INDUSTRY FIELD GUIDE
Bison herd inventory reporting records for AI
A herd inventory can use a different date and definition from a survey snapshot.
NAICS 112990 · All Other Animal Production
A herd inventory can use a different date and definition from a survey snapshot. USDA’s animal health monitoring system publishes bison study materials. A producer can create an artificial comparison that tests reference date and group definitions without sharing information about animals or property. USDA NAHMS bison studies
Invent two inventory summaries with explicit reporting dates. Give one a correction that affects a group but does not change the overall total. Ask which numbers are comparable and what record explains the discrepancy. Add one observation without a reference date and require the assistant to route it for review.
Use no actual herd identifiers, locations, movements, personnel, disease or financial information. Keep operational and animal health decisions outside the exercise.
Describe a fictional herd reporting exercise
Original Fiund exercise
A group correction can leave a herd total unchanged
Artificial inventory summaries use invented age-group labels and no real herd, property, animal or movement information.
| Record | Source | What it records |
|---|---|---|
| BR1 | Snapshot S1 | Reference day 1: group G1=12, G2=8, total 20. Definitions attached to original practice card. |
| BR2 | Correction S1R | Explicitly corrects day-1 classification: move two counted units from G1 to G2. Corrected G1=10, G2=10; total remains 20. |
| BR3 | Other summaries | Snapshot S2 on day 10 totals 22 under a different group definition. Note N says G1=11 but has no reference date or definition. |
Question for the model
What explains S1's changed group counts, and which comparisons remain unsupported without more metadata?
Show the reference answer and checks
BR2 explicitly reclassifies two units within BR1's day-1 inventory, producing 10 and 10 while preserving the total of 20. It is not evidence of additions or removals. BR3's day-10 total belongs to another date and group definition, while N lacks both a date and a definition. Preserve those scope differences and seek clarification before treating the group figures as a like-for-like trend or assigning N to either snapshot.
- Interpreting a within-total classification correction as a change in herd size.
- Comparing undated or differently defined groups as if they used the same reporting basis.
Fields to preserve
- Reference date and snapshot version
- Defines the inventory state.
- Group definition and correction movement
- Explains classification changes.
- Total and missing metadata
- Supports reconciliation without inventing history.
Test another case
Supply N's date but leave its group definition absent. Require the date gap to close while the definition gap remains.
Use wholly artificial records. Exclude actual herd identifiers, locations, health, financial information and operational animal decisions.
Discuss a contribution
Describe the sources you control, the task they could support and what has already been checked. Use the existing-data assessment for an archive or the collection brief for a new recording project. The contributor agreement defines Fiund’s licensing authority and compensation. A guide or fictional exercise does not establish an accepted collection or a sale.