Calving and reproduction records

A good herd reproduction-record workflow should let you record a calving as it happens, automatically track important dates, and maintain a complete reproductive history for every animal. You can do this with a livestock management app, a spreadsheet, or a combination of both.

The key is to give every animal a unique ID and link each calving, breeding, pregnancy check, and reproductive outcome to that ID.

1. Set up your herd-recording workflow

Step 1 — Create an animal register

Assign each cow or heifer a unique ID. Record its birth date or estimated age, breed, dam ID, sire ID (if known), and current status.

Step 2 — Record every calving event

As soon as practical, log the dam ID, calving date and time, calf ID, calf sex, birth weight if measured, calving ease, and whether the calf was alive at birth.

Step 3 — Track breeding and pregnancy

Log each insemination or natural-service date, bull or semen ID, pregnancy examination date and result, and expected calving date.

Step 4 — Review records and upcoming tasks

Use a daily task list for events due soon, a weekly review for missed entries, and a monthly or seasonal report for conception, calving, calf survival, and cows needing attention.

2. Choose where to store your records

These are three practical options, depending on your herd size and how much automation you want.

Option A: Excel or Google Sheets

(Best simple starting point)

Create separate tabs for animals, calvings, breeding events, and pregnancy checks. This is inexpensive, flexible, and easy to customize.

Best for small to medium herds and producers comfortable with spreadsheets.

Option B: Dedicated herd-management software

A purpose-built system can link reproduction events to individual animals, calculate due dates, and generate reminders or reports.

Examples to evaluate:

• ViFerm — offers animal histories and reproduction-event calendar calculations.viferm.org
• Cattle360 — links breeding records, pregnancy checks, expected due dates, and calf records.www.cattle360.com

Best when multiple people enter records or you want fewer manual calculations.

Option C: Paper log plus digital backup

Keep a waterproof notebook or printed calving sheet in the barn, then transfer entries into a spreadsheet at the end of each day.

Best where internet access is unreliable or staff prefer writing in the field.

For a starting system, I would use a spreadsheet unless you specifically need automatic reminders, mobile-first entry, or integrated pedigree and breeding management. University Extension guidance similarly emphasizes choosing a record system that you will consistently maintain.www.extension.umd.edu+1

3. Build four linked record tables

You can start with these four tables in a single workbook. Keep one row per animal in the animal register and one row per event in the other tables.

A. Animal register

B. Calving events

Use a consistent calving-ease scale and document its meaning. Record twins, stillbirths, assistance, weak calves, or other complications rather than leaving important outcomes out. These fields follow recommendations from South Dakota State University Extension's calving-record guide.extension.sdstate.edu

C. Breeding events

For natural service, record the bull turnout and removal dates and the group of cows exposed. For artificial insemination (AI), record each insemination date and the sire or semen identification.

D. Pregnancy checks and follow-ups

Allow results such as pregnant, open, uncertain, and recheck needed. Keep the actual examination date separate from the estimated breeding date or due date so that later corrections do not erase the original record.

4. Automate the important dates

For cattle, the average gestation length is roughly 283 days, although actual gestation varies. Use this as an estimate, not a guaranteed birth date. The University of Wisconsin–Madison Extension provides a useful beef and dairy gestation and calving-date calculator.livestock.extension.wisc.edu

A spreadsheet can calculate a provisional expected calving date from a known breeding date:

=BreedingDate+283

If your breeding date is in cell B2, use:

=B2+283

Format the result as a date. For a cow exposed to a bull over a period, the conception date may be unknown, so track an estimated due-date window instead of treating one date as exact.

Set up these reminders:

• Approaching due date: flag cows within your chosen monitoring window.
• Pregnancy follow-up: flag cows with an uncertain result or a recheck due.
• Calving record incomplete: identify events missing a calf ID, outcome, or other required field.
• Breeding follow-up: flag cows that have calved but have not been recorded as rebred, where appropriate for your breeding program.

Use conditional formatting to highlight overdue actions, and keep the animal's current reproductive status separate from its permanent event history.

5. Establish a repeatable recording routine

Daily, weekly, and seasonal checklist

of tasks checked [Reset]

6. Use the records to measure herd performance

Start with four measures:

These measures help identify cows with repeated reproductive difficulties and reveal whether breeding management needs improvement. Calculate the metrics consistently from year to year, accounting for herd additions and removals where relevant. See Mississippi State University Extension's reproductive-management guide.accessibility.extension.msstate.edu+1

Let's tailor the workflow to your herd

The best setup depends on what animals you raise and how you manage breeding. Tell me two things and I can recommend a practical setup, including a spreadsheet structure or suitable software.

1. What type of herd do you manage?

Beef cattle

Dairy cattle

Both beef and dairy

Other livestock

2. How many breeding females do you have?

1–25

26–100

101–500

More than 500

Preferred recording method

Paper records

Spreadsheet with automatic dates

Mobile app or herd-management software

[Build my herd-recording workflow]

For entering calving data right in the barn, I’d put these three at the top of the list:

Software	Barn/mobile workflow	Offline?	Calving entry	Best fit
BoviSync	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Mobile-first, cowside workflows	Check with vendor for your setup	Yes, through configurable events/workflows	Farms prioritizing fast employee data entry
DairyComp / DC on Mobile	⭐⭐⭐⭐½	Yes	Yes, via mobile event entry	DairyComp users wanting a mature system + mobile
UNIFORM-Agri	⭐⭐⭐⭐½	Yes	Yes	Farms wanting straightforward mobile herd management

My pick for the barn: BoviSync

BoviSync is particularly strong if your priority is having employees enter information immediately while they're standing beside the cow. Its platform is explicitly mobile-first, with structured, customizable workflows for cowside data capture. BoviSync says the mobile app is designed for real-time barn data entry and can be configured around a dairy's own SOPs.BoviSync+1

That matters for calving because you can build the workflow around the information you actually want recorded—rather than having someone write it on paper and enter it into the herd system later.

Very close second: DairyComp

Valley Agricultural Software's DairyComp / DC on Mobile is especially compelling if you're already a DairyComp operation. The current mobile app supports offline data entry, individual cow lookup, Bluetooth animal scanning, custom item cards, worklists, and event entry.VAS+1

The offline capability is a big deal in a barn with spotty Wi-Fi/cellular coverage. DairyComp also has a long-established event/data-entry model, so you're not buying a mobile app that's disconnected from the core herd-management system.VAS

UNIFORM-Agri

UNIFORM-Agri has one of the clearest "enter it as it happens" mobile approaches. Its app works on iOS and Android and explicitly supports entering events offline and syncing later.UNIFORM-Agri+1

If you're managing beef rather than dairy, UNIFORM's beef app is particularly relevant: its documented mobile actions include calving, pregnancy checks, weights, health/treatments, weaning, movements, etc., with dedicated calving action lists.Google Play

What I'd test in a demo

Don't judge these primarily from the dashboard. Have the salesperson hand you a phone and simulate:

1. Find cow #1234.
2. Record calving date/time.
3. Enter calf sex, number of calves, and calf ID.
4. Record ease of calving.
5. Enter calf birth weight, if applicable.
6. Record assistance/treatment.
7. Move immediately to the next fresh cow.
8. Repeat all of that with no internet connection.

The winner is the one where a tired person wearing gloves can do that quickly with minimal typing and searching.

If you tell me whether you're running a dairy or beef operation, approximate herd size, and what system you're using now (DairyComp, PC Dart, BoviSync, UNIFORM, etc.), I can narrow this down to the 2–3 apps I'd actually demo and compare their calving screens/workflows.