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How to manage livestock and grazing
How to manage livestock and grazing

Keep track of the animals on your farm with herds (mobs) to track their number, location and grazing history

Camilla Hayselden-Ashby avatar
Written by Camilla Hayselden-Ashby
Updated over a week ago

fieldmargin’s Livestock management tools allow you to keep track of the number of animals and their location on your farm. Herd (animal group or mob) locations appear on the map as colour-coded markers so you can easily see which fields are being grazed.

As you move herds around your farm you will build up their history. This means you can look at a herd and see how long it has been grazing in its current field and which fields it was in previously. You can also look at your field history to see when a field was last grazed and how long it has had to rest.

You can also attach notes and tasks to your herds. These will become part of your herd history. This way you can keep track of what treatments you have administered or issues within the herds. You can find instructions for doing this here.

You can set up 1 animal herd on the Free plan and 2 on the Essentials plan. Upgrade to Plus or Pro for unlimited herds. You can learn more about plans and pricing here.

Viewing livestock

iOS and Android

Summary of livestock on farm with total animals and their location on map for phone

You can access the livestock section by tapping the hamburger menu in the top left of the screen and then tapping on livestock. This will show you all of the livestock herds that you have on your farm organised by animal type.


You can quickly see the name of the herd, how many animals are in it, where it is at the moment and when it was last moved. Tapping the herd row will take you to see more information about it and tapping ‘Move’ will allow you to change its location

Herds that are in a field will also appear on the map with a marker showing the herd colour and animal type.

Web

Summary of livestock on farm with total animals and their location on map for desktop

On web this is very similar but the livestock list is accessed using one of tabs down the left of the screen.

Creating a herd

Livestock is organised in herds, these are groups of animals (i.e. mobs) that are being moved together. Each herd has an animal type and colour which is used to represent it on the map, a name which you can use to add specifics about the animals in the group like age, gender or breed, and the number of animals.

iOS and Android

Creating a livestock herd
  1. Go to the livestock list and tap ‘+ Add livestock’ at the top of the screen.

  2. Select a livestock type by tapping one of the animal icons

  3. Select a colour by tapping on the square (this is to help differentiate herds of the same animal type on the map)

  4. Name your herd, this is pre-filled with the livestock type but can be changed to anything you want. For example, Ewes, Steers, Heifers, Friesian cows etc

  5. Set the number of animals in the group

  6. Tap ‘Save’

Web

  1. Go to the livestock list and click ‘+ Add Herd’ at the top of the livestock list

  2. Select a livestock type by clicking one of the animal icons

  3. Select a colour by clicking on the square (this is to help differentiate herds of the same animal type on the map)

  4. Name your herd, this is pre-filled with the livestock type but can be changed to anything you want. For example, Ewes, Steers, Heifers, Friesian cows etc

  5. Set the number of animals in the group

  6. Click ‘Create’

Moving a herd

You set the location of your herd with ‘herd moves’. This records what field they are in and when they were moved there. This will be used to build up your herd and grazing history.

iOS and Android

  1. Go to the livestock list and tap the ‘Move’ button next to the herd you want to move. You can also do this by opening the herd by tapping its symbol on the map or selecting from the livestock list.

  2. Select the field you are putting the animals in by tapping it on the map, it will then show in the ‘New Location’ section

  3. Set the move date, this defaults to the current date but you can change it by tapping on the date

  4. Tap ‘Move’ to save

Web

  1. Go to the livestock list and clicking the ‘Move’ button next to the herd you want to move. You can also do this by opening the herd by clicking on its symbol on the map or selecting from the livestock list.

  2. Select the field you are putting the animals in by clicking on it on the map, it will then show in the ‘New Location’ section

  3. Set the move date, this defaults to the current date but you can change it by clicking on the date or time

  4. Tap ‘Move’ to save

Editing a herd

iOS and Android

  1. Open the herd you want to edit from the livestock list

  2. Tap the 3 dots in the top right corner

  3. Select 'Edit'

  4. You can change the type, colour, name and number of animals

Web

Editing livestock herd
  1. Open the herd you want to edit from the livestock list

  2. You can change the type, colour, name and number of animals

  3. Click ‘Save’ to confirm

Herd history

Your herd history shows you where a herd has been over time. It shows when the herd was moved into a field and when they were removed to go somewhere else. On the removed date it will show how many days the animals had been grazing in that field.

iOS and Android

Herd history showing grazing and fields they have been in
  1. Select the herd you are interested in from the livestock list or its icon on the map

  2. On the herd view screen switch to the history tab

  3. You will see a history of where the herd has grazed

Web

Herd history showing grazing and fields they have been in
  1. Select the herd you are interested in from the livestock list or its icon on the map

  2. You will see a history of where the herd has grazed below it’s current location

Managing grazing with field history and rest days

You can see if a field has livestock in it at the moment by selecting it from the map, if the field is empty it will show you how many 'rest days' (days since it was last grazed) it has had.

You can also see your herd moves as part of your field history to help you understand pasture productivity and grazing availability.

iOS and Android

  1. Select the field you are interested in by tapping it on the map or field list and make sure you are on the history tab.

  2. This shows you the dates that herds were moved in and out of the field, the length of time they grazed alongside other field work or notes as well as the rest days in between grazing periods.

Web only

Field grazing history showing grazing days and rest time
  1. Select the field you are interested in by clicking it on the map or field list and make sure you are on the history tab.

  2. This shows you the dates that herds were moved in and out of the field, the length of time they grazed alongside other field work or notes as well as the rest days in between grazing periods.

Notes

  • You can add more than one herd to a field at the same time but only one icon will show on the map view. You can check which herds are on these fields in field view.

You can set up 1 animal herd on the free and essentials plan. Upgrade to Plus or Pro for unlimited herds. You can learn more about plans and pricing here.

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