weight control chart

Excel spreadsheets templates in "empiric.xls" are from the Quality Digest website at www.qualitydigest.com/pdfs/empiric.xls (Levinson and Tumbelty, 1997). Data in "weight.xlsx" are BW measurements of 2, 9, and 14.5-month-old sampled heifers born during the years 2017 to 2019 provided by a commercial dairy farm in Córdoba province. These data were used to build control charts to monitor mean and process variability. Every sample mean or deviation outside the control limits imply a potentially identifiable cause has occurred and the producer should explore the event causing the deviation and make appropriate changes according to the age of the heifers. Control charts provide the producer and consultant with graphical information and quick alarms to support the decision-making process in the replacement program. These tools are useful at the farm level to monitor heifer growth and support management decisions.