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Getting Started with FarmSentry

Complete onboarding guide from account setup through your first activity - everything you need to start tracking your farm operations

Quick Start Checklist

Create your account and log in (via Clerk authentication)
Create your first farm with basic information
Set up herds (for livestock) or fields (for crops)
Add animals or start recording crop activities
Record your first activity and explore the dashboard

In This Guide

1. Overview

Welcome to FarmSentry! This guide will walk you through setting up your account and recording your first farm activity. FarmSentry helps you track livestock, crops, activities, inventory, and tasks all in one place.

What FarmSentry Does

  • Livestock Management: Track herds, individual animals, breeding, health, and production
  • Crop Management: Monitor fields, planting, operations, and harvest yields
  • Activity Tracking: Record all farm activities with dates, costs, and photos
  • Inventory Management: Track feed, medications, seeds, and supplies
  • Task Management: Create and assign tasks with due dates and priorities
  • Analytics & Reports: View performance metrics and export data

Three Paths to Get Started

🐄 Livestock Only

Create farm → Add herds → Add animals → Record animal activities

🌾 Crops Only

Create farm → Add fields → Record crop activities (planting, operations, harvest)

🏡 Mixed Operations

Create farm → Add herds + fields → Record all activity types

Flexible Approach: FarmSentry doesn't force you through a rigid onboarding wizard. Set up what you need, when you need it. Start simple and expand as you get comfortable with the system.

2. Creating Your First Farm

After logging in, you'll see your main dashboard. If you haven't created any farms yet, you'll see a welcome screen with a "Create Farm" button.

How to Create a Farm

  1. Click the "Create Farm" button on your dashboard
  2. A dialog will appear with the farm setup form
  3. Fill in the required and optional fields (detailed below)
  4. Click "Create" to save your farm
  5. You'll be redirected to your new farm's dashboard

Required Fields

Farm Name

Give your farm a descriptive name (e.g., "Green Valley Farm", "Sunshine Ranch", "Oak Hill Orchards")

Country

Select your country from the searchable dropdown. This helps with regional defaults and weather data.

Region

Depending on your country, you'll either select from predefined regions (dropdown) or enter your region as free text.

Optional Fields

GPS Coordinates

Add your farm's location for weather data and field mapping:

  • Latitude: -90 to 90 (e.g., 40.7128)
  • Longitude: -180 to 180 (e.g., -74.0060)

Default Settings

These are pre-populated with common defaults, but you can change them now or later in settings:

  • Timezone: UTC (change to your local timezone for accurate timestamps)
  • Area Unit: Acres (or Hectares)
  • Weight Unit: kg (or metric ton)
  • Volume Unit: Liters (or gallons)

Tip: You can change all these settings later in Farm Settings → General or Farm Settings → Units. Don't worry about getting everything perfect on the first try!

3. Understanding the Dashboard

After creating your farm, you'll land on the farm dashboard - your command center for all farm operations.

Main Dashboard (All Farms)

When you first log in, you see the main dashboard showing all your farms:

  • Welcome message: "Welcome back, [Your Name]!"
  • Quick Stats: Total farms, fields, animals, and active tasks
  • Farm Cards: Click any farm to open its dashboard
  • Quick Actions: Add Field, Add Animal, New Activity, Inventory
  • Recent Activity Feed: Last 5 activities across all farms

Farm Dashboard

When you click on a specific farm, you'll see that farm's dashboard with these widgets:

1. Alerts Summary

System alerts for things like low inventory, upcoming service dates, or data issues

2. Tasks Overview

Pending tasks with counts by priority (urgent, high, medium, low)

3. Performance Metrics

Key performance indicators (KPIs) for your farm operations

4. Inventory Status

Low stock items and upcoming inventory expirations

5. Weather Widget

Current weather and forecast (requires GPS coordinates)

6. Activity Feed

Recent activities on this farm (last 10 activities)

Main Navigation

The sidebar navigation gives you access to all farm sections:

  • Dashboard: Farm overview (this page)
  • Animals: View and manage individual animals
  • Herds: Organize animals into herds/flocks
  • Fields: Manage crop fields
  • Activities: Log and view all farm activities
  • Inventory: Track supplies and equipment
  • Tasks: Create and manage farm tasks
  • Reports: Analytics and data exports
  • Settings: Configure farm preferences

Empty States: When you first create a farm, most sections will show helpful empty states with explanations and action buttons. These guide you through adding your first herd, field, or activity.

4. Setting Up Livestock Operations

For livestock farms, you'll first create herds/flocks to organize your animals, then add individual animals.

