Ranch Smarter
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How to use Ranch Smarter

Step-by-step for every tool. The same guides are in the app under the ? button.

Putting the app on your iPhone

  1. Open Safari on your iPhone and go to the Ranch Smarter address you were sent.
  2. Tap the Share button (the square with the arrow), then Add to Home Screen, then Add.
  3. From then on, open it from the Ranch Smarter icon on your home screen.
  4. The first time, a quick tour shows you around. Then tap the gear for Settings to set your ranch name and location.
Getting startedReading an ear tagVoice notesCow recordsMap and fence repairsFlashlight, compass and levelPoint me to itAfter you snap a tagInventory and low stockCalendarQuick add manySample herd health programSale barns and slaughter plants near meAlertsFinding a toolCompare my barnsSprayer tank mixShot calculatorSprayer calibration (gallons per acre)Due date & next heatRanch crew (owner)Ranch crew (ranch hand)Synch schedulesFlushes & transfersSemen & embryo tankShots and the sick penVaccine planFly & dewormer rotationSpray recordsMy productsFeed & hayWeatherCattle pricesCost per headRemindersReports & exportMy breedsSettings, backup and alertsCattle guides

Getting started

  1. Tap Settings (gear on the Home screen) and enter your ranch name and your name.
  2. Tap “Use where I’m standing now” to set the ranch location for weather and the map.
  3. Tap “Download for offline use” on Wi-Fi so the tag reader and maps work with no signal.
  4. Add cattle with the orange camera (snap a tag) or Herd → + Add.

Reading an ear tag

  1. Tap the orange camera button at the bottom.
  2. Make sure “Cow tag” is picked, then tap “Snap the ear tag” and take the photo.
  3. The number shows at the top — tap it if it’s right, or type the tag if not.
  4. If she isn’t in your herd yet, tap Add — her photo comes along.
  5. Add a note or talk one in, then tap Save.

Voice notes

  1. Open a cow (snap her tag or pick her in Herd) and tap Note.
  2. Tap the orange mic and talk. Tap it again to stop.
  3. Say things like “temp 104.5”, “weighed 1,150”, “in heat”, “open”, “cull her” or “check again Monday” — the app files each one and sets reminders.
  4. Tap Save note.

Cow records

  1. Tap Herd and pick a cow, or search by tag.
  2. The tabs at the top show Overview, Health, Breeding, Weights, Notes and Costs.
  3. Use the buttons in each tab to log a weight, breeding, preg check, calving, vaccine or cost.
  4. The estimated calving date shows on the Breeding tab once she’s bred or checked pregnant.

Map and fence repairs

  1. On the camera screen pick Fence, snap the break and tap “Add to fence repair list”.
  2. Open Map to see every pin. Tap the list button for the repair list.
  3. Tap a pin for directions, or “Mark fixed” and add a photo when it’s done.
  4. Draw pastures on the Map to track rain, mineral and which cattle are in each one.

Flashlight, compass and level

  1. Tools → Phone tools.
  2. Flashlight: tap the big button. The first time, tap Allow so the app can reach the camera light. Leaving the screen turns it off. If your phone won’t allow it, use “Use the screen as a light instead”.
  3. Compass: tap “Turn on compass” and Allow. Hold the phone flat, away from trucks, tractors and steel gates.
  4. Level: tap “Turn on level” and Allow. Lay the phone flat for the bubble, or stand it on its edge against a board or post. It turns green when it’s level.
  5. If your case makes the level read a little off, set the phone on something you know is level and tap “Set this as level”. Reset puts it back.

Point me to it

  1. Open Map and tap any pin — a fence break, water, a gate — then tap “Point me to it”. For a missing cow, open her record and tap “Point me to her”.
  2. Tap “Turn on compass” and Allow the first time.
  3. Hold the phone flat in front of you. The orange arrow points the way to go; turn until it points straight up and walk.
  4. The distance counts down as you get closer. When you get there tap “I’m here” to open the pin and mark it fixed.
  5. Need to drive there instead? Tap Directions to open Apple Maps.

