Follow beef cattle from intake to settlement

What this workflow achieves

Use this workflow on a Beef or Mixed farm to follow cattle from arrival through weighing, yard decisions, slaughter feedback, valuation and settlement. It keeps these records separate:

Record	What it proves
Animal intake	Which cattle entered this farm, when, from where and at what purchase/arrival facts.
Weight session	A measured or estimated live weight on a farm-local date.
Drafting list	A working decision to Stay, Move, Sell or Slaughter.
Farm exit	The animal actually left the farm.
Carcass import/record	Processor-side slaughter date, hot carcass weight, grade and other kill-sheet evidence.
Price grid	The dated commercial rule Farmlync uses to estimate gross carcass value.
Settlement	Actual deductions/bonuses applied to gross value to obtain net proceeds.

A forecast does not move or slaughter an animal. A drafting entry does not create an exit. A staged import does not create a carcass. A price grid is not payment evidence.

1. Prepare the farm and reference data

Before the first load:

• confirm the farm type is Beef or Mixed;
• adopt/create the required breeds in the organisation Breed library;
• confirm identifier and government-registry policy;
• create the physical pens used after arrival;
• verify settlement currency; and
• gather the arrival sheet, animal identifiers, birth dates, sex, breed, measured arrival weights and purchase prices.

Do not invent birth dates, identifiers or weights to complete the form. Resolve missing source evidence before registering the consignment.

2. Register a purchased group

Open Beef → Bulk intake.

Shared load controls

Control	What to enter or check
Entry / arrival date *	Actual farm-local date the cattle entered, no later than today.
Purchase source	Optional mart/seller/source, up to 200 characters.
Default Breed	Farm-catalog breed to copy into blank rows.
Default Sex	Common sex; it also narrows valid lifecycle stages.
Default Birth date	Use only when the relevant animals truly share it.
Default Current stage	Optional Calf, Weaner, Stocker, Finisher, Cow or Bull where appropriate; blank allows age/sex resolution.
Apply to blank cells	Copies defaults only into empty breed, sex, birth-date and stage cells. It never overwrites identifiers, price or weight.

Changing a default does not rewrite rows already on screen. Apply it deliberately and inspect every animal.

Each animal row

Field	Accepted evidence
Tag *	Farm visual tag, up to 50 characters. Farmlync trims and uppercases it; it must be unique in the load and farm.
Breed *	Breed available to this farm.
Sex *	Actual sex.
Birth date *	Actual date, no later than arrival.
National ID	Required when farm registry policy requires it; otherwise optional. Up to 100 characters, normalized for matching. Use a reserved tag-pool identifier when applicable.
Current stage	Optional valid stage for age/sex. Check Stocker/Finisher and adult stages carefully.
Price	Optional non-negative purchase price with no more than two decimal places. It is acquisition cost, not sale value.
Arrival wt (kg)	Optional measured 0.1–9,999.9 kg. It creates an initial Scale weight dated to arrival.

Use Import CSV to fill the draft grid when the consignment is large. It recognises common tag, breed, sex, birth-date, national-ID, price, arrival-weight and stage headings; dates can be yyyy-MM-dd, dd/MM/yyyy or dd-MM-yyyy and are interpreted day-first for slash/dash forms. Uploading a new file replaces the current draft. Invalid numeric text can become blank, so review every price and weight.

The upload success message means loaded for review, not registered. Choose Register intake (N) only after reviewing all rows. The server accepts at most 1,000 animals and treats the intake atomically: any invalid row rejects the whole load.

After success, search sample tags in Animals, confirm purchased entry/stage/identity, check arrival weights in Weight sessions and assign cattle to their physical pens. Pen assignment is a separate operation.

3. Record a weighing session

Open Beef → Weight sessions → New session or Beef → Record weight.

Control	What to enter or check
Session date *	Actual farm-local weighing day. Current manual validation can accept future dates, so do not use this as a schedule.
Method *	Scale, Tape estimate (girth) or Visual estimate. State an estimate honestly.
Session notes	Optional group context, up to 1,000 characters.
Pick animal	Search/scan the correct tag. An animal cannot be selected twice in one draft.
Weight (kg)	Positive 0.1–9,999.9 kg. A selected row without weight is not submitted.

Save (N) counts rows with a weight. Check that number before saving. Manual recording always creates a new session and currently permits more than one weight for the same animal/day, so inspect the animal’s growth history before entering a correction.

For a scale CSV, choose Import, set the actual non-future weigh date, upload and map Weight (kg) plus Visual tag or EID. One import accepts at most 5,000 rows. Farmlync matches visual tag first, then EID, including identifiers valid on the selected date. The last valid duplicate in one file wins.

Review the result:

• Replaced — one existing active same-day value was changed;
• Unchanged — same-day value matched;
• Unmatched identifiers — no confident active farm animal match; and
• Skipped rows — invalid or unusable source row.

