Record Keeping - how far do you go?

[Clan Delaney]

Currently, I am tracking the following statistics:


Total taps placed
Daily High and Low temps (and degrees below and above freezing)
Daily sap totals
Cumulative sap totals
Daily sap per tap
Cumulative sap per tap
Average sap per tap per day
Daily Brix of sap in the tank
And I'm not even making syrup yet!

I'm also keeping meticulous track of all my expenses this year. Right now if I can make 10 gallons of syrup, I stand to break even.

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

What are you charging per hour for your record keeping:rolleyes: :lol:

[Haynes Forest Products]

GEEKS the things they do for fun. ;)

[KenWP]

Off 60 trees. Now that should be possible. I worked for a guy for years had farm records went back so far the titles of the land had Gods name in them and it drove me crazy counting and weighing and accounting for things.

PS when you start boiling the records go out the window me thinks.

[morningstarfarm]

DUDE you sooo need to light a fire and make some steam.....:mrgreen:

[3rdgen.maple]

Wow if you had a few hundred taps you would have no time to boil Clan.
I keep record of
season tap count
total daily gallons of sap
Daily syrup totals
Start date and end date
and how many boiling sodas are left in the fridge.
Now when I get overwhelmed it all goes out the door.

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Clan,
Throw a guest book in there too. Keep track of who and where from. Give them room for comments.

[PerryW]

I write my the date and the syrup total (since the beginning of the season) on the sugarhouse wall for each day I boil.

Anything else I write down will just get thrown away when I die.

[Gerryfamily5]

I have kept records since 1992.I daily record temp high and low,weather,tap count,total sap,boildown rate,how much syrup,syrup grade/batch #,total syrup to date.It sounds like alot to most of you,but it only takes about 10 minutes at the end of the day.Now that I've been doing it so long it's nice to have thom to look back at.

[802maple]

We laugh about this, but a time is coming in the near future that we are all going to have to do this to track our syrup. Here in Vermont it is already being discussed so as to track any possible problems in our syrup production so as to identify where a problem is such as food poisioning if it should occur.

[Ace_R]

I don't think that this all that much work. I don't think it's that ridiculous to keep meticulous records. I have gone as far as to keep track of my records by putting them into an excel spreadsheet. Like Gerry said it only takes about 10-15 mintues to write everything down at the end of the day. Anything else you guys are using to track production? I would be curious. Thanks.

[KenWP]

I worked for a large food company and we had to be able to trace everything down to taking DNA samples of every one of 150 000 sows. We could basically trace every pig killed back to where it was at any given time. Had to stop production a couple of times due to problems in places but at least we didn't have to stop everything due to knowing where the problem was.

[farmall h]

We basically write the dates and amount of production for each day of boil on a "plank" nailed to a support post. Dates back to 1980....I think.;)

[stoweski]

This is my first year at tapping...

My sugarshack is close to my house, and my wireless internet connection. It's quite nice because as I'm boiling I can check out the trader. :D

I plan on using Excel to record my data. Not yet sure what I'm going to record but now that I've spotted this thread I can get a general idea from you people.

What a great resource!

[Clan Delaney]

I'm a nut for wanting to know how things work. I'm hoping that by tracking data over the course of the season that I can find correlations between temperature, weather, sap flow and sugar percentage. Who knows? In the meantime, knowing the sugar content of the sap in my tank helps me to know how much more syrup I might be making.

I'm lucky enough that my home Wi-Fi extends out to the shack as well. I'm keeping all my data on a Google Docs spreadsheet. I'm loving it. That way I don't need to keep multiple copies or port the file around on a jump drive. Just log in to Google Docs, make changes and save. Then I can go in the house and the info's all there.

When the season's done, I'll put it all into graphs. Wait for it!

[Mac]

I'm with 3rd gen maple here...as the saying goes" the road to hell is paved with good intention" I start the season wanting to keep track of sap gallons and content from 5 different bushes... wood used per gallon..boiled, stack temp, etc,etc but as I am primarily a one man band with 175 taps, I get overwhelmed.. This year my wife bought me a commercially availble ledger for producers, that make it easy to track the big stuff. I have wireless out at my S/H as well but would not dare bring my laptop out there... keys might get a little sticky.
Mac

[PerryW]

Hey Clan,

Stop staring at your computer screen and get to work. Your sap pan needs some defoamer pronto or you will have a big mess.

[Haynes Forest Products]

I keep track of the head tanks that I use only because someone else started the count. Its not acurate BUT its a point of referance and what the heck. I also make note of all the syrup made. I hang a full bottle of syrup that we botttle from the middle of the season for color comparison. Im thinking of counting the cans in the recycle barrel and doing a beer to pop ratio to make sure we are all getting our daily imput of Grains:lol: To me its like owning a big tricked out truck and then keeping track of the gas you use WHY what would it change.

[Ace_R]

Coming from a manfacturing background, I guess record keeping and trying to find efficiency in the process is just second nature to me. I think if you keep the right records for your operation, then you can review those records and find defincies in your process. I know a lot of us are backyarders, but if you're selling and with profit margins being slim; sometimes a little efficiency goes a long way! Clan I am with you on doing some charts and graphs, granted I may be a nerd for doing it, but hey they do look cool!

[3rdgen.maple]

Great just great now you guys got me wondering if my wifi will reach the sugarhouse. If I am messing around on the trader while I burn up my pans I am coming after you guys.

[Amber Gold]

This year I'm going to do my best to maintain an excel spreadsheet with a boiling log (time start/stop, sap processed, % sugar, gal syrup produced, grade, comments) and a daily collection log (temp high/low, weather condition, collection, vac. level, comments)

[stoweski]

Great just great now you guys got me wondering if my wifi will reach the sugarhouse. If I am messing around on the trader while I burn up my pans I am coming after you guys.

I'm already planning where to put my old tv and dvd player out here! Since this is my first year I've had numerous requests for tours. I figure I could play a few maple dvd's for them if they feel like watching.

I'm also trying to figure out a place for my recliner. I need something to relax in while I boil instead of a hard chair. I'm thinking this may just be my man cave! :D

I miss the olympics since all I do is work and then come home and sit out here and boil. I must say the 1/2 pint is fun but it's just too small for my liking. Already looking for a 2x6 for next season.

[maple flats]

I only keep record of
total tap count
total daily gallons of sap collected
season sap collected total
Daily syrup totals
season to date syrup
Start date and end date
This is the only records I keep track of for production. I keep a separate record of sales by $ only. I can get my container ratio from my starting inventory, plus purchases less ending inventory of containers.

[Maplesedge]

I keep a small journal, partly for records, partly to look back on years from now and remember the details of fun times past. Lots of stories happen when your boiling.

We're strictly back yarders, so the records are easy.

When the season starts and ends. (Was too cold this week in 2008)
How much sap per week and how much syrup it made. (We only boil on a weekend day.)

We tap new trees each year, so if one stands out we'll remember, 'cause heck, we only have 8 taps. Ditto if one's bad, we wont tap that one again.