After you snap a tag

  1. Snap the ear tag. The number it reads goes in the Tag number box.
  2. Check it against the photo. Tap “Yes, that’s her” — or “Fix it” and type the right number.
  3. Her photo is saved to her record as soon as you confirm.
  4. Use the quick buttons — Cull list, Treat, Vaccine, Weigh, Preg check, Bred / heat, Move, Temp, Missing, Calved, Sold / Died — or talk a note and tap Save.
  5. Say “cull”, “ship her” or “sell her” in a note and she goes on the cull list too.

Inventory and low stock

  1. Open Tools → Inventory, or any product in My products.
  2. Fill in “How much you have”, what it’s counted in (mL, doses, tags…) and “Warn me when it gets down to”.
  3. Add supplies like CIDRs, ear tags, OB sleeves and needles with “+ Add a supply”.
  4. Giving a dose, logging a vaccine or saving a spray takes it off for you. Use “− Used some” and “+ Bought more” for everything else.
  5. Low and expiring items show on Today. Tap “Order list” to text or email what you need.

Calendar

  1. The strip under the green band on Home is this week. Dots mean there are jobs that day — tap a day to see them.
  2. Tap Month (or Tools → Calendar) for the whole month.
  3. Red = shots, orange = breeding and synch steps, blue = vaccines and crew jobs, green = reminders.
  4. Tap a job to open it.

Quick add many

  1. Herd → Quick add many.
  2. Type or paste your tags. A dash adds a run: 101-160 adds 60 head. Commas, spaces or new lines between tags all work.
  3. Pick what they are, the pasture, the breed and the year born if you know it.
  4. Check the count, then tap Add. Tags already in your herd are skipped.

Sample herd health program

  1. Tools → Vaccine plan → Sample herd health program. It is a sample only — talk to your local veterinarian to set up the program for your herd.
  2. Read the yearly program from Dr. Riley Messman and the new-cattle protocol.
  3. Tap “Add the yearly program to my Vaccine plan” — each shot shows up on Today in its month and repeats every year.
  4. Bought new cattle? Tap “Start the new-cattle protocol” for their arrival shots and the 14-day watch.
  5. Enter each product’s dose from its label in My products. Talk to your veterinarian about what fits your herd.

Sale barns and slaughter plants near me

  1. Tools → Near me (also in Cattle prices).
  2. From: My ranch measures from your saved ranch location. Where I am now uses the phone’s GPS — handy when you’re hauling or away.
  3. Sale barns: USDA-reported barns by distance. Tap + Add to my barns to follow its sale report and compare it; ✓ My barn opens its prices.
  4. USDA doesn’t list barn phone numbers: tap + Phone once, type the number (or Look it up), and it becomes a Call button.
  5. USDA slaughter plants: federally inspected plants from the USDA directory, updated weekly. Leave “Cattle only” on to see plants that took cattle in the past year.
  6. Pick 50, 100 or 200 miles. Tap Call, Directions or Show on map.
  7. State-inspected and custom-exempt processors aren’t in the federal list — ask around locally too.
  8. Show on map opens the map with a Back to Near me bar at the top.
  9. On the Map, the Sale barns and Plants switches show what you last looked at here.

Alerts

  1. Tools → Alerts lists every alert you have. Flip its switch to turn it on or off. Tap it to change its setting (how many days, what temperature) or remove it.
  2. Tap + New alert to add one: Calving watch, Withdrawal clear, Time to move cattle, Heat or freeze warning, Rain coming, Running low, Tank nitrogen, Cattle price or Breakeven.
  3. Herd and supply alerts buzz at the alert time set in Settings. Weather alerts buzz the evening before, using the forecast from the last time you opened the app.
  4. Price and breakeven alerts: pick steers, heifers or cows and a weight. Breakeven fills in your price from Cost per head. The server checks new USDA sale reports every few hours.
  5. Lock-screen alerts must be on (Settings → Alerts). “Sent to you” at the bottom lists what was sent.

