How Work Gets Done

Animal management involves countless tasks. Daily feeding rounds, weekly health checks, monthly weight recordings, vaccination schedules, facility maintenance, movement preparations, breeding observations. Some tasks happen once (prepare animal for vet visit). Others repeat daily (morning feed distribution), weekly (paddock inspections), or monthly (weight records). Some tasks apply to specific animals (monitor Bull #A123's injury). Others apply to entire mobs (vaccinate Spring Lambs 2025 group) or locations (clean North Pasture water troughs).

Managing these tasks through memory, paper lists, or scattered notes creates stress, missed activities, and gaps in animal care. Kora's task system transforms this chaos into organised, systematic workflows where nothing falls through the cracks.

The Task System Philosophy

Kora's task system is built around three principles:

1. Simple When Simple Is Enough Need to remind yourself to call the vet tomorrow? Create a task in 30 seconds. No complexity, no overhead. Just "Call Dr. Johnson about Bull #A123's lameness" with due date and done.

2. Automatic When Repetition Is Needed Daily feeding rounds happen every day. Weekly paddock checks happen every week. Monthly weight recordings happen every month. Set these up once as recurring tasks, and Kora automatically generates task instances according to the schedule you define. No remembering to create the same task repeatedly.

3. Template-Driven When Workflows Are Complex Preparing animals for export involves multiple coordinated steps: health checks, documentation, movement arrangements, certificate preparation. Common workflows can be captured as templates creating complete task sequences with one action. Comprehensive workflow execution without missing steps.

How Tasks Work

One-Time Tasks: Create a task for something that needs doing once. "Repair fence in East Paddock," "Review feed supplier quotes," "Schedule vet visit for Daisy." Simple task creation, assignment, completion tracking.

Recurring Tasks: Set up a template defining what needs doing and how often. "Daily feed distribution (06:00)," "Weekly health checks (Monday mornings)," "Monthly weight recording (First of month)." Kora automatically generates task instances according to schedule. You set it up once, tasks appear automatically forever (or until you deactivate the template).

Animal-Specific Tasks: Link tasks to individual animals or mobs. "Monitor Bull #A123 post-surgery," "Vaccinate Spring Lambs mob," "Weigh all cattle in South Pasture." Tasks appear alongside animal records creating integrated animal management workflows.

Team Collaboration: Assign tasks to specific team members. John handles morning feeding. Sarah does health checks. Michael manages breeding activities. Everyone sees their assigned tasks creating clear accountability.

Task Organisation

Tasks are organised using simple, practical tools:

Task Status

Tasks move through simple workflow stages:

• To Do: Not yet started
• In Progress: Currently working on it
• Review: Completed, awaiting verification
• Done: Finished and verified

This progression helps track work state without complex project management overhead.

Priority Levels

Three priority levels help focus attention:

• Low: Can wait if more urgent work appears
• Medium: Standard priority for routine tasks
• High: Needs attention soon, important work

Priority guides daily work organisation. High priority first, medium priority next, low priority when time allows.

Task Categories

Four categories organise tasks by type:

Daily Care: Essential daily animal welfare and care activities (water checks, feed distribution, basic health observations, facility security). The foundation of animal management. Daily tasks ensuring animal wellbeing.

Health & Treatment: Medical interventions and health monitoring (medication administration, vaccination schedules, injury monitoring, quarantine checks). Tasks requiring health expertise or veterinary involvement.

Management: Broader farm operations and compliance activities (movement records, weight recording, breeding activities, facility maintenance). Administrative and operational tasks keeping the operation running.

Biosecurity: Biosecurity plan action items and compliance requirements (quarantine implementation, access control setup, equipment cleaning, facility inspection). Tasks supporting disease prevention and regulatory compliance.

Categories are organisational tools. They help filter and find tasks but do not restrict what you can do. Use categories that make sense for your operation.

