So, is anyone actually reading this? No sweat ... I'm just curious.

Anyway, I was working on Litter Records tonight (yes, it is Capitalized, because it is Important.) Here is an example:

Date Sire Dam Breed Colour Sex Number

1/16/2006	G&CC Lazarus	G&CC Katrina	Coronet	GA/R/W	Sow	1(1,1)
1/23/2006	G&CC Alexander	G&CC Maggie	Coronet	R/W	Boar	2(2,1)
1/25/2006	G&CC Nyles	Galatea Penguin	Peruvian	B/W	Boar	3(1,2)
1/25/2006	G&CC Nyles	Galatea Penguin	Peruvian	B/W	Sow	4(2,2)
1/26/2006	Galatea Caleb	Consolidated Tizzy Mae	Silkie	B/W	Boar	5(1,3)
1/26/2006	Galatea Caleb	Consolidated Tizzy Mae	Silkie	B/W	Boar	6(2,4)
1/26/2006	Galatea Caleb	Consolidated Tizzy Mae	Silkie	B/W	Boar SB	7(3,5)
1/26/2006	Galatea Caleb	Consolidated Tizzy Mae	Silkie	B/W	Sow	8(4,3)
1/27/2006	G&CC Nyles	G&CC Shaelei	Peruvian	TSW	Boar	9(3,6)
1/27/2006	G&CC Nyles	G&CC Shaelei	Peruvian	R/W	Sow	10(4,4)
1/27/2006	G&CC Nyles	G&CC Shaelei	Peruvian	B/W	Sow	11(5,5)
1/28/2006	G&CC Kaslo	G&CC Elenore	Coronet	B/W	Sow	12(3,6)
1/28/2006	G&CC Kaslo	G&CC Elenore	Coronet	B/W	Boar	13(4,7)

Okay, so they look a lot better in MS Excel, but that's an example. Can ya tell what they mean? The English is obvious ... the numbers are, if you didn't decode them:
i.e., Beautiful Surprise: 1(1,1):
The first is obvious - she was our first baby of 2006. Then in parentheses we have first the breed, then the gender. She was also the first coronet and the first sow. Kaslo and Elenore's boar (at the bottom) was the 13th baby, 4th Coronet, and 7th boar.

I've been keeping those same records since 1997, and believe me, it's wonderful to have! I have really learned the value of keeping good records. I can look into these and make pedigrees on anything going back to 2000 (in April of 2000 I had a computer crash and lost everything from 1997-early 2000) if I should ever lose anything. And at the end of the year, it's really easy to figure out what my totals were for the year. At the end of each year, I write (2005 as example):

TOTAL BABIES BORN IN 2005: 164 (32 SILKIE | 68 CORONET | 54 PERUVIAN | 81 SOW | 77 BOAR | 6 UNKNOWN)
2005 BEST PRODUCER: SCHAFER (3 LITTERS / 9 PUPS); 2005 BEST QUALITY PRODUCER:
PERUVIAN: TILLY; SILKIE: KATIE; CORONET: SUNSHOWER; BOAR: LAZARUS

Obviously you don't have to keep records "my" way, but these have worked really well for me, and they've gotten me out of a bind many a time. Keep records - you won't regret it!