Fusion uses pre-defined templates to process different types of cattle in various situations. We call these templates "chuteside job definitions" and this video will show you how to create them for your yard.
Time: 20:37
A "chuteside job definition" is basically like a template for how to handle a group of cattle. In Fusion, you create a few of these job definitions, and they serve as the starting point for for inducting, re-implanting, exporting, and treating cattle.
For example, you might have one job definition for bringing in low-risk Fall calves, another for high-risk Fall calves, and yet another for bringing in yearlings. When your crew is all set to work with a group of cattle, they'll pick one of these job definitions from the list, and if necessary, make some tweaks to it right there at the chute. Then, they'll run the cattle through the chute, and as they do that, Fusion captures everything that happens to each animal.
Now, let's set up a simple job definition for inducting cattle so you can see how it's done. You can open the list of job definitions in the Fusion Setup Assistant window, or you can go straight to the Setup menu if you have the Fusion Admin menu bar open. Click on "New" to create a new job definition.
First, give the job definition a name that tells you what it's for or what kind of cattle it's meant for. We'll leave the "Location" field as it is, so this job definition can be used at any of our yards. If you want, you can use it to limit a specific job definition to just one location.
Now, let's talk about the "Default Billing Category" field. We're going to set it to "Processing," which is one of the billing categories we've set up earlier. If we left this field blank, every drug or input given to the cattle during the job would inherit the default billing category assigned to that drug or input when we defined it. By setting it to "Processing," we make sure that all billing categories for drugs and inputs during this job will be overridden, which is what we want for this example.
Instead of covering every setting in this video, we'll focus on the key points to help you get started. Rest assured, you can find detailed information on every option in the documentation. Just click the help button in the lower left corner of the window if you need more info. We'll skip the remaining fields in the General tab for now, as the default settings are usually right, but you can adjust them if necessary.
Now, let's dive into the ID Stacks tab. You'll use this section if you plan to give sequential tags to the animals. In this example, we want to assign each animal a 4-digit management tag. Click the plus button to create a new stack and name it "Management Tag." Next, you'll need to tell Fusion which ID system these tags will belong to. Earlier, we set up a custom ID called "Management Tag" in the Preferences window, and that's the one we want to use.
The other fields here allow you to configure how the tag numbers will appear. For instance, if you need every tag number to start with a "Y," you'd put "Y" in the Prepend With field. Our numbering system is pretty straightforward, so we'll leave those fields as they are, but we will change the Pad Digits field to 4 since we know each tag will have 4 digits, even if it starts with zeros.
We'll also keep the checkbox at the bottom activated. Since the starting tag number will vary for each job batch, we can't specify it now. By keeping this option on, your crew will be able to enter the starting tag number when they start the job.
It's important to note that ID Stacks are just a setup; they won't have any effect on their own. You can define as many stacks as you need, but they won't be put to use in a job until you connect them, and we'll show you how to do that in a moment. Right now, you're simply outlining what the hypothetical stack of tags will look like.
Alright, let's move on to the Normal Subjobs tab, where the heart of a job definition resides. This is where you'll tell Fusion what drugs and inputs you'll be giving to the animals and any other tasks you want to carry out while they're in the squeeze. Each of these tasks or activities is called a "subjob."
You'll notice there's already an "Identify Animal" subjob here. This is required in all job definitions and is what Fusion uses to identify the animal in the squeeze. Ideally, this happens automatically based on the RFID tag, but you can also use this subjob to manually look up an animal if needed.
One thing we want to do in this job is to record the animal's weight. We need to capture the weight at induction, and also have it for calculating drug dosages. So, let's click the plus button and select the "Get Weight" subjob. Now it's part of the job. Just a quick note here, if you click the plus button again, you'll see that "Get Weight" is no longer available. Some types of subjobs can only be used once in a job, while others, like administering a drug, can be used multiple times. Also, notice that subjobs have options displayed on the right side. We'll cover some of the more important options, but remember that all of them are documented.
Next, let's make sure each animal gets a management tag. To do that, we'll add a "Change Custom ID" subjob. However, the label isn't clear enough for the barn crew, so we'll change it to "Management Tag." Here, we want to use the ID stack we set up earlier, so we adjust the Entry Type accordingly and select the appropriate ID Stack. Now, every animal that goes through the squeeze will be assigned a management tag, and Fusion will automatically keep track of increasing the tag number.
There are several ways to assign a value to a custom ID during a job, and the choice depends on what you set in the "Entry Type" field. For instance, if you have a tag reader for UHF tags in the barn, you could use the "Tag Reader" type. Fusion would automatically assign the custom ID whenever the reader picked up a new tag. As another alternative, you could choose the "List" option to select from a list of values. This is often used for things like tag colors or to trigger manual sorting.
Let's say we want Fusion to keep track of the color of each animal's tag. We've already set up a custom ID called "Tag Color" in the Preferences window, and we want Fusion to populate that field. So, let's add another "Change Custom ID" subjob and name it "Tag Color." We'll change the "Entry Type" to "List" and set the "ID To Change" to the "Tag Color" custom ID field. Now, we'll add the possible values for the list: Green, Orange, Yellow, and Purple.