Due Dates

Due dates create accountability and prevent tasks from being forgotten:

• Specific date: "2025-03-15 - Vaccinate cattle"
• Time-specific: "2025-03-15 06:00 - Morning feeding"
• No due date: Tasks that need doing but are not time-critical

Overdue tasks are flagged prominently ensuring nothing is missed even when schedules get busy.

Task Integration

Tasks integrate across Kora creating unified workflows:

Animal Integration (Chapter 8): Tasks link to individual animals or mobs. View animal profile seeing all tasks related to that animal. Create task directly from animal page with animal automatically linked. Tasks become part of animal management rather than separate to-do lists.

Location Integration (Chapter 9): Tasks can relate to specific locations. "Clean water troughs (North Pasture)," "Inspect fencing (East Paddock)." Location-based task views show all work needed at each property area.

Health Integration (Chapter 10): Health observations can trigger follow-up tasks. Veterinarian recommends treatment? Task created automatically. Observation flagged for follow-up? Task ensures action happens.

Biosecurity Integration (Chapter 11): Biosecurity protocols (Chapter 11.5) automatically generate tasks for scheduled biosecurity activities. Quarantine health checks create recurring tasks ensuring systematic monitoring.

Team Integration: Multiple users collaborate through shared tasks. Assign tasks, track progress, verify completion. Team coordination without constant communication overhead.

Example Task Scenarios

Scenario 1: One-Time Urgent Task Fence damaged in storm. Create task "Repair fence damage (East Paddock)," assign to maintenance team, set priority High, due date today. Task created in 30 seconds, team member sees it immediately, work gets done, task marked Done.

Scenario 2: Daily Recurring Task Morning feeding happens every day at 06:00. Create recurring task template "Morning feeding (All animals)" with Daily recurrence, 06:00 time. Starting tomorrow, task instance appears automatically every morning. Complete each day's instance, tomorrow's appears automatically. Set once, runs forever.

Scenario 3: Animal-Specific Treatment Bull #A123 needs antibiotics twice daily for 7 days. Create recurring task "Administer antibiotics (Bull #A123)," link to animal, set twice-daily recurrence (08:00 and 18:00), limit to 14 instances (7 days × 2 doses). All 14 treatment tasks generated automatically, linked to animal record, scheduled correctly. No remembering doses, no missed treatments.

Scenario 4: Monthly Workflow Template First of each month: weigh all cattle, update records, analyse growth rates, adjust feeding. Create task template "Monthly cattle weighing workflow" with checklist: weigh animals, record weights, analyse trends, adjust rations, document findings. Activate template monthly. All tasks appear together on first of month creating complete workflow.

These scenarios show task flexibility. Simple when needed, automated when practical, comprehensive when workflows demand it.

Who Uses Tasks?

Farmers and Livestock Owners: Organise daily routines, track maintenance needs, coordinate team activities, ensure nothing is forgotten during busy seasons.

Farm Managers: Assign work to team members, monitor completion, ensure compliance activities happen on schedule, maintain operational accountability.

Veterinarians: Track follow-up requirements from clinical visits, ensure treatment protocols are followed, schedule periodic health assessments.

Community Animal Health Workers: Organise field visits, track treatment compliance in communities, coordinate vaccination campaigns, follow up on health interventions.

Zoo Staff: Manage daily animal care routines, coordinate enrichment activities, schedule facility maintenance, track compliance requirements.

Conservation Teams: Organise population monitoring, schedule habitat assessments, track breeding programme activities, coordinate field operations.

Tasks work across contexts: livestock operations, wildlife management, conservation, veterinary practice. Adapting to how you work rather than forcing rigid workflows.

Key Task Capabilities

Quick Task Creation: Create simple tasks in seconds for one-off needs. No forms, no complexity. Just what, when, who.

Recurring Task Auto-Generation: Set up recurring templates once, instances appear automatically according to schedule. Daily, weekly, monthly, or custom frequencies. Kora handles generation in the background.

