Keeping Farm Records

It is easier said then done. But it is something that definitely has to be done to keep your farm and animals happy and healthy. There are many different types of records your farm or homestead needs to keep. Some records might not apply to you, it just depends on what animals/crops you are raising on your farm. Here is a list of some records that we keep and will hopefully help you decided what records you need to keep for your farm or homestead.

Income and Expenses:

This is important for taxes especially if you are set up as a farm business that needs to file taxes (make sure you get a receipt for everything you buy for the farm). But it is also interesting to see if what you are doing is costing money or making money. If you are just starting your farm business you are going to see a lot of expenses. But your income should grow through the years to where you are not seeing red all the time.

We like to separate our different animals and produce into categories and keep track of expenses and income for each. So, all the goat expenses and income are together and we can easily see profit or loss. This helps us see if one type of animals is just eating money or if we should do more of something because it sells the best.

Breeding Animals:

The gestation and care for pregnancy in animals is different. We raise cattle, goats, and rabbits and each one is so different. And when you have a lot of animals there is no way you can remember every little thing about each one. It is good to know when they are due so that you can prepare and be prepared if they have issues that you can help. The relationship for who can breed who is also important to consider and keep records of so that you know who is related and to avoid interbreeding too much.

How many offspring each type of animal has is important to keep track of, too, if you have a breeding program. In general goats have twins. If we have a doe that will only give us singles for several years she might have to relocate. If you breed rabbits and your doe only has 2 or 4 kits at a time she might not be worth her food. Rabbits normally have 5 or more.

Medical:

This may go with out saying but it is so important that I will remind you. Medical records for your animals are very important. Any medications, dewormer, bug issues, just anything write it down and date it. Even if the animal died, you can learn from your mistakes and maybe do better next time. We keep our goat records on our phones with an app so that we have access to it all the time. So if something happens we can look back and see what we did in the same or similar situation previously. Each goat has their own chart and this is where we keep track of breeding as well. Then it is all in the same place.

Animal Growth:

This may not be as important for some farms but we like to know the growth of our babies. Mainly the goats and rabbits. We raise them mostly for meat so we want them to grow good. Weigh them at certain ages and take pictures of them frequently. If a baby goat is not growing at the rate that it should we would have to look at the mama goat and see if there is something wrong with her or if it is just her genetics or maybe the buck. It's the same with the rabbits; we weigh them and see if they are on schedule for processing or not. Sometimes it is not always the mother's fault. It could be after weaning that their growth is not what it should be. And there could be many different reasons for this that you will have to consider.

Gardening:

Keep track of what kind of seeds you got, if they grew good, and if you liked how they produced. This will help you in years to come in deciding what to grow. The location, timing, and care that you gave those seeds and plants will also determine how they grow. Write that stuff down because remembering from year to year is easier said then done.

How much you grew and how much you used is another thing to keep track of when gardening. Are you wasting food and space in your garden growing something that you do not eat? Are you wasting seeds? Some seeds do last a long time but then you do not have as much of a guarantee grow. Order what you need for a year or two at a time and use the seeds within a few years.

Take pictures of your garden. How you grew different things. The trellises, the weed barrier, the growth, bug issues, watering systems (if needed), and where things were planted so you can rotate crops next year.

If you use any chemicals in your garden be sure to keep track of that as well so you do not pick stuff that will still have chemical residue on it. Fertilizers and how often you fertilized each type of plant will also be good to know. We use natural fertilizers from our animals and try to avoid chemicals in our garden.

Schedule:

Plan your schedule as much as possible. This goes for animals and gardening. Use a calendar either on your phone or an actual paper calendar to keep track of when you actually got things done. So, that next year you can look back and determine if it worked out or the date needs changed. The first few years of animal care and gardening is basically trial and error, but if you write down what and when you did certain things it will help you in creating a farm or homesteading schedule for the future. This will make your life easier later on because you have data to look back on and can make plans accordingly.