Step 1: Create Your First Herd/Flock

  1. Navigate to Herds from the sidebar
  2. Click "Add Herd" button
  3. Fill in the herd creation form:

Required Fields

  • Herd Name: e.g., "House 1 Layers", "Main Dairy Herd", "Breeding Ewes"
  • Species: Choose from:
    • 🐑 Sheep
    • 🐔 Chicken
    • 🐄 Cattle
    • 🐐 Goat
    • 🐷 Pig

Special: Chicken/Poultry Herds

When you select Chicken as the species, you'll see additional required fields:

  • Flock Type: Layer (eggs) / Broiler (meat) / Breeder (breeding)
  • Placement Date: When birds were placed in current house
  • Initial Bird Count: Number at placement
  • Expected Market Date: (Broilers) Typically 35-42 days from placement
  • Expected Laying Start: (Layers) Typically 18-20 weeks

Optional Fields (All Species)

  • Purpose: Free text describing herd purpose (e.g., "Dairy", "Beef", "Breeding", "Fattening")
  • Notes: Any additional information about this herd

Step 2: Add Animals to Your Herd

FarmSentry offers three ways to add animals, depending on your farm size and needs:

Option 1: Add Individual Animals

Best for: Small herds, breeding stock, or individually managed animals

  1. 1. Go to Animals page
  2. 2. Click "Add Animals" dropdown → "Add Individual Animal"
  3. 3. Fill in animal details:
  • Required: Tag ID (unique identifier like "A001")
  • Required: Species (auto-filled if coming from herd page)
  • Optional: Herd, Breed, Sex, Date of Birth, Approximate Age, Status, Photo, Notes

Option 2: Bulk Add (Quick Add Multiple)

Best for: Adding many animals at once with auto-generated tag IDs (up to 10,000)

  1. 1. Go to Animals page
  2. 2. Click "Add Animals" dropdown → "Bulk Add"
  3. 3. Configure bulk settings:
  • Herd: Select existing herd
  • Tag Prefix + Starting Number: e.g., "FLOCK1-" + 001 = FLOCK1-001, FLOCK1-002, etc.
  • Number of Animals: How many to create
  • Sex Distribution: All Female / All Male / Mixed (50/50) / Custom ratio
  • Breed, Date of Birth, Notes: Applied to all animals

Option 3: CSV Import

Best for: Migrating from another system or adding animals with varied details

  1. 1. Go to Animals page
  2. 2. Click "Add Animals" dropdown → "Import from CSV"
  3. 3. Download the CSV template
  4. 4. Fill in your spreadsheet with columns:
  • Required: tag_id
  • Optional: herd_id, species, breed, sex, date_of_birth, status, notes
  1. 5. Upload your CSV file
  2. 6. Review validation errors (if any)
  3. 7. Import valid rows (can skip invalid rows)

Special Note for Poultry: Individual bird tracking is optional for large flocks. All poultry activity forms (mortality, egg production, feed conversion, biosecurity, etc.) work at the flock level (herd level), not individual bird level. You can track production and health metrics without adding individual birds. See the Chicken & Poultry Guide for details.

5. Setting Up Crop Operations

For crop farms, you'll create fields to organize your land, then track planting, operations, and harvest activities for each field.

How to Create a Field

  1. Navigate to Fields from the sidebar
  2. Click "Add Field" button
  3. Fill in the field creation form
  4. Save to create your field

Required Fields

Field Name

Descriptive name like "North Field", "Block A", "Plot 5", "Hillside Vineyard"

Area

Size of the field as a decimal number (e.g., 2.5). Minimum: 0.01

Area Unit

Acres or Hectares (uses your farm default, but can be changed per field)

Status

Active (currently in use) / Fallow (resting) / Retired (no longer used)

Optional Fields

Crop & Variety

Select from your farm's crop library or create custom crops/varieties:

  • Choose existing crop or type new crop name
  • Variety dropdown updates based on crop selection
  • Can create custom varieties on the fly

Planting Date

Used to track crop stage and calculate days since planting

GPS Coordinates

Mark field location for mapping and weather data (Latitude -90 to 90, Longitude -180 to 180)

Notes

Additional information about the field (max 500 characters)

Field Organization Tips

  • Naming convention: Use consistent names (Field 1, 2, 3 or North/South/East/West)
  • Size precision: Be as accurate as possible for yield calculations
  • Subdivisions: Break large fields into smaller plots for better tracking
  • Crop rotation: Update current crop and planting date as you rotate
  • Historical data: Don't delete old fields - mark as Retired to preserve history

Next Step: Once you've created fields, you can record crop activities (planting, field operations, harvest). See the Crop Management Guide for detailed instructions on all crop activities.

6. Recording Your First Activity

Activities are the heart of FarmSentry - they track everything that happens on your farm. Let's record your first activity!

