What should I record during the breeding season?

The joining (mating) and its date, the pregnancy check (who is in calf and, where you can, how many), the birth and whether it needed assistance, how the young were reared (herself, fostered, hand-reared or lost, with the reason), and weaning. Those few captures are what let FarmBind flag empty females early and give you a keep-or-cull read on every mother at weaning.

Can I record a group joined to more than one bull or ram?

Yes. A multi-sire group is normal commercially, and FarmBind lets you record a group joined to one or more sires rather than forcing a single mating pair — which keeps paternity honest instead of guessing which sire served which female.

Why record whether a birth was assisted or a young one was fostered?

Because raising young is what separates a good mother from an expensive one. A female that needs a pulled birth or a fostered calf every year costs you money and risk. Recording those interventions is what lets the pattern show up in her mothering read — and, over generations, in her bloodline — instead of being forgotten by the next season.

Does this work for sheep and goats, not just cattle?

Yes. The cycle and the reads apply to cattle, sheep and goats (and the litter-bearing logic extends to pigs), with the wording and the expected litter size correct for each — twins are ideal for a ewe or doe, a single for a cow, a full litter for a sow.

The breeding season, step by step: from joining to weaning

7 min read · Updated 24 July 2026

Step 1 — Who is ready to join

The cycle starts by deciding which females go to the sire. Maiden heifers and ewes need to be old and grown enough; cows and ewes that have just weaned need to have recovered condition. FarmBind flags who is ready to join so you are not putting an animal to the bull too early or before she has recovered from her last young.

Step 2 — Joining (mating)

Put the group with the sire and record the mating. A single female can be recorded to one sire; a whole group can be joined to one or more sires at once — a multi-sire group is normal on commercial farms, and recording it that way keeps the paternity honest rather than pretending you know which bull served which cow.

The mating date sets everything downstream

From the joining date FarmBind works out when pregnancy checking is due and roughly when calving or lambing will fall, so the rest of the season's reminders line up on their own.

Step 3 — Pregnancy check (scanning)

Some weeks after joining you check what is in calf or in lamb. Record who is pregnant — and, where you can, how many she is carrying. That count matters later: a ewe scanned for twins that raises twins is doing exactly her job; a ewe scanned for triplets is a heads-up that you may have a foster or a hand-reared lamb coming.

The females that come back empty are the first names on your cull list — recorded now, while you are already handling them, not reconstructed months later.

Step 4 — Birth

Record the birth, and whether you had to assist it. An assisted birth is not just a note for the day — a female that needs help calving or lambing, year after year, is a cost and a risk, and recording it is what lets that pattern show up in her mothering read instead of being forgotten by next season.

Step 5 — Rearing: did she raise them herself?

This is the step most records skip, and it is the one that separates a good mother from an expensive one. Record how the young were actually reared:

Raised by their own mother — the outcome you want.
Fostered onto another female — note which female accepted them, so the credit goes to the ewe or cow that actually did the rearing while the bloodline stays true to the real dam.
Hand-reared — you carried the cost of bottle and milk.
Lost, and why — separating bad luck (a predator, the weather) from the mother's own failure (no milk, rejection).

Why the foster detail is worth the extra second

Recording that another ewe accepted and reared a lamb does two things at once: it gives that ewe the credit for being a willing foster mother, and it keeps the lamb's true parentage on its real dam — so neither the mothering read nor the bloodline is thrown off by the swap.

Step 6 — Weaning

At weaning the young come off their mothers and, if you weigh them, rank against their group on the weaning leaderboard — the top of the class are your replacement candidates. Weaning also closes the loop on each mother: how many she started with, how many she raised, and how much help it took.

Step 7 — The read, then round again

With the season recorded, FarmBind gives you the keep-or-cull read on every female — earning her keep, good mother, or one to question — and you rebreed the keepers. The whole point of capturing those few things along the way is that this decision is waiting for you at the end, instead of being a guess in the crush.

Run your next season on it

Record joinings, pregnancy checks, births and weanings by app or WhatsApp, and let the herd tell you which females to keep.

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Common questions

What should I record during the breeding season?: The joining (mating) and its date, the pregnancy check (who is in calf and, where you can, how many), the birth and whether it needed assistance, how the young were reared (herself, fostered, hand-reared or lost, with the reason), and weaning. Those few captures are what let FarmBind flag empty females early and give you a keep-or-cull read on every mother at weaning.
Can I record a group joined to more than one bull or ram?: Yes. A multi-sire group is normal commercially, and FarmBind lets you record a group joined to one or more sires rather than forcing a single mating pair — which keeps paternity honest instead of guessing which sire served which female.
Why record whether a birth was assisted or a young one was fostered?: Because raising young is what separates a good mother from an expensive one. A female that needs a pulled birth or a fostered calf every year costs you money and risk. Recording those interventions is what lets the pattern show up in her mothering read — and, over generations, in her bloodline — instead of being forgotten by the next season.
Does this work for sheep and goats, not just cattle?: Yes. The cycle and the reads apply to cattle, sheep and goats (and the litter-bearing logic extends to pigs), with the wording and the expected litter size correct for each — twins are ideal for a ewe or doe, a single for a cow, a full litter for a sow.