Finding a tool

  1. Type in the search box at the top of Tools — everyday words work, like “wormer”, “hay” or “shots”. It searches the how-to guides too.
  2. Tap a section to open it. The app remembers which ones you leave open.
  3. Press and hold any tool to pin it to My tools at the top, or tap Edit to pick them. Press and hold again to unpin.
  4. On any long screen, the round ↑ button takes you back to the top.

Compare my barns

  1. Cattle prices → Compare my barns (shows once you have 2 or more barns).
  2. Pick Steers, Heifers or Cows, then a weight.
  3. Price high → low ranks your barns by what that weight brought on their latest USDA report. Closest sorts by miles.
  4. ▲▼ is the change from that barn’s sale before. Sales over 2 weeks old are marked and drop to the bottom.
  5. Tap a barn to see its full report.
  6. Tap “Alert me” at the bottom to get a push when that weight hits your price.

Sprayer tank mix

  1. Pick your sprayer under “Which sprayer?” and its tank size and gallons per acre fill in. No sprayer saved yet? Tap “+ Add a sprayer” or “Not sure? Find my number”.
  2. Pick a saved chemical, or leave it on “Not saved” and type the label rate.
  3. The green box shows how much product goes in each full tank.
  4. Enter the acres to see how many loads, then check the spray window before you go.
  5. Tap “Save to spray log” when you’re done.

Shot calculator

  1. Choose “A saved product” if you’ve saved the drug with its label rate, or “I’ll type the label rate”.
  2. Enter the label rate in mL per 100 lb and, if the label gives one, the most mL in one spot.
  3. Enter the animal’s weight.
  4. The box shows how many mL to give and how many spots to split it into.
  5. The app never suggests a dose — check every dose against the label or your vet.

Sprayer calibration (gallons per acre)

  1. Tools → Sprayer calibration, or “+ Add a sprayer” in Tank mix. Pick a way.
  2. Catch test (boom sprayers): tap your nozzle spacing, drive at spraying speed so the phone reads your speed, then catch one nozzle for 30 seconds while the phone times it. Pour it in a measuring cup and type ounces, cups or mL.
  3. Spray and refill (ATV, boomless, spot sprayers): type your spray width, fill to a gallon mark on the tank (or time your hose with a 5-gallon bucket), tap Start and spray like normal with the phone on the seat. Stops don’t count; tap Pause while turning with the sprayer off. Then read the lower mark, or time the refill.
  4. Save the sprayer with a name and tank size. From then on Tank mix just asks “Which sprayer?”.
  5. Changed nozzles or pressure? Tap ⋯ next to the sprayer and Re-test it. The app also reminds you once a year.

Due date & next heat

  1. Pick whether she was bred AI, by ET, or by the bull.
  2. Enter the breeding date.
  3. You’ll see the estimated calving date, her next expected heat (21 days) and when to preg check.

Ranch crew (owner)

  1. Settings → Ranch crew → enter your ranch name and tap “Set up my ranch crew”.
  2. Tap “Text the invite” and send the code to each ranch hand.
  3. When they join, tap their name to choose what they can see and do — or tap a preset: Everything, or Fences & jobs.
  4. Tap “+ Give a job” (here or on your Today screen) to send someone a job. You’ll see when they check it off.
  5. Repairs they fix, notes, doses and rain they log show up in your records automatically, with their name and the time.

Ranch crew (ranch hand)

  1. Get the invite code from the ranch owner.
  2. Settings → Join a ranch → type the code and your name.
  3. Your Today screen shows your jobs, shots due, fence repairs and missing cows.
  4. Tap Done or Given as you go. Mark fence repairs fixed with an after photo.
  5. No signal? Keep working — your changes send themselves when you’re back in range. Tap Refresh to check for new work.