Notice that we've checked the bottom checkbox? When the job is running in the barn, Fusion will assign the first color in the list to each animal by default. By enabling the crew to adjust this list just before a job starts, they can simply drag a different color to the top. For example, if they move Yellow to the top, it will be automatically assigned to every animal in the job without the crew needing to interact with the computer. They would only need to touch the screen if an animal is given a different tag color.
Next up, let's ensure that each animal receives an implant by adding a "Give Drug" subjob to the list. We'll label it "Give Implant" and select the specific implant we plan to use. Now, let's go over the available options for this subjob. If there's a possibility that you might use a different implant product for a group of cattle, you can activate the first checkbox. This allows the crew to change the product just before starting a job in the barn. If you wanted the crew to be able to change the product (or amount) after the job has started, you could use the next two checkboxes. Since this is an implant, we'll activate the fourth checkbox so Fusion knows that every animal should receive one implant. Finally, if you wanted the drug event created by this subjob to be categorized differently from everything else in the job, you could enter a billing category here. We'll leave it blank, which means the job's overall default category (which we set to "Processing" earlier) will be applied here.
Now, let's set it up so that each animal receives some Ivomec. We'll add another "Give Drug" subjob, relabel it as "Give Ivomec," and choose the default drug. This time, we'll keep all the options at their default values. This way, the drug can't be changed for each job batch, and Fusion will automatically calculate the dosage for each animal based on the scale weight it reads.
Let's say you have an input named "Chute Charge" used to apply a fee for every processed animal. Let's make sure that's part of the job. We'll add a "Give Input" subjob, change the label to "Chute Charge," and enter the default input. We'll also leave all the options at their default values.
Let's take a moment to look at the four options that are common to every subjob type. We've already talked about how you can change a subjob label to make it clearer for the crew regarding what the subjob involves. Now, let's take a look at the three checkboxes to the right of the label field.
When a job is running in the barn, Fusion can display one or more windows called Heads Up Displays, or HUDs. These windows provide various information about the current animal and the tasks that need to be performed. One common usage is the synopsis pane, which provides an overview of what drugs should be given, along with their calculated dosages, and other relevant information. The "HUD" checkbox determines whether this subjob will be displayed in the synopsis pane. Since a chute charge isn't something that your crew needs to take action on, we'll turn that option off. We'll also use the next option to hide the subjob. A hidden subjob is still recorded for the animal, but it won't clutter the list of subjobs during the job. This makes it easier for the crew as they won't be distracted by things they don't need to see to complete the job.
Now, let's talk about the Skip checkbox. During a job, Fusion assumes that every subjob's action was performed on the animal. For the sake of an example, let's say an animal comes through the chute and doesn't need an implant for some reason. The crew can mark the "Give Implant" subjob as skipped, just for that animal. However, there are situations where you might want to have a subjob set up and ready to go, but you already know in advance that it will only be applied to a minority of animals. In that case, you can use the Skip option so that the default state for each animal is to have the subjob skipped. The crew would only need to interact with the computer to un-skip the subjob when it's necessary, which can save time.
This should give you a good understanding of how to create a job by adding subjobs and configuring their settings. We won't cover every available subjob in this video, but you likely have a good sense of what they do based on their labels, and each subjob is fully documented for reference. We do want to mention that you can drag the subjobs into a more logical order for your crew if you want.
Now, let's shift our focus to another common task during a chuteside job: sorting cattle. Fusion offers a robust sorting system with various capabilities, but we'll start by showing you how to perform a simple weight-based sort. Let's navigate to the Sorting tab. We'll create a new sorting protocol by clicking the plus button, and we'll name it "Weight Sort." In this case, we want to separate the heavier cattle into a different pen, so we'll enable the "Sort into pens" option. The specific pens for sorting will be determined later during the job setup by the crew just before processing a new group of cattle. Additionally, let's ask Fusion to keep a count of how many cattle have been sorted in each direction by turning on this option. The ongoing totals will be displayed in one of the job HUDs as the job progresses.
Now, let's look at the sort groups section. How many groups do you anticipate sorting the cattle into? For this example, we're planning a two-way sort, so we'll only need two sort groups, but you can create as many as necessary. Let's also update the labels for each sort group to something more descriptive, like "Light Group" and "Heavy Group." Notice that one group is always designated as the default group? If an animal doesn't meet any of the sorting criteria, which we'll set up shortly, it automatically falls into the default sort group. For certain sorting protocols, having this catch-all group can streamline the setup.
Now it's time to establish the criteria, so let's move to the Protocol Setup tab. Obviously, we want to sort based on the scale weight, so we'll click the plus button and select "Scale Weight (Job)." For this example, we typically sort out anything over 850 lbs, so we'll add another sorting value and set it to 850 lbs. Notice the greater-than-or-equal-to sign in the list header? This signifies that we have a two-way sorting setup—one for animals greater-than-or-equal-to 0 lbs and the next breakpoint for animals greater-than-or-equal to 850 lbs. Since we want the crew to have the flexibility to adjust the weight threshold for a specific job batch, we'll enable this setting. Now, they'll be prompted to modify these weight thresholds during job setup.
