Many zoos in North America use Dairy One labs to analyze their feed. If your lab does not use DairyOne, you can still take advantage of this import process. Inside your “Example Import Files” folder, you’ll find an example of what the DairyOne format looks like. If you can make your data fit that format (same column names and order), you can use this importer as well.

The process to import feed data from DairyOne is currently a little convoluted. I’m hoping to improve this process soon.

• You need to ask DairyOne to send you the results in their “-29.csv” format. This means they should send you a .csv file with the suffix -29. You can ask them to send you your results from all time in this format as one large file if you like.
• You should already have the matching foods in ZDN before importing the nutrient data. You can’t add a food during the import process.
• If there are other labs that send their results in a consistent spreadsheet format, we can create importers for those as well. Currently the other commonly used US-based labs do not have a consistent format for their results.

Importing

1. In ZDN, go to Settings > Import Data from Dairy One
2. Click on the link there, which will take you to a website that will convert the -29.csv file into one that ZDN can read.
3. Convert your file on the website
4. Back in ZDN, click the “Load file” button to upload your newly-created “ready4ZDN” file.
5. Spend some time matching each sample to a food in ZDN.
6. When done, click “Import Temp data to ZDN” button.

I tried to make it so you don’t accidentally import the same data twice. There is a button (clear samples matched with foods) where you can remove any samples from your current import that have previously had data imported. And, if you do find yourself having accidentally imported your data twice, you can click the orange button to remove duplicates.

Suggestions on making this process simpler are welcomed!