Resolve identity in the animal record rather than guessing. Check the session and individual animal after import.

4. Read growth and finishing evidence

Open Beef → Overview.

• Avg DLWG (30d) uses animals with at least two distinct farm-day weights in the last 30 days, first-to-last change divided by elapsed days, excluding implausible rates. A dash means insufficient evidence, not zero gain.
• Animals weighed is an all-time distinct-animal count and shows latest session date.
• Overdue finishers currently means latest live weight at least 650 kg and no carcass; it can still include an animal that already exited without a carcass, so confirm active status.
• Carcasses (90d) counts recorded carcasses in the last 90 farm days and shows mean kill-out when available.
• Finishing forecasts use weight history and finishing targets. They are estimates, not instructions to sell or slaughter.

Investigate an implausible rate by checking identity, duplicate/same-day weights, method, dates and units. Do not edit a measured result merely to make the forecast look reasonable.

5. Prepare the yard drafting list

Open Beef → Drafting lists → New list.

Control	What to enter or check
List name *	Purposeful title, 1–200 characters.
Purpose	Optional shared objective, up to 1,000 characters.
Add animals	Search/scan each intended animal. Duplicate draft selection is prevented.
Disposition	Stay, Move, Sell or Slaughter. Every new row starts as Stay, which is a real saved decision.
Remove row	Removes only the draft/list entry, not the animal.

The form currently has no per-animal notes control even though detail can display saved entry notes. Put shared context in Purpose and retain external yard notes if individual instructions matter.

After saving, review counts and animals. Edit an open list before any exit is recorded. Print produces a yard list. Close list freezes it as history without moving or exiting any animal.

6. Carry out moves and exits

For Move, choose Move N to a pen and complete the separate audited pen-assignment workflow. The completed move is not linked back to the drafting entry, so verify each animal’s current pen and close the list manually when the yard work is complete.

For unfinished Sell or Slaughter rows, choose Record exits:

Control	What to enter or check
Exit date *	Actual farm-local date the cattle left; defaults to today.
Destination	Optional mart/abattoir/buyer, up to 200 characters.
Notes	Optional exit context, up to 500 characters.
Record N farm exits	Submits only unfinished Sell/Slaughter entries.

Review sold, slaughtered, skipped and failed counts. Successful rows retain progress, so correct and retry only failures. A list closes automatically after all Sell/Slaughter exits succeed only when it has no Move entries.

7. Configure the dated carcass price grid

Open Beef → Carcass pricing → New grid before relying on valuation.

Control	What to enter or check
Effective from *	First farm-local date for the schedule. Latest grid on/before kill date is used.
Abattoir	Optional reference name. Current valuation chooses by farm/date, not this label.
Base price / kg *	Non-negative amount per payable kg in the organisation’s currency.
Max payable weight	Optional positive cap; it limits paid weight, not recorded hot carcass weight.
Grade × fat adjustments	Amount per kg for a selected pair. Positive adds, negative subtracts, zero allowed. Missing cells use base rate only.

Do not allow an adjustment to produce a negative effective rate. Check that no grid already has the same effective date: saved schedules cannot currently be edited, deactivated or deleted, and same-date selection is not deterministic.

Use Value a carcass to test grade, fat and hot weight against the latest grid effective today. The actual carcass valuation instead uses the grid effective on its slaughter date:

gross value = (base price + grade/fat adjustment) × min(hot weight, max payable weight when set)

The calculator’s Cold wt is a separate estimate and is not the payable weight.

8. Stage processor feedback

Open Beef → Carcass imports.

For CSV, use Auto-detect columns for recognised headings or select a reusable profile for the processor format. A profile maps source headings/constants/formulas; it does not create carcasses. PDF uses the built-in parser and ignores profiles.

Select one .csv or .pdf file and choose Stage for review. CSV supports roughly 4,000,000 characters and up to 2,000 data rows; PDF payload limit is roughly 9 MB after decoding. Split or request CSV when a file is unsupported. A PDF without a usable kill date can fall back to farm today, so verify every date.

Staging creates no exit, weight, carcass or settlement.

9. Review every staged row

The review shows row count and Approved, Pending and Dropped states. Inspect raw tag/resolved animal, slaughter date, hot carcass weight, optional live weight, kill-out, grade, fat, errors and warnings.

Use:

• Edit to correct and approve one row;
• Approve for a parsed row whose evidence is correct;
• Drop to retain but exclude an irrelevant/bad source row; or
• desktop Select all approvable / Approve selected only after reviewing identities and warnings.

