Field Notes

The 2025 AgriStability deadline is June 30, 2026. The records the program asks for: breeding-female counts, inventory, feed, and allowable expenses.

CFIA plans updated sheep, goat, and cervid traceability rules. The records worth keeping now, in a format that works on paper, spreadsheet, or app.

What to capture on every animal at the chute (ID, product, dose, route, withdrawal, weight) on a worksheet for paper, spreadsheet, or app.

How to keep feed ration records that survive variable bale weights: per-head-per-day math, a feeding log template, and what to write down at every load.

A practical lambing record template for sheep producers. The fields worth tracking at every birth, on paper, in a spreadsheet, or in an app.

The calving and treatment record fields worth capturing in the field, why notes go missing between the chute and the desk, and how to close the gap.

Dewormer resistance is here. FAMACHA and selective deworming slow it down, but only if you keep records. What to track, and how the records pay off.

Seedstock record keeping for registered cattle and sheep: what to track per animal, and why documented animals earn buyer trust at sale time.

What to record at the pre-breeding herd-health visit (male soundness, vaccinations, body condition) so calving and lambing questions have answers next spring.

Breeding records and the EPD/EBV: the source records you keep, the number your breed association computes, and the honest line between them.

The canonical guide to calving and lambing records: the field set, the difficulty code that predicts keep/cull, death-loss capture, and the one-page sheet.

The canonical guide to livestock movement and cattle inventory records: per-move events, head count, reconciliation, traceability, and cost-to-keep.

How to body condition score sheep on the 1–5 scale by hand, when to score ewes, target scores by ewe type, and what to record so the thin ones get caught.

How lambing, calving, and health records give you real context for keep/cull decisions, and which records to check before sale day.

The honest case for farm record keeping: compliance, keep/cull decisions, accounting, and where paper and spreadsheets fall short.

Cull cows are worth more than ever, and so is one more calf. When both choices pay, your records make the keep-or-cull call. Here is what to pull.

Calculate lambing rates by ewe age class, plus lambs born, weaned, lost, and weight weaned per ewe liveweight with every denominator shown.

Most operations can’t name their cost to keep a cow. The records behind that number, with US and Canadian figures and a usable template.

The averages describe nobody's flock. Here are the sheep flock productivity numbers worth knowing, and the per-animal records behind each one.

A sheep record keeping app needs room for litter size, rearing type, ram exposure, treatments, and flock counts. Here is a practical field list.

An honest livestock management software comparison across paper, spreadsheets, older and modern platforms, EID readers, and AI assistants.

Why Ranch.Bot exists: livestock records out of your head, fast enough to keep and useful once you have them. For cattle and sheep operations.

Data centers, water, and jobs: the case against AI deserves a straight answer. What AI costs, and what it actually does on a working livestock operation.

What a general chat can and can't do for cattle records, how Ranch.Bot handles the record today, and why its public assistant connector is unavailable.

The current boundary between the Ranch.Bot in-app assistant and unavailable public connections for Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and MCP clients.

Why open livestock records still need a verified connector, what Ranch.Bot exports today, and why its MCP source is not yet a public install.

What virtual fencing records should you keep? U of A trials hit 99% containment. What to record from a GPS collar so moves and problem animals stay searchable.