Let's now head to the Protocol Variations tab and click the Update button. Remember how treatment protocols are constructed with multiple variations to accommodate different criteria? Well, sorting protocols follow a similar pattern, and this list now displays the two possible variations. It may not seem very exciting for such a straightforward sorting protocol, but it's crucial for more complex sorting scenarios, especially when animals are sorted into groups based on multiple criteria. The key here is that every variation must be assigned to one of the sort groups we defined back in the General tab. This is easily done by selecting a row and then either right-clicking on it or using the gear button at the bottom of the list. Choose the sort group that corresponds to this variation and move on to the next row. With more variations, you can select all the rows that should belong to the same sort group and assign them all at once, which is much quicker than doing it one by one.
After defining the sorting criteria, we'll add this protocol to the job by clicking the "Save" button. The sorting protocol is now defined for the job. To recap, Fusion will categorize cattle coming in under 850 lbs as belonging to the "Light Group" and anything weighing 850 lbs or more as part of the "Heavy Group." It will then assign each group to separate pens and keep track of the count of each group as the job progresses. This is how we've defined the sorting protocol so far, and often, this is all that's required.
However, we can also configure the sorting protocol to trigger other actions. For example, let's say we want to administer a 7 Way vaccine to any cattle in the light group. With the "Weight Sort" protocol selected, we can see the two sort groups listed here. We'll choose the "Light Group," and now we can add subjobs that will become part of the job for any cattle sorted into the light group. We'll add a "Give Drug" subjob and set it up for administering the 7 Way vaccine.
When we select the "Heavy Group," we can see that nothing extra is added to the job for this sort group, although we could add a different set of subjobs if needed. To clarify, the subjobs listed in the "Normal Subjobs" tab will exist for all animals in the job, regardless of how they are sorted. The subjobs in the "Sorting" tab will be _added_ to the list of normal subjobs based on the sort group.
By the way, you can have more than one sorting protocol working at the same time. Let's use one of the built-in sort protocols to quickly set up a common one. Click the gear button, and you'll notice there's a built-in "Weight Sort" protocol, which we could have used earlier. Now, let's choose the "Flag Duplicate RFIDs in Job" option to add another sorting protocol. How does this one work? Let's take a look under the hood by double-clicking the protocol to see how it's configured.
In the General tab, you'll see there are just two sort groups: one for animals with unique RFIDs and one for those with duplicate RFIDs. In the Protocol Setup tab, we see two sort criteria at play: 1) whether the animal has an RFID tag and 2) whether it is a duplicate in this job. Each criterion has only two possible values: Yes or No. Move over to the Protocol Variations tab, and you'll find the four combinations of criteria you'd expect, each assigned to a sort group. The only time we consider an animal a duplicate is if it has an RFID tag and that tag has already been seen in this job. In all other cases, we consider it unique.
Let's leave this part and take a look at the subjobs associated with each sort group. For the unique group, there are no additional subjobs. But for the duplicates, we can see that a flag-type subjob has been added. By examining the options, we see that a message explaining it's a duplicate tag will be displayed in a large blinking window for a few seconds.
This should give you a sense of the versatility of sorting protocols. The possibilities are vast, and it's worth exploring to see what kinds of criteria you can sort on. Remember to check the documentation or feel free to contact our support team if you encounter any challenges while working with a sorting idea.
We're almost finished! Let's quickly explore the "On the Fly Rules" tab. When this job is used to process cattle, your crew will always have the option to add a subjob on the fly for just the animal in the chute. For example, they may want to stop and treat an animal during induction, or an animal may be missing an RFID tag and needs to be given one. Let's use the missing RFID tag example to explain how you can utilize this part of the job definition.
If you were adding an RFID tag to every animal and wanted to charge for it, you would simply add the "Give RFID Tag" subjob as well as a "Give Input" subjob to record the charge for the tag, probably hiding this second subjob since it is only there for billing purposes. But if your crew needs to add the "Give RFID Tag" subjob on the fly, you'd have to rely on them remembering to also add the "Give Input" subjob to record the charge. It's easy to forget to do! These "On The Fly Rules" are the solution to that problem. We'll select the "Give RFID Tag" subjob type and then add an input for a tag charge on the right. This means that Fusion will automatically add this hidden, silent input to the job for this one animal whenever the "Give RFID Tag" is added on the fly. You can ensure a different set of inputs is silently added for each subjob type that you think might become part of this job.
The details of the "Windows" tab are beyond the scope of this video. Suffice it to say that you can instruct Fusion which windows, including custom HUDs that you define elsewhere, will be visible at chuteside when this job definition is used. This tab is also used to set up the relative position of each of the windows.
When you've finished defining a job, click the "Save" button. From there, you can create additional job definitions, either by starting from scratch as we did here or by duplicating an existing job definition and then making adjustments. Depending on how much of the job definition you will allow to be modified as each job begins, you may have just a handful of job definitions or maybe a few dozen if you don't allow much modification in the barn.
One last note: you can edit a job definition. Just keep in mind that the edited job definition only applies to any new chuteside batches that are based on it. Jobs that are already completed won't be affected.
