Getting Started Guide

Welcome to FarmCloud Beta!

Hi there! Thanks for trying out FarmCloud. We've built these tools to make mating season just a little bit smoother for NZ dairy farmers. This guide will walk you through how our first two apps—Sired and Mated—connect and work together.

How the apps connect

Think of it like this: Sired is where you make your plans, and Mated is where you record the daily action.

• Sired helps you before and during mating to pick the best bulls and assign them to your cows.
• Mated handles your day-to-day recording in the shed, replacing the old paper mating book.

Key Scenarios

Every farm runs things a bit differently, so we've designed the apps to be flexible depending on how you do your AI.

• Using the same bull for most cows today?
  No worries. When you open Mated, just set a "default bull" for the day. It will automatically pre-fill the list for you, saving you a heap of typing.
• Got a specific bull picked out for a specific cow?
  Sort this out in Sired first. When you assign a bull to a cow in Sired, Mated will automatically show that specific assigned bull for that cow when her time comes.
• What if I mix both?
  If you've got a daily default set in Mated, but a cow has a specific assignment in Sired, the Sired assignment takes priority. The app will make sure the right cow gets the right bull.
• Can I use Mated without Sired?
  Absolutely. If you haven't assigned anything in Sired, Mated works perfectly fine on its own. Just set your default bull for the day, or manually pick the bull for each cow as you go.

Pro Tips (Avoiding Headaches)

To make sure you get the most out of the apps and don't end up throwing your hands in the air, keep these things in mind:

• Shed Setup: Mated works best when you have a tablet set up right next to where you load the straws. This keeps your hands free and makes it easy to check assignments or record matings on the fly.
• No "Undo" after Confirming: When you finish your day in Mated and hit confirm, the app automatically deducts the straws from your inventory and locks in the records. This cannot be easily undone. You can edit any cow's assigned bull before you confirm, but always double-check the list before locking it in!
• Data Syncing: Keep in mind that both apps rely on your imported herd data. If a cow isn't showing up, make sure your initial herd list is fully up-to-date.