In order to practice data based farming, you must use a farm records app of one sort or the other. The age of guesstimating your farming business is long gone. Smart farming requires you to make data informed farming decisions.
Importantly, remember that your farm is a business in its own right. Therefore, to run your farming business successfully, you need to use some farm management and record keeping app. We will go via a number of benefits that you get from doing so below.
Farming itself is also increasingly becoming scientific. That is, in order to have continued high yields, it is necessary to make data informed farming decisions. As a result, using a farm records app will put you at the forefront of modern farming.
What is a farm records app?
A farm records app is an app that you can download to your smartphone to use to manage your farm. In addition, to managing your farm, a farm records app will support you in keeping farm records.
Farm records apps come in different shapes and sizes. As it were. On the one hand you have simple apps that do one thing, and on the other, apps that pack lots of features that can be useful.
Benefits of using farm records app
As a farmer or a farm manager, there are several benefits you can accrue from using a farm records app. Below we look at a few.
1. Simplify farm management
The first benefit you will accrue from using a farm records app is that it will do a lot of heavy lifting for you. That is, it will simplify farm management significantly. As a result you will have more time to focus on optimising actual farm practices to increase output.
Take Kukufarm poultry app for instance. The app helps you manage your coops, flocks, poultry systems, and co-farmers. In so doing, the app literally makes farm management a breeze.
You can, in a jiffy, look at your farm in the app and understand exactly what is happening and what needs to happen.
2. Keep farming business records
All farming apps provide you with functionality necessary for keeping farm records. Such records might include sales and expenses, farm inputs, harvest details, and treatment schedules and activities.
Essentially, a farm records app supports you in capturing and keeping a snapshot of farm activities and performance.
3. Practice data based farming
Once you’re using a farm records app, you will start accumulating farm performance data. As a result, it will become very easy for you to understand your farm outputs in relation to your farming practices and farm inputs.
In other words, a farm records app will enable to understand farm performance over time, and will make it easier for you understand how you can further optimise things.
Kukufarm for instance enables you to view flock performance by day, week, month and all time. This gives poultry farmers a very good picture of what happens in their farm.
Moreover, using that data, you can make data informed farming decisions. This in our opinion is the holy grail of modern farming; using farm data to optimise farm performance and outputs.
Types of farm apps
In this section, we list some farming apps by type. Note that save for Kukufarm, we do not and cannot speak to the usability of these apps. Additionally, we have no affiliations with listed apps.
We expect you will carry out your due diligence when selecting what apps may be suitable for your farm. In case you’re into poultry farming, we had a 5 point criteria for selecting a good app. Furthermore, you can apply the criteria to other kinds of farming apps.
Livestock management apps
FYI there are dozens if not hundreds of farming apps on Google Play, AppStore and App Gallery. We recommend that you checkout all apps from those stores so you can make an informed decision for your farm. Nonetheless, here are a few that make our shortlist.
| App | Specialisation |
|---|---|
| Livestock management apps on GOOGLE PLAY | |
| Kukufarm | Poultry management |
| My cattle manager | Cattle management |
| Livestock manager | Livestock management |
| Everbreed | Rabbit management |
| PigProX | Pig management |
| Poultry feed formulation | Poultry feed formula |
| My goat manager | Goat management |
| Livestock management apps on APP STORE | |
| My piggery manager | Pig management |
| iLivestock software | Livestock management |
| Breedr livestock | Livestock breeding management |
| Kukufarm | Poultry management |
| Cattlytics | Cattle management |
Crop management apps
| App | Specialisation |
|---|---|
| Crop management apps on APP STORE | |
| Smart farm | Crop management |
| Crop wise sustainability | Self monitoring of farm sustainability |
| Tarspotter | Corn tar prediction and management |
| Soybean replant calculator | Crop yield prediction |
| Crop nutrient advisor | Crop nutrient deficiency identification |
| Folimatch | Fertiliser requirement calculator |
| Crop management apps on GOOGLE PLAY | |
| Farmable | Orchards and vineyards |
| Crop monitoring | Crop farming and reporting |
| Agurotech | Soil health management |
| Map my crop | Satellite based crop management |
| Vegetable garden planner | Crop management |
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Let us know if you would like a more in depth look at farming apps. While you’re here, you may be interested in our comparison of poultry farming apps. You can also dive in into Google Play or App Store and see what farming apps are there.