The correction panel accepts:

Control	Accepted value
Animal *	Actual farm animal. Do not guess an unresolved/reused tag.
Slaughter date *	Actual completed farm-local date in yyyy-MM-dd; current command can accept future dates, so verify manually.
Hot carcass weight *	10–999.9 kg.
Live weight at slaughter	Optional 0.1–9,999.9 kg. Clear a prefilled estimate unless you intend to assert it as actual.
EUROP grade / Fat class	Supported value or Not yet known. Do not coerce an unknown code.
Abattoir	Optional, up to 200 characters.
Kill-sheet reference	Optional, up to 100 characters.
Notes	Optional, up to 1,000 characters.

Initial identity matching is not resolved as at slaughter date. Take extra care when identifiers were reused. Approved still does not guarantee commit: unresolved/incompatible/existing rows can be skipped later. Approve an animal only once per import; drop duplicate rows to avoid a repeated commit failure.

10. Commit and verify carcasses

Choose Commit N only after checking every approved row against the source document. Commit can atomically:

1. create an eligible carcass;
2. exit an active animal as Slaughtered on the kill date;
3. record supplied/derived slaughter-day live weight; and
4. skip unresolved, duplicate, incompatible-exit or failed rows.

Read the receipt for carcasses, auto-exits, weights and skips. Reopen the committed import for per-row Committed/Skipped/Dropped reasons, then open Beef → Carcasses.

Filter the carcass register by animal search (up to 100 characters), processor, abattoir, grade and inclusive kill dates. Confirm animal, kill date, HCW, live weight, kill-out, grade, fat, processor, abattoir and reference. Summary cards cover all filtered records, not only the 20 displayed rows.

A carcass record is processor evidence, not payment evidence.

11. Configure settlement types

Open Beef → Carcass settlement. This is an organisation-wide type catalogue even though it is reached from a farm, so coordinate changes across all farms.

Use Load standard set to add the EU starter types when suitable; it does not add charges to an animal. Or choose Add type:

Control	What to enter or check
Code *	Stable unique code, up to 50 characters; cannot be edited later. Use one canonical case.
Label *	Farmer-facing name, up to 120 characters.
Direction *	Deduction reduces proceeds; Bonus increases them.
Default amount	Optional non-negative prefill, replaced with actual statement amount as needed.
Sort order	Catalogue order; blank/non-numeric currently becomes 0.

Deactivating a type prevents new selection but does not reverse historical lines. Edit the animal settlement to correct an actual charge.

12. Record the kill-sheet settlement

Open the animal’s Beef tab and Kill-sheet settlement. Gross value requires carcass weight, grade/fat where relevant and a grid effective on kill date.

For each processor-statement item, choose Add line, select an active settlement type and enter its actual non-negative amount. A default can prefill the amount; check it against the statement. Remove a draft line that does not apply.

net proceeds = gross value − deductions + bonuses

Save settlement replaces the complete saved line set and updates the animal’s Slaughtered-exit proceeds. It has no stale-draft warning and currently omits invalid/unselected draft lines from the submitted request, so refresh first when another manager may have changed it and verify every visible line before saving. Cancel does not save, but an abandoned local draft can remain when reopened; refresh to restore server values.

13. Review performance and economics

Open Beef → Performance & economics.

Choose inclusive farm-local From/To dates up to 366 days, then Per animal, By breed or By mob. The report includes current non-Dairy animals plus non-Dairy animals exited in the window. Purchase price can be lifetime evidence while feed and health/breeding costs are taken from the selected period, so use consistent windows and cost coverage for comparisons.

Interpret:

• ADG — first-to-last usable weight change within the window divided by elapsed days;
• Total cost — recorded purchase plus period feed and health/breeding costs; missing costs are not inferred;
• Proceeds — carcass net value when available, otherwise recorded sale price;
• Margin — known proceeds minus total cost; unavailable while on farm or without proceeds;
• Cost/kg gain — total cost divided by positive measured gain, a rough comparison because it includes purchase cost; and
• Break-even/kg — on-farm total cost divided by latest positive weight, not a promised market price.

An active animal can belong to several mobs, so never add mob-group rows to produce a farm total. Finished animals can appear under (no mob) because historical mob membership is not used. CSV always exports per-animal rows, regardless of the current grouped view.

Completion checklist

• Farm, breed, pen and identifier settings were prepared before intake.
• Every intake row was reviewed and the atomic registration result verified.
• Weights use the actual date, method, animal and kg value.
• Forecasts are treated as planning evidence rather than completed work.
• Drafting dispositions were carried out through separate pen/exit actions.
• Carcass price grid matches the agreement effective on kill date.
• Every staged processor row has a confident animal and non-future kill date.
• Commit receipt, carcass register, exit and kill weight were checked.
• Settlement types/directions and actual amounts match the processor statement.
• Net proceeds and performance report were reconciled to complete source costs.

For control-level references, see Bulk intake, Weight sessions, Beef overview, Drafting lists, Carcass imports, Carcasses, Carcass pricing, Carcass settlement and Performance & economics.