Every farm tells a story of the relationship between the land, animal, and farmer. This story is rooted in data. HerdGrows will help you interpret this data to achieve maximum profit/unit area while achieving harmony between man, cattle, and veld (ranch).

Any computer system can only assist the farmer in improving through good record keeping. The system is not aimed at replacing time in the field. The more data you put into the system, the better your reporting and insights will be.

The system will guide your daily tasks and help identify factors that increase productivity, decrease cost, and ensure sustainability. Take control of your farm's future story with HerdsGrow.

Let’s get you set up.

Setting up your farm.

The post below will explain how to set up your system in 3 steps.

Populating the template and getting it onto the system.
Measurements and settings.
Inviting your team

Populating the template and getting it onto the system.

The HerdsGrow team is also available to help with the setup at no cost to you. If you want us to help you onboard, please send your current spreadsheets to hello@herdsgrows.com and request a data prep.

If you want to do the setup yourself, continue reading.

Please download this Excel file to start prepping your data. We will then upload this file into HerdsGrow to get your data into the system.

Start with sheet 1 to the left, then work your way through the sheets in order. In the top row, each sheet has an explanation of how to populate it.

Once the Excel is completed, please email it to hello@herdsgrow.com so we can populate your database and get you going in the app.

Click on the arrow for a detailed explain of each sheet.

1. Start with the Breed sheet

This sheet provides you with a list of known breeds. If you feel that we have missed a breed or you have mixed breeds on your farm, please add them to this sheet.

2. Add your farm/farms

Capture the farm name, owner, address, district, etc. The information will be used in reports to facilitate the selling of your cattle. It will also translate to other parts of the app so you can easily see which cattle form part of which farm. If you select a default breed, the system will use this as the breed for cattle on that farm where no breed is indicated. The data provided on the sheet is an example. Please alter the data to include your farm's details. DO NOT ALTER THE HEADINGS.

3 Herd

A group of cattle is managed as a herd, which eases the herd's movement between paddocks. We can then manage and report on stock density over time in paddocks.

It also facilitates the capture of a treatment for the entire herd. Since the system is flexible, you may group a number of animals in a “herd” for a period of time if you want to treat, for example, Estrumate and Ai – or some other treatment. Once the treatment is completed you just return them to their original herd. This simplifies the process of not having to capture per animal – although that is possible too.

Use this sheet to list all of your herds. This will also translate through to other parts of the app, so you can easily move cattle between herds and view reports per herd. The herd provided below are just an example, please edit the lines and add more lines to suit your setup. If you do not work with specific herds, please keep 1 herd and label it 'Main Herd'.

DO NOT CHANGE THE HEADINGS.

4 Paddock

Paddocks are captured to manage the land. You will need to capture the size of the paddock to calculate the stock density. We can then report stocking density in reference to the number of animals on a particular piece of land at a particular time. For example, a herd of 30 cows on a 20- hectare rotational grazing paddock has a stocking density of 1.5 animal units per hectare, even though the stocking rate for the 160- hectare pasture remains at 0.75 LSU/ hectare.

We suggest that you determine a large area as a paddock. If you are using a UHDG system, and moving your cattle several times a day, you will need to indicate every move in HerdsGrow. You will then be able to determine how many days you have spent in the paddock with what number of animals so that will allow you to see your stocking rate. Over time you will be able to see a trend and improve on your stocking rate.

In this table you simply need to list each of your paddocks, the farm they belong to and the size of the paddock and a note if you want to. This will also translate through to other parts of the app, so you can easily move cattle between paddocks and view reports per paddock.

5. Herds Per Paddock

This sheet is used to assign a herd to the paddock they are currently in. Once your data has been added to the system, you will be able to move the various herds to new paddocks.

6. Owners

If you rent out land and manage cattle for multiple owners, you can add them to the Owners' sheet.

7 Body Condition Scoring

This gives a score for the condition of your cattle. A guideline is provided. However, each farmer can allocate their own scoring values. The records already captured in this table are there as a recommended example, 5 being your best condition and 1 being the poorest.

Please change the scoring and add or remove options to suit your setup.

8. Cattle

Your main income is from cattle. To keep track of the cattle on your farm, you need to capture details based on the sex and age of the animals. Individual animals are tracked using a tag number.

Row 3 within this sheet will be a guide to show you how to populate each column.

Next, email the sheet to hello@herdsgrow.com

Once the Excel is completed, please email it to hello@herdsgrow.com so we can populate your database and get you going in the app.

While you wait

While you wait for us to reach out, please confirm your settings within the HerdsGrow app and add your staff.

To do this:

Log into Herdgrow.com

Click on your Cattle Farmer database

Go to Farm Setup

Go to Settings

Settings

These figures will be used in calculations to determine the value of each animal and your farm's growth over time. We have given figures as an example, along with a description. You can change these according to your needs by clicking on any record, making changes, and then clicking Save.

If you feel like we have missed any figures, please email support@mydatagrows.com so we may add them.

Next, add your Staff.

This is the final Setup table. Here, you will add staff and assign them a role. Their role will determine their access to the app: Farm Owner, Herd Manager, or Milker.

Farm Owners will have access to the entire app.
Herd Managers can manage all animals and access all reports and sales reports. They cannot alter Farm settings or remove staff.
Milkers will only have access to Production & Growth information.

Once this has been done and your data has been imported, you can start working on the system.

Ultimately, you want the most productive animals, producing the highest kg/lb per surface area at the lowest cost. To achieve this, you must keep track of the various factors influencing productivity and constantly adapt management to improve. This is exactly what HerdsGrow aims to assist you with.

This post will contain some videos to show you the various features of the system.

If you have any questions, please email hello@herdsgrow.com or WhatsApp Stephen on 082 4938 431

Getting Started