How does FarmBind decide which cow to cull?

It scores every breeding female on whether she is producing young, how regularly, how many survive to weaning, and whether she raises them herself or needs intervention. Those are combined into a ranked cull list with a plain-language reason for each animal — 'no calf yet', 'low survival', 'poor mother' — so the animals worth questioning rise to the top. The final decision stays with you.

What makes an animal a 'good mother' in the scorecard?

She carries, births and raises her young herself without costing you interventions — a pulled birth, bought milk, a fostered or hand-reared young one. It is judged against how many she can naturally rear (one for a cow, two for a ewe or doe, a litter for a sow), so healthy twins in a ewe score as ideal while triplets that force a hand-rearing count against her.

Does a cow get penalised for losing a calf to a predator or bad weather?

No. Losses outside her control — a predator, a cold snap — are removed before she is scored, so she is judged on carrying, birthing and rearing rather than on luck. A good mother who was unlucky still reads as a good mother.

Do I need to performance-record or weigh every animal to get a scorecard?

No. The scorecard is built from the everyday events you already log for your registers — matings, pregnancy checks, births, weanings and deaths. Weights make the weaning leaderboard richer, but the maternal and cull reads work without any formal performance recording.

Is this the same as breeding values (EBVs)?

No. Breeding values are statistical scores for selecting genetics across a whole breed, aimed at stud breeders who performance-record. FarmBind's reads are operational: they use the animal's own history to answer a commercial question — keep her or cull her — in plain language, for farmers who will never run a performance-recording scheme.

How FarmBind scores your breeding females — and flags the ones to cull

6 min read · Updated 24 July 2026

The idea: a decision, not a data dump

Stud-breeding software gives you estimated breeding values — statistical scores built for selecting genetics across a breed. They are powerful and they are also far more than a commercial meat farmer wants at weaning. FarmBind does the opposite: it takes the plain events you log — matings, pregnancy checks, births, weanings, deaths — and turns them into a short, honest read that ends in a decision: keep her, watch her, or cull her.

You do not have to weigh or performance-record anything

The scorecard is built from the ordinary events you already capture for your registers. If you record a pregnancy check and a birth, she is already being scored. Weights make the picture richer, but nothing here depends on formal performance recording.

1. Is she earning her keep? — the cull scorecard

Every breeding female is scored on the simplest question there is: is she producing? FarmBind looks at whether she has had young, how regularly, and how many survived, and ranks the herd so the animals to question rise to the top of your cull list. The reasons are in plain language and correct for the species:

No calf / lamb / kid yet — past the age she should have produced one.
No young in the last season or more — she has slipped out of the cycle.
Low survival — she keeps having young but they are not making it to weaning.
Poor mother — see below.

2. Is she a good mother? — the mothering read

Having young is not the same as raising them. The cow that drops a calf and rears it herself, unassisted, is worth far more than the one that needs a pulled calving, a bottle and a fostered calf every year — even if both end the season with a weaner. FarmBind scores that difference.

The measure is simple: did she raise her young herself, or did she cost you an intervention — a birth you had to assist, milk you had to buy, a lamb you had to foster onto another ewe or rear by hand? It is judged against how many young of her kind a female can normally raise on her own — one for a cow, two for a ewe or a doe, a full litter for a sow — so a ewe with healthy twins scores as an ideal mother, while triplets that force you to pull one off and hand-rear it count against her.

Bad luck is taken out

A calf taken by a jackal or lost to a freak cold snap is not her fault, so those losses are removed before she is scored. She is judged on what she can control — carrying, birthing and rearing — not on the luck of the veld. A good mother who was unlucky still reads as a good mother.

3. Which young should you keep? — the weaning leaderboard

At weaning you choose replacements. FarmBind ranks this season's young within their own group so you can see, at a glance, which heifers or ewe-lambs are at the top of the class and worth keeping back — and which are at the bottom. It ranks within the group they ran with, so a calf is compared to its own contemporaries, not to a calf raised in a different camp or season.

The bloodline carries the story

A poor mother tends to breed poor mothers. Because FarmBind links animals to their dams, a weak maternal line shows up on the pedigree — if a badly mothering ewe's daughter turns out to mother badly too, you can see the pattern in the bloodline rather than discovering it one disappointing lambing at a time. That is how you cull a problem out of the herd instead of just culling one animal.

A score is a prompt, not a verdict

The scorecard points you at the animals worth a second look; the decision stays yours. It is built to surface the passenger you would otherwise miss in the crush — not to replace your eye for an animal.

See it on your own herd

Log your matings, pregnancy checks and births — by app or WhatsApp — and FarmBind builds the cull scorecard, the mothering read and the weaning leaderboard for you.

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Common questions

How does FarmBind decide which cow to cull?: It scores every breeding female on whether she is producing young, how regularly, how many survive to weaning, and whether she raises them herself or needs intervention. Those are combined into a ranked cull list with a plain-language reason for each animal — 'no calf yet', 'low survival', 'poor mother' — so the animals worth questioning rise to the top. The final decision stays with you.
What makes an animal a 'good mother' in the scorecard?: She carries, births and raises her young herself without costing you interventions — a pulled birth, bought milk, a fostered or hand-reared young one. It is judged against how many she can naturally rear (one for a cow, two for a ewe or doe, a litter for a sow), so healthy twins in a ewe score as ideal while triplets that force a hand-rearing count against her.
Does a cow get penalised for losing a calf to a predator or bad weather?: No. Losses outside her control — a predator, a cold snap — are removed before she is scored, so she is judged on carrying, birthing and rearing rather than on luck. A good mother who was unlucky still reads as a good mother.
Do I need to performance-record or weigh every animal to get a scorecard?: No. The scorecard is built from the everyday events you already log for your registers — matings, pregnancy checks, births, weanings and deaths. Weights make the weaning leaderboard richer, but the maternal and cull reads work without any formal performance recording.
Is this the same as breeding values (EBVs)?: No. Breeding values are statistical scores for selecting genetics across a whole breed, aimed at stud breeders who performance-record. FarmBind's reads are operational: they use the animal's own history to answer a commercial question — keep her or cull her — in plain language, for farmers who will never run a performance-recording scheme.