How I Trello

[#1]

I’m an Atlassian and have been for nearly 4 years but I used Trello long before I became an Atlassian. In my spare time, I’m an Angora goat farmer. My wife and I raise them for their fiber, have it combined with local wool, and spun into yarn. I use Trello to keep track of nearly everything on the farm. I have a board for the goats, which has a column for each goat (we have less than a dozen). I add cards every time we do something for the goats. I have cards for hoof trimming, shearing, weight check, FAMACHA, diet, breeding, and anything else you might do to a farm animal. For you non-ruminant people, FAMACHA is where you look at the membranes on an animal's eyes to determine whether they are anemic. If they have light pink or very pale membranes, they are anemic and that generally means they have a parasite. I can treat just the animals that need it, which helps keep the parasites from building resistance to the medication. Before I go out to the barn to perform a FAMACHA check, I use Butler to create a card for each goat. I use Trello on my phone, so I can check the animal and immediately document. I use color labels for this card, then I can, at-a-glance tell which animals need medication and which ones don’t. I can also see patterns over time for which animals might be having trouble fighting off parasites.
I use Trello to keep track of the hay and feed I purchase. I have a separate board for food and columns for the different types of food. Every time I purchase a feed product, I document amount, weight, and quality if I know it. Let’s say I purchase a load of hay, perhaps 50 bales. I'm mostly interested in nutrition and not amount. 50 bales of good quality hay, each bale weighing 30 lbs is most likely better than 75 bales of poor quality hay, each bale weighing 50 lbs. I want to know this information and from who I purchased the hay. If the goats do well on that hay, I am more likely to purchase from that hay farmer again.
Our farm product is the fiber produced by the animals. They get sheared twice per year and depending on the animal’s size, health through the season, and weather each adult animal will produce anywhere from 3 to 10 lbs of fiber. Back to the animal board. I’ll use Butler before we shear and create a shearing card for each animal. Here I’ll track the weight of the fiber and a general impression of the quality of the fiber. Using this information, I decide which animals’ fiber to process with what type of wool.
So not only do I use Trello in my job at Atlassian but Trello has made me a more efficient farmer.

[Samie Kaufman - Your Gal at Gliffy]

This is so fascinating! I'd love to see your board or get a few pics of your goats! :)