Adding milk records from prior Lactations
Animal does not have a record in the system for its current Lactation (or it is not currently lactating)
Having a "blank slate" is the best place to start if you want to add historical milk production data. Following these steps will ensure you are set up to easily start adding each Lactation's milk records:
1. Add a Lactation record for each past lactation for all animals (Add Lactation, then record Date Dried; there's no need to add milk records at this time if you don't want to)
1. Add a Lactation record for each past lactation for all animals (Add Lactation, then record Date Dried; there's no need to add milk records at this time if you don't want to)
2. Add a Lactation for the current Lactation for all animals, if they are currently in milk.
3. Use the Add Daily Milk Records batch entry form to start adding milk records (your choice where you start). Having the Lactations entered will make is so that for any given date, all animals in milk on that date will display in the batch entry form. This hold true even if it was for a past Lactation.
Animal has a record in the system for its current Lactation
An animal can only have one "active" lactation at a time, so if you try to add a Lactation record for a prior Lactation, the system will ask you to close the current Lactation. Since the animal is not yet dried, that's probably something that you don't want to do.
The best solution is to either wait until the animal's dry period to add its historical milk record information, or if you have not already taken the time to add milk records for the current Lactation, you could delete the current Lactation record, then follow the steps detailed in the section above.