Cattle.Farm Specifications

Following is detailed information about the specifications of the Cattle.Farm software. Should you have any additional questions regarding specifications, please contact support at support@agmodelsystems.com

System Specs

AMTS LLC software is mathematically intensive. The newer the processor and the higher the amount of RAM within a system, the faster the system will perform. If your computer is more than two years old, you should think about upgrading to a new system to take full advantage of AMTS and other modern software.

Specifications common to all AMTS LLC software:

  • Microsoft Windows 10 operating system
  • 32 or 64 bit processor (i7 recommended)
  • Any Intel Core I3 or equivalent
  • Microsoft .NET framework version 4.8 or later (Available at no charge from with Microsoft Windows Update or one of their download sites).
  • Hard drive with at least 200 mb free for program installation and long term file storage
  • 8 GB RAM
  • Fast internet connection to receive software updates and access AMTS client forums
  • Any printer supported by Windows is supported by AMTS products
  • Access to email is highly recommended for communication with AMTS as well as downloading feed analysis files from participating laboratories.

General Information for the IT Professional

AMTS LLC software is designed to run on a client computer. All installation files and supporting data files are stored locally. By default, data files are stored under My Documents/AMTS/product name/Current Farms (or Current Repositories). This path can be changed under View/Settings within .Farm. Changing the default path typically works (e.g. changing to a network drive mapped as U:/); however, there have been instances where this change does not function properly. Typically this is because Windows adds an additional back slash (/) to the mapped drive (e.g. U://My Documents vs. U:/My Documents). To work around this issue, go into View/Settings and change the file path to include both back slashes. A better method is use a synchronization method where My Documents is automatically synchronized with the server.

Installation

Installation of AMTS products requires full administrative privileges. If security limitations force installation through an Administrative User, AMTS needs to be adjusted for the end user. This has been a particular issue with Novel based security systems where the Administrator installs AMTS software from their account. When the normal user logs on, AMTS cannot find Feed Library or data files as they are stored under the Administrators My Documents. Thus, in this setting, the Administrator must copy the AMTS folder in the Administrator’s My Documents to the normal users My Documents.

Critical File Folders

Data files are password protected Access database files with a different file extension. If the administrator looks under My Documents, they will see several folders under the AMTS/product name/ path. Several are for internal use by  products. The critical folders are:

The Current Farms folder contains the active data files. When a farm is opened, a copy of the data file is created and renamed with the current date and time. The original file is then moved to the farms backup folder.

The Farms Backup folder contains a folder for each farm. Within the Farm (client) folder, will be copies of all data files listed by date and time when created. These files are archives. The user can go into this folder at any time and open an archive. If disk space becomes an issue, these files can be safely deleted (be aware the user will lose historical data). Typical file size is less than 400 kb. Thus, 1 Gb of disk space can contain 2,621 files.

The Feed Libraries folder stores all active feed libraries.

When a new feed bank is sent to a user, they can simply copy and paste the new feed bank within this folder. Feed banks are Access database files. Some are password protected either by a password assigned by staff or one self-assigned by an  product user. A self-assigned password is encrypted.

The Feed Analysis Folder

Certain laboratories have implemented an  standard based upon XML for sending feed analysis. Once the feed analysis is imported into an  data file, there is no need to keep these files. This folder is designed as a ‘holding area’ for feed analysis when downloaded from either the web or an email message.

Backup Recommendations

Routine backing up of the Current Farms and Farms Backup folder is recommended. Additionally, theUser Feed Library.mdb should be backed up routinely as the user can add/remove feeds from the library.

Recommended Anti-Spyware

We highly recommend a anti-spyware product be used at all times. There are several spyware/spamware programs that do something to the Microsoft .NET ver. 2 framework. We do not know what spyware does this, but we have found that performing a full system sweep with a product such as Spy Sweeper corrects the problem. Sometimes a removal and reinstallation of the .NET framework is required after running Spy Sweeper.

We do NOT recommend any Norton or McAfee product. Our experience shows that these systems are very resource intensive and do NOT catch many of the spyware/spamware currently in circulation.

Any product names mentioned on this page are copyright their respective owner.  does not guarantee any of these statements (or third party software), nor do any of these statements represent an endorsement of any product. Rather, this information is provided based upon  experience.

File Formats

As an Analytical Lab Manager, you probably have gotten multiple requests over the years by different companies regarding electronic transfer of results. The managers we have spoken with have expressed frustration, confusion, and a feeling of near helplessness regarding these requests. Every group has come with a specific layout that must be programmed specifically for them. The amount of programming time, testing, error corrections, etc. has resulted in some groups just saying “No. We are not going to do this until there is a standard approach. It costs us too much money!”

You are not alone in this frustration! Too many people still want to use archaic formats such as *.csv, *.txt, and other MS-DOS leftover formats. These formats are difficult to manage given that if you want to make a change, any program that tries to read them also must be changed else they will not read the file. This makes overall management a nightmare.  recognizes this problem and we have a solution.

 has developed a new structure for data exchange based upon the open source XML standard. These files can contain results from an unlimited number of feeds. If programmed to be dynamically generated, only the results available are created in the file. Want to add new components? No problem. Just add the new lines with the tags using a standard nomenclature. For more information regarding this file structure, please contact us. We are also working with several labs that have proposed an XML standard to be used by all labs. Contact us for more information regarding this.

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