Template-Driven Workflows: Capture complex multi-step workflows as templates. Common scenarios (export preparation, breeding programmes, health protocols) become one-click task sequences.

Animal/Mob Linking: Tasks connect to specific animals or groups creating integrated animal management. See all tasks for an animal at a glance, create animal-specific tasks directly from animal pages.

Team Assignment: Assign tasks to specific people creating clear accountability. Everyone sees their tasks, management sees team progress.

Due Date Tracking: Overdue tasks flagged prominently. Priority levels guide work organisation. No more "I forgot to..." moments.

Category Organisation: Four practical categories (Daily Care, Health & Treatment, Management, Biosecurity) organise tasks by type. Filter by category finding relevant work quickly.

Status Progression: Simple workflow (To Do → In Progress → Review → Done) tracks work state without project management overhead.

Location Association: Tasks can relate to specific properties, paddocks, or facilities organising work by place as well as by type.

Mobile Access: Field staff see tasks on mobile devices. Complete tasks from paddock using phone. Real-time updates without returning to office.

Getting Started with Tasks

If tasks are new to your operation:

1. Start Simple: Create a few one-time tasks for immediate needs. Get comfortable with basic task creation, assignment, and completion before exploring recurring tasks or templates.

2. Add Daily Recurring Tasks: Identify activities that happen every day (feeding, water checks, basic observations). Set these up as recurring templates. Watch as daily instances appear automatically reducing mental load.

3. Expand to Weekly/Monthly: Add weekly routines (paddock inspections, facility checks) and monthly activities (weight recording, compliance reviews) as recurring templates. Build comprehensive coverage gradually.

4. Create Common Templates: Identify multi-step workflows you do regularly (export preparation, breeding programmes, biosecurity protocols). Capture these as templates creating repeatable processes.

5. Link to Animals: Start associating tasks with specific animals or mobs. See how animal-specific task views integrate work organisation with animal management.

6. Engage Team: If you have team members, start assigning tasks. Use task system for coordination and accountability rather than verbal instructions and hope.

The task system grows with you. Start with basic to-dos, expand to automated recurring tasks, evolve to comprehensive workflow management.

Common Misconceptions

"Task systems are for big operations only": Even single-person operations benefit from task tracking. Recurring tasks reduce mental load, due dates prevent forgotten activities, animal-specific tasks integrate with records.

"I will just remember what needs doing": Memory works until it does not. Busy seasons, emergencies, multiple competing priorities. Task systems ensure nothing is forgotten even when stressed.

"Setting up recurring tasks is complicated": Creating a recurring task template takes 2 minutes. After that, instances appear automatically forever. Initial investment, permanent benefit.

"Tasks are separate from animal management": Tasks integrate deeply with animal records, health observations, movements, biosecurity. They are part of comprehensive animal management, not a separate system.

"I do not have time to manage a task system": Task systems save time by reducing forgotten activities, missed follow-ups, and reactive crisis management. A few minutes daily prevents hours of emergency response.

Integration with Other Features

Tasks connect across Kora creating unified workflows:

Animal Management (Chapter 8): Tasks link to individual animals and mobs. Animal profiles show all related tasks. Create tasks directly from animal pages.

Health & Treatment (Chapter 10): Health observations create follow-up tasks. Treatment schedules generate recurring medication tasks. Veterinary recommendations become trackable action items.

Biosecurity Protocols (Chapter 11.5): Biosecurity protocols automatically generate scheduled tasks ensuring systematic protocol execution.

Movement Management (Chapter 7.3): Movement preparations can trigger task sequences (health checks before transport, documentation requirements, receiving tasks at destination).

Team Collaboration: Multiple users see assigned tasks, update progress, coordinate activities. Shared workflows without constant communication.

By the end of this chapter, you will understand how Kora's task system transforms animal management from reactive crisis response ("What did I forget?") into organised, systematic workflows where daily routines happen automatically, complex processes follow templates, and nothing important is forgotten. All while maintaining flexibility for the unexpected situations animal management inevitably brings.