Learn to farm, and prove it.
Honest guides for farmers starting out, free calculators to work out what things really cost, and sample compliance registers so you know exactly what an inspector expects. No signup, no jargon.
Free spreadsheets
Built from the same columns FarmBind captures, so nothing is wasted if you move across later. No sign-up, and each one says plainly what a spreadsheet cannot do for you.
Diesel logbook
SARS's most common rejection is a claim that cannot tie a litre to a machine and a job. Fill the machine column even when it feels obvious.
Spray register
Act 36 of 1947 requires a record of every agricultural remedy applied. The active ingredient matters as much as the brand — an auditor asks for the a.i.
Contractor vs own machine
Keep the contractor's price OUT of the materials column. His price is all-in — his machine, his diesel, his driver — and seed is a material. Added together, cost per hectare his way versus yours cannot be worked out at all.
Where your crop is
DELIVERED IS NOT SOLD. Grain at the silo has left the farm and still belongs to you: it is exposure to the price and to storage charged by the day, not money in the bank.
Tools & calculators
Most people have no idea what it really costs to run a farm until they are in it. Work it out first — free, with your own numbers.
Calculator
Layer flock profit calculator
Plug in your flock size, egg price and feed cost and see monthly profit, cost per dozen and break-even.
Calculator
Broiler batch profit calculator
Model a full broiler batch — chick cost, feed, FCR and sale price — to see profit per bird and cost per kg.
Calculator
Livestock running-cost calculator
Cattle or sheep — total your lick, animal-health and overhead costs and see your cost per animal and break-even sale price.
Reference
Sample farm & compliance registers
See exactly what a dipping, vaccination, movement and mortality register looks like — ready to print or keep digitally.
Guides
Getting started
Moving your herd records off Excel (without retyping them)
You already keep your cattle, sheep or goats on a spreadsheet. Here is how to move those records into farm software as they are — no template to fill in, no retyping, and nothing lost.
6 min read
How to start a small chicken farm in South Africa
A plain-language starter guide for new South African poultry farmers — layers vs broilers, what you need, realistic startup costs and what to expect in month one.
8 min read
Starting a small cattle or sheep farm in South Africa
What a new livestock farmer needs to know before buying the first animals — grazing capacity, water, handling facilities, realistic running costs and the records you must keep from day one.
8 min read
Poultry
Layers or broilers? How to choose, and what each costs
The honest trade-offs between egg farming and meat-chicken farming in South Africa — cash cycle, daily work, risk and margins — so you pick the right one to start with.
6 min read
FCR and hen-day production, explained simply
What feed conversion ratio (FCR) and hen-day production (HDP) actually mean, how to calculate them by hand, and the benchmark numbers to aim for.
5 min read
Livestock
How FarmBind scores your breeding females — and flags the ones to cull
A plain-language look at how FarmBind turns the records you already keep into a keep-or-cull read on every cow, ewe, doe or sow — including whether she is a good mother — without performance recording or breeding-value tables.
6 min read
The breeding season, step by step: from joining to weaning
A plain walkthrough of the cow-calf and ewe breeding cycle — joining, pregnancy checking, calving, rearing and weaning — and the few things worth recording at each step so the herd's performance tells you which animals to keep.
7 min read
Finishing animals for market: the feedlot workflow
How to run animals from intake to sale — recording what you paid, weighing to track daily gain against the breed standard, spotting when each animal is market-ready, and seeing the profit per animal at sale.
6 min read
Your herd health plan: what the law fixes, and what your vet decides
Two things in a South African cattle health programme are set by regulation — the brucellosis window and, if you join the FMD scheme, a recorded vaccination plan you can be audited on. Everything else is your vet's call. Here is the difference, and why a bought-in programme is worth so little.
6 min read
Crop
The SARS diesel rebate logbook, and why claims get rejected
What a diesel refund logbook has to show, the record-keeping that gets claims thrown out, and a free template you can start with tonight.
6 min read
Spray records that survive an audit
Act 36 record-keeping, the batch number everyone skips, and why re-entry and pre-harvest interval are never the same number. Free spray register template.
7 min read
Contractor or your own machine? Work it out per hectare
How to compare loonwerk against running your own machine honestly — including the costs your own column always leaves out. Free comparison template.
6 min read
Where your crop is after harvest — delivered is not sold
Silo certificates, storage costs, and the difference between grain that has left the farm and grain you have been paid for. Free tracking template.
5 min read
Compliance
The FMD vaccination register: what SA farmers must record
South Africa's foot-and-mouth disease scheme requires digital vaccination records. Here is what a vaccination register generally must contain, and how to keep one that survives an audit.
6 min read
What a dipping register must contain
A dipping register proves you treated animals for ticks correctly. Here are the fields it generally needs and how to keep one that passes inspection.
5 min read
The movement register: recording animal movements in SA
Every time animals move on or off your farm it must be recorded. Here is what a movement register generally needs, and why traceability matters so much during a disease outbreak.
5 min read
Treatment records & withdrawal periods before slaughter
If you treat an animal with medicine, you must not slaughter or sell it for meat or milk until the withdrawal period has passed. Here is how to record treatments so you never breach it.
5 min read
Keeping a wool clip record for Cape Wools
Wool growers need a clip record for every shearing — date, classer, numbers and clip detail. Here is what it should contain and why it matters for the sale of your wool.
4 min read