6 min read · Updated 24 July 2026
Step 1 — Intake: bring them in and record the cost
Animals come in either as a mob — a pen of weaners bought at auction — or one at a time. Bring the group in as a batch, or add a single animal with the day you bought it and the price you paid. That purchase price is the start of the animal's profit and loss: everything from here is measured against it.
A mob or an individual — whichever fits
You do not have to tag and track every animal individually to run a feedlot. Bring a whole pen in as a headcount, or track standout animals individually — the growth and profit picture works either way.
Step 2 — Weigh, and let the gain do the talking
Record a weight now and then. From two weights and the days between them, FarmBind works out average daily gain (ADG) — the single number that tells you whether an animal is converting feed into growth or standing still eating money. You do not need a scale reading every week; even a few weigh-ins across the finishing period reveal the trend.
Step 3 — Growth against the breed standard
A weight on its own does not tell you much — 280 kg is good for one age and breed and behind for another. FarmBind plots each animal's weights against the growth curve for its breed and age, so you get a plain read: on track, ahead, or falling behind. The standard is correct for the species, so a lamb, a kid and a calf are each judged against their own kind rather than a single generic curve.
Behind-the-curve is an early warning
An animal that drifts below its growth curve is telling you something — feed, health or parasites — while there is still time to act. Catching it early is the difference between a slow finisher and a loss.
Step 4 — Market readiness: who is ready, and when
Set the target weight you finish to, and FarmBind's planner shows you which animals have reached it, which are close, and — from their gain — roughly when the rest will get there. Instead of eyeballing the pen, you get a list of what to load now and a projected date for the rest, so you can plan the sale and the transport.
Step 5 — Sell, and see the profit per animal
Record the sale and the price. Because the purchase cost and any recorded feed and treatment costs are already on the animal or the lot, FarmBind closes the loop with a simple profit read — what it cost to buy and grow the animal against what it fetched — so you know which lots actually made money rather than assuming the busy ones did.
Work a lot from intake to sale
Bring animals in, weigh them now and then, and let FarmBind track the gain, flag the ready ones and show the profit per animal.
Start freeCommon questions
- What is average daily gain (ADG) and why does it matter?
- ADG is how many kilograms an animal puts on per day, worked out from two weights and the days between them. In a feedlot it is the number that matters most: it tells you whether an animal is growing efficiently or eating without gaining, and it is what lets you project when it will reach market weight.
- How do I know when an animal is ready for market?
- Set the target finishing weight and FarmBind shows which animals have reached it, which are close, and — from each animal's daily gain — roughly when the rest will get there. That turns 'is the pen ready?' into a list of what to load now and a projected date for the remainder.
- Do I have to tag every animal to run a feedlot?
- No. You can bring a whole pen in as a headcount and still see the lot's cost and profit, or track standout animals individually for a per-animal growth read. The workflow works at whichever level of detail suits the operation.
- Does the growth tracking work for sheep, goats and pigs?
- Yes. Each animal's weights are compared against the growth curve for its own species and breed, so a lamb, kid, calf or pig is judged against its own kind rather than a single generic standard.