How to Access Activities

  1. Navigate to Activities from the sidebar
  2. Click "New Activity" button
  3. You'll see the activity type selection screen with two main categories:

Crop Activities (3 Types)

🌱 Planting

Record planting activities: crops, varieties, planting dates, seed source, quantities, spacing, costs

✂️ Field Operations

Log maintenance: fertilization, weeding, pruning, pest control, irrigation

📦 Harvest

Record harvest quantities, quality grades, dates, post-harvest handling

Animal Activities (6 Types)

Click the "Animal Activities" card to see these options:

🍖 Feeding

Record feed given to individual animals or herds with automatic inventory deduction

💊 Health Treatment

Document diagnosis, treatments, medications, and withdrawal periods

💉 Vaccination

Track vaccinations with automatic booster reminders

❤️ Breeding

Record heat detection, service, pregnancy checks, and expected due dates

📊 Production

Track milk, eggs, weight checks, wool, and other production metrics

🚚 Movement

Log animal movements between locations, herds, or farms for traceability

Species-Specific Activities

For species with specialized tracking needs, you can access species-specific forms:

  • Sheep (Dorper): FAMACHA scoring, shedding ability, ram BSE, lambing records
  • Cattle: Heat detection, AI timing, mastitis, calving, body condition, weaning, bull BSE, pregnancy checks, dry-off
  • Goats: FAMACHA, body condition, kidding, DHI milk testing, browse rotation, hoof trimming, buck BSE
  • Pigs: Farrowing, wean-to-estrus, boar semen, feed conversion, growth rate, gilt selection, piglet processing, sow body condition
  • Poultry: Mortality tracking, egg production, feed conversion, biosecurity zones/audits, heat stress, coccidiosis, broiler weights, molting

Learn More: Each species has a comprehensive guide covering all specialized activities. Visit the Help Center to explore guides for cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and poultry.

7. Configuring Settings & Preferences

Customize FarmSentry to match your farm's needs. Settings are accessed per farm, so each farm can have its own configuration.

How to Access Settings

  1. Navigate to Settings from the sidebar (inside a farm)
  2. Only farm Owners or Managers can access settings
  3. Choose from the available tabs

Settings Tabs

1. General Settings

  • Farm name (change after creation)
  • Country and region
  • GPS coordinates
  • Timezone (important for accurate timestamps)

2. Units Settings

  • Area Unit: Acres or Hectares
  • Weight Unit: Kilograms or Metric Tons
  • Volume Unit: Liters or Gallons

Note: Changing units affects how new activities are recorded. Existing activities retain their original units.

3. Alerts

  • Configure alert thresholds (low inventory, mortality rates, etc.)
  • Enable/disable specific alert types
  • Set alert severity levels

4. Notifications

  • Add notification recipients (email addresses)
  • Configure which events trigger notifications
  • Set notification frequency

5. Billing

  • View subscription details
  • Manage payment methods
  • View billing history

Multi-User Farms: You can invite team members to collaborate on your farm. Each team member can have different permission levels (Owner, Manager, Worker, Viewer) that control what they can see and do.

8. Next Steps & Best Practices

You've created your farm and recorded your first activity - great start! Here's how to get the most out of FarmSentry.

Building Good Habits

  • Record immediately: Log activities as soon as they happen while details are fresh
  • Start simple: Focus on essential activities first, expand as you build habits
  • Be consistent: Regular data entry is more valuable than sporadic detailed entries
  • Use photos: Visual documentation helps remember context and track changes
  • Add notes: Include observations, weather conditions, or anything unusual

Progressive Disclosure Approach

Don't feel overwhelmed by all the features. FarmSentry is designed for gradual adoption:

Week 1: Focus on farm setup and recording basic activities (feeding, health checks, or planting)

Week 2-3: Add inventory tracking for frequently used supplies

Week 4+: Explore tasks, analytics, and specialized species activities

Explore Species-Specific Guides

Each livestock species has unique management needs. Dive deeper with our comprehensive guides:

🐄 Cattle Guide

Heat detection, AI, mastitis, calving, weaning

🐑 Dorper Sheep Guide

FAMACHA, shedding ability, ram testing, lambing

🐐 Goat Guide

FAMACHA, DHI testing, kidding, browse rotation

🐷 Pig Guide

Farrowing, FCR, wean-to-estrus, boar fertility

🐔 Poultry Guide

Mortality, egg production, FCR, biosecurity

Additional Resources

🐾 Animal Activities Guide

Generic activities: feeding, health, vaccination, breeding, production, movement

🌾 Crop Management Guide

Planting, field operations, harvest tracking for all crops

Tips for Success

  • Mobile access: Use FarmSentry on your phone while in the field for immediate data entry
  • Bulk operations: Use CSV import or bulk add for large herds
  • Inventory integration: Link activities to inventory for automatic cost tracking
  • Task reminders: Create tasks for upcoming activities (vaccinations, treatments, harvests)
  • Export data: Generate reports for veterinarians, buyers, or regulatory agencies
  • Search function: Use dashboard search to quickly find animals, fields, or activities

Remember: The real value of FarmSentry comes from consistent use over time. As you build a history of data, you'll gain insights into trends, identify top performers, optimize costs, and make data-driven decisions. Your future self will thank you for the records you create today!

Questions? Visit our Help Center for more guides and resources, or use the search function in your dashboard to find what you need.