Synch schedules

  1. For donor stimulation, recipient synch and 7 & 7 Synch, enter one date and the app fills in the whole schedule with doses — then tap “Start this schedule”.
  2. Tap “+ Start a group”, pick the protocol (7-day CO-Synch + CIDR, ET recipient, donor superovulation and more) and the start date.
  3. Pick the cows in the group.
  4. Every step shows up on the Home screen on the right day — tap “Mark done” as you go.
  5. Tap “Add to iPhone Calendar” to put the steps on your calendar too.
  6. Copy a protocol to change the days or drugs to match your vet’s plan.

Flushes & transfers

  1. Record a flush: pick the donor, the sire, and how many embryos by grade.
  2. Frozen embryos go straight into your Semen & embryo tank inventory.
  3. Log each transfer on the recipient — preg checks then give you your pregnancy rate.

Semen & embryo tank

  1. Add each bull’s semen or each set of embryos with the canister and count.
  2. Tap − to take one out and say what it was for: breeding a cow (type her tag and it goes on her record), a bad straw, sold, or something else. + adds one. Tap the pencil on a line to see its history, and undo the last one if you made a mistake.
  3. Tap “Filled it today” when you fill the tank — the app reminds you when the next fill is due.

Shots and the sick pen

  1. Tap “Give a shot” on Home, or open the cow and tap Start treatment.
  2. Pick the drug, enter the dose from the label or your vet, how many doses and how many hours apart.
  3. Tap “I just gave the first dose” — the next doses are scheduled and show on Home.
  4. In the Sick pen, tap “Give dose” when each one is due. The withdrawal date is worked out for you.

Vaccine plan

  1. Add each vaccine you give, who gets it and the booster interval.
  2. When you vaccinate, tap “Mark done”. Everyone in the group starts ticked — untick any you missed, then Save. The ones you missed stay on the plan as “still need it” until you give it to them or skip them.
  3. The next due date shows on the Home screen.

Fly & dewormer rotation

  1. Each time you use a fly product or dewormer, log it here.
  2. The app warns you if you’re using the same class again, so pests don’t build resistance.

Spray records

  1. Every tank you save from Sprayer tank mix lands here with the date, product, rate, acres and weather.
  2. Tap Export for a spreadsheet you can keep or hand to your co-op.

My products

  1. Save the drugs, vaccines, dewormers, fly products and chemicals you use.
  2. Enter the label rate and withdrawal days once — the calculators fill them in for you after that.

Feed & hay

  1. Add each feed with how much you have and how much you feed a day.
  2. Tap “− Fed” or “+ Got more” to keep it current. The days-left number turns red when you’re running low.

Weather

  1. Set your ranch location once in Settings.
  2. You’ll see the forecast, the spray window, heat stress and cold alerts, and frost warnings for sorghum pastures.

Cattle prices

  1. Tap “+ Add barn” and search for the sale barns you sell at.
  2. Tap a barn to see its latest USDA report — steers and heifers by weight.
  3. Use “What are mine worth?” to price your own cattle off that report.
  4. National reports are at the bottom.

Cost per head

  1. Costs you log on cows (vet, breeding, drugs) and herd-wide costs (feed, hay) add up here.
  2. See the year’s total and the cost per head.

Reminders

  1. Type what you need to remember and pick the date and time.
  2. Reminders show on the Home screen when they’re due.
  3. Tap “Add these to my iPhone Calendar” to get alerts from your calendar too.

Reports & export

  1. Tap a report to get a spreadsheet that opens in Excel or Numbers.
  2. For a PDF, open the printable summary, tap Print, then pinch out on the preview and share it.

My breeds

  1. Settings → My breeds.
  2. Tap a breed below to add it, or type any breed or cross and tap Add.
  3. Use the arrows to move the ones you use most to the top. They show first when you add an animal.

Settings, backup and alerts

  1. Set your ranch name, location and offline download here.
  2. Back up every so often and save the file to iCloud Drive or email it to yourself.
  3. Notifications: allow them once so the badge shows on the app icon, and switch lock-screen alerts on or off.

Cattle guides

  1. Quick references for heat detection, the AM/PM rule, gestation, vitals, body condition, embryos, thawing, frost and spraying.

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