Set up catalogs and opening stock

Why use this guide

A new farm needs usable reference entries and actual opening quantities. This guide separates adopting a shared catalogue item from receiving or counting the physical stock you own.

Before routine recording, prepare the choices that the farm’s forms will offer. There are three distinct steps: a platform administrator maintains shared libraries, a farm administrator adds selected entries to a farm, and a stock user receives actual product or semen batches. Adding a name to a library or farm catalog does not mean goods are on the shelf.

Shared libraries at platform level

Only a platform administrator opens Admin → Global libraries. Its tabs cover Breeds, Diseases, Medicines, Treatment Protocols and Vaccination Protocols. Review existing entries before creating or editing one. Seed defaults adds missing standard entries to the global libraries and reports how many were inserted; it is a platform operation, not a way to add products to one farm or receive physical stock. A tenant/farm administrator generally starts with the next step, not this one.

Add curated entries to one farm

Open the intended farm, then Manage → Add from library. Check the farm name at the top. The page has four tabs:

Tab	What it makes available on this farm
Diseases	Disease choices for health recording.
Treatment Protocols	Reusable clinical protocols with dosage and withdrawal information.
Vaccination Protocols	Proposed vaccine schedules. Newly added protocols are Inactive until reviewed with the vet.
Products	Catalog products including medicines, vaccines, supplements and other stock categories.

On each tab, search by name or code. Hide items already on this farm is on initially. The page shows up to 100 matching items at a time, so refine the search if a product is missing. Select individual entries or Select all visible, then choose Add items to farm. The result states how many were added or skipped; an item already present is skipped. Repeat for the next category. A farm user without edit permission is taken back to the farms page.

For Products, first choose a category such as Health or Feed when available to reduce the list, then search. A category may be absent if that feature is not enabled for the organisation. After adding, open Inventory → Products or its Health/Feed Stock view and confirm the catalog item appears. The confirmation explicitly says no stock recorded yet; receive a delivery when it physically arrives. If a needed disease, protocol or product is genuinely absent from the shared library, use the permitted custom-entry action in its owning page rather than adding a near-duplicate without searching.

Prepare health products and medicines

For medicines, check the catalog entry’s name, strength, dosage/route, prescription classification and milk/meat withdrawal information where applicable. A supplement may not carry the same withdrawal fields as a medicine. Use Inventory → Animal Health / Products → Receive stock to enter each physical batch, with quantity, lot and expiry. Open the product again and check its stock on hand. If the farm records treatments from stock, verify the correct batch can be selected on a treatment form before clinical work starts. A protocol is guidance for recording; it does not prove that medicine was administered.

Prepare feed products and stock

Add the desired product from Products in the shared library or create an authorised custom item from Inventory → Products if it is absent. Check its unit and whether it is stock-tracked. Receive deliveries for stock-tracked feed and verify quantity on hand. Some feed is deliberately not stock-tracked, such as grazed or contractor-provided feed; you can still record a feeding event without receiving a batch. Then configure the feed’s nutrition, ration and plan under Feed. See Feed setup.

Prepare semen stock separately

Semen is managed in Breeding → Semen Stock, rather than the four-tab Add from library page. Search the sire catalog first. Use the page’s Import or add-sire control to create missing sires. Then choose Add Straw Batch, select the sire and enter Batch Number and Quantity (straws); add semen type, expiry, storage location and cost if known. The batch number should match supplier or collection evidence. Save and inspect Straw Batches for available quantity and expiry warnings. A breeding service can then select a real straw; merely adding a sire does not create straws.

Final setup check

Open one entry from each area you plan to use: a disease, treatment protocol, vaccination protocol, health product, feed product and semen batch. Check the correct farm, status, unit and available physical quantity. Do not activate a vaccination protocol without the required vet review. See Farm setup workflow for the full sequence.

If a setup choice is missing

What you see	Check next
A shared product or protocol does not appear in Add from library	Check the selected category, search by a shorter name or code, and refine a result set above 100 items. Ask a platform administrator whether the shared entry exists.
The entry was added but does not appear in a farm form	Confirm the selected farm and the entry’s local status. A newly added vaccination protocol is inactive until reviewed and activated.
A medicine or feed appears in Products but has no available quantity	The catalog item is present, but no physical batch has been received. Use Receive stock with the real delivery details; check expiry and storage location.
A ration can be created but the feed plan cannot be completed	Check that the intended pen and ration exist. The plan assigns a ration to a pen for a date range.
A sire appears but cannot be selected as an available straw	Check Semen Stock → Straw Batches for a real batch with available quantity and a suitable expiry. A sire catalog entry alone has no straws.

If the form reports a permission or subscription error, ask the organisation administrator to check your farm role and enabled features. Repeatedly submitting the same form will not grant access or create stock.