Command Reference Guide

Batch command

To run multiple commands simultaneously, use an exclamation point (!) to separate commands.

Case-insensitive

Command text is not case-sensitive.

Date format

PULSE interprets the order of month and day based on your User Profile Date format setting.

The year may be two or four digits, and month and day may be one or two digits. Use a forward slash (/) or period (.) to separate year, month, and day. Dates may be specified in any of the following formats:

yyyy/mm/dd or yyyy.mm.dd
mm/dd/yy or mm.dd.yy
mm/dd/yyyy or mm.dd.yyyy
dd/mm/yy or dd.mm.yy
mm/dd or dd/mm (assumes the current year)

yyyy/m/d or yyyy.m.d
m/d/yy or m.d.yy
m/d/yyyy or m.d.yyyy
d/m/yy or d.m.yy
m/d or d/m (assumes the current year)

For instance, September 17, 2019, can be formatted as:

2019/09/17, 9.17.19, 9/17/19, or 9/17 if your date format is set to Month/Day/Year
2019/17/09, 17.9.19, 17/9/19, or 17/9 if your date format is set to Day/Month/Year

Date shortcuts

DC305 DairyComp 305 - VAS Dairy Management Software and PULSE accommodate date shortcuts to speed up the typing of commands. Date shortcuts may be used for any date items and work as follows:

The number is the date in the current month (if today or already occurred)
The number is a date in the previous month (if not yet occurred)

For instance, if you enter MKDAT=3, and today is October 3, then the results show milk withdrawals ending today. If you enter FDAT>14 and today is October 1, the results include animals with fresh dates of September 15 through October 1.

Double quotes

Double quotes (") are required to identify a string in the command line. For instance, CODA="TEST".

ID

The animal ID Identifier is always included in LIST (SHOW) results, even if not specified in the command.

Sort and condition keyword order

Sort and condition keywords (BY, DOWNBY, FOR) must follow a prescribed order in LIST (SHOW) and SUM commands.

IMPORTANT: LIST (SHOW) commands require that the FOR keyword is typed before the BY or DOWNBY keyword. SUM commands require that the FOR keyword is typed after the BY or DOWNBY keyword.

Multiple conditional items

AND is implied between multiple conditional items. For instance, FORLACT>0 DCC>220 DDAT=2019/07/30 includes all results where the following is true: lactation number is greater than zero AND days carrying calf is less than 220 days AND due date is July 30, 2019.

OR conditions

Use a semicolon (;) to indicate OR. For instance, PEN=1;3;5 includes pens 1 OR 3 OR 5.

To use compound OR conditions, no semicolon (;) is required. Separate each condition with parenthesis (). For instance, FOR(LACT>0 DDAT=2019/07/30) (COD1>0 COD2=0) includes results where the following is true: lactation number is greater than zero and due date is July 30, 2019 OR COD1 Wildcard 1 byte item (0-255) is greater than zero and COD2 Wildcard 2 byte item (0-32000) is equal to zero.

Spacing

Extra spaces between items are ignored.

Switches

In PULSE command line, any switches must immediately follow the command word. The following switches are currently supported in the specified command(s):

Switch	Definition	Command(s)	Example
\B	Includes results for both live and dead animals. Without the switch, command results include live animals only.	COUNT LIST (SHOW) SUM	LIST \B ID LACT DIM RPRO ARDAT FOR FDAT>-7 BY LACT Capture live and dead animal data for recently freshened animals by lactation.
\D	Limits results to dead cows only.	COUNT LIST (SHOW) SUM	COUNT \D FOR LACT=1 ARDAT>-90 Capture total number of dead animals in their first lactation in the last 90 days.
\S	Sets the standard deviation calculation to use sample values. Without the switch, PULSE calculates population standard deviation.	SUM	SUM \S MILK PCTF PCTS LGSCC BY lact FOR LACT>0 Analyze sample standard deviation data for milk composition and quality by lactation.
\Z	Includes zero values in averages and standard deviation calculations. Without the switch, average, standard deviation, mode, and median calculations include non-zero values only.	SUM	SUM \Z TKET BY LCTGP FOR FDAT>-365 Analyze the number of times ketosis Ketosis is a common ailment that usually occurs in early lactation, when the energy demands of milk production are very high and the cow metabolizes fat stores for energy. Symptoms of ketosis may include reduced milk yield, weight loss, reduced appetite, acetone smell of breath and/or milk, and fever. was diagnosed by lactation group for all animals that calved in the last year.