to the office. Some items are forgotten. Time is estimated. Mileage is guessed. The office enters it into the practice management system days later.
Why farm billing leaks
Farm work does not happen at a desk. The vet is in a shed, a field or a crush, with gloves on. Recording is left until later, and later is at the end of a long day.
Drugs left on farm are a particular gap. Stock goes out of the car and the charge depends on the vet remembering. Medicine records on farm and your own records may not match.
Time on farm is hard to estimate honestly at the end of the day. A routine fertility visit that overran because the handling facilities were poor, or a call-out that included a second animal the farmer mentioned on arrival, is easily recorded as the standard visit. Mileage between farms is usually rounded or left to a flat rate that no longer reflects the patch.
Farm accounts are also larger and less frequent than small animal bills. A missed item on one visit may not be noticed until the monthly statement, and by then nobody remembers the day well enough to add it.
What the leaks cost
| Leak | Effect |
|---|---|
| Drugs left on farm not charged | Stock given away |
| Time estimated | Visits billed inconsistently |
| Mileage guessed | Travel costs not recovered |
| Late entry | Invoices go out days or weeks later |
| Car stock | Stock in vehicles drifts from what the system thinks |
A mobile visit log for the yard
- A phone app designed for use with gloves and poor signal, with big buttons and offline storage that syncs later.
- Visit start and end recorded with a tap, with location and time.
- Mileage from the phone's location between visits, or from a start and end reading.
- Drugs and consumables picked from the car stock list, with quantity, batch where required and the animal or group they were for.
- Procedure codes from your farm charge list.
- A daily sync into your practice management system, or a clean list for the office to check and post.
- Car stock updated as items are used, with a restock list for the next morning.
Anything your medicine recording rules require is captured on the same screen, so the vet records it once.
Billing that reflects the day
The vet records each visit before leaving the yard, in a minute or two. The office receives complete visit records the same evening. Invoices go out sooner. Drugs left are charged. The car stock list makes restocking quicker the next morning.
Farmers get clearer invoices too, listing each visit with its time, the animals treated and the medicines supplied. That reduces queries at the end of the month and makes the conversation about bills a factual one.
Over a season, the visit data shows which farms take longest, which routes cost the most mileage and how car stock is used, which helps when you review farm pricing or plan rounds.
Is your farm billing like this?
- Farm visits are written up at the end of the day
- Drugs left on farm are not always charged
- Mileage and time on farm are estimated
- Car stock levels are unreliable
- Farm invoices go out long after the visit