Animals¶
farmOS can be used to manage animal/livestock records.
An "Animal" asset type is provided for representing animal records, and all of the standard farmOS log types can be used to record events and activities.
Animal records can be used to represent either individual animals, or multiple animals (see "Inventory / head counts" below).
Species/breeds¶
When you create an animal asset, you will need to define what species/breed it is. Species/breeds represent the various types of animals you manage. These can be very general names (eg: "Cattle") or more specific breeds (eg: "Jersey cattle").
Animal groups/herds¶
Animals can also be organized into groups using the Group asset type. This is useful if you always manage certain animals together. It is also possible to assign animals to more than one group. This can be used in many different ways to help manage large numbers of animals in farmOS. See the Group asset guide to learn more.
Inventory / head counts¶
A single animal record can be used for managing more than one animal. This is useful in cases where animals don't need to be tracked individually, for instance with flocks of birds or heads of cattle (where individual tagging is not necessary for record keeping purposes).
To learn how to use inventory adjustments to track animal head counts over time, read the inventory use guide.
Q: Should I use inventory or groups for my animals?
This comes down to whether or not you need to maintain separate records for individual animals. If you do, then create a separate animal asset for each animal, and you can optionally organize them into group assets after that. If you don't need individual animal records, you can create a single animal asset and use the inventory features to track a head count over time with logs. Or, you could do both! Perhaps you have a herd (group asset) with some individual animals, and some larger groups of animals (head count). It's just a matter of how granular you need your record keeping to be.
Movements¶
Animals can be moved from place to place in farmOS using movement logs. You can also filter your animal list down to animals within a certain group, select all, and create a combined movement log for all of them at once. This is a great way to manage grazing records as you move animals from paddock to paddock. For more general information on moving assets in farmOS, read the page on movements and location.
Animal logs¶
In addition to the standard log types that all farmOS assets share (activities, observations, inputs, and harvests), the livestock module provides two additional log types that are specific to animals:
Birth logs can be used to record the birth of one or more animals on the farm. Birth logs can optionally reference the mother animal, and when they are saved they will automatically update the "Parents" and "Date of birth" fields on all referenced child animals. You can view a list of a mother's birth logs from her page, as well as add new ones. The "Date of birth" field on animal records will automatically link back to their birth log (if one exists). The child animal asset records must be created before the birth log, so that they can be referenced, but the livestock module also provides a "Birth" quick form that will create the children and birth log all in one step.
Medical logs can be used to record animal health records. This can be a veterinary visit, administering medicine/vaccinations, or other medical procedures. You can also use standard Input logs when administering medicine or vaccinations, if you prefer, and reserve Medical logs for more serious events/procedures.