How to Track Crops in Livestock Manager

Grow crops as well as keep animals? Livestock Manager tracks them too. Switch on crop tracking, start a planting with its crop, variety and land, and file what it costs. Each crop then shows its own income, expense and balance, right beside your animal batches.

Who it's for: mixed farms that grow maize, beans, vegetables or any other crop alongside their animals. Plan: crop tracking costs nothing extra on any plan, but each planting counts as a batch (Starter allows 2, Growth 10), and on Starter its costs count toward the 30 transactions a month. Time: about 3 minutes for a planting.

What you need first

• The owner or manager role on the farm. Only they see Farm Settings, where crops are switched on.
• Room in your plan's batch limit. A planting is a batch, so it takes one of your plan's batches, the same as a flock or herd. See how to create a livestock batch for the limits.

Step-by-step

Step 1: Turn crops on

On the Home screen, tap More. Scroll to Farm Settings and switch on Track crops. That is the whole setup.

Step 2: Plant a crop

Crops live with your batches. Tap Batches at the bottom of the app, then New Batch, and choose New planting.

• Crop: tap it and type to find yours, such as Tomato. Not in the list? Choose Other and type its name.
• Variety: pick one you have planted before, or tap Create variety, type it, such as Rio Grande, and tap Save.
• Batch name: the app writes one for you from the variety, or the crop, and the month, such as Rio Grande - Oct 2026. Change it if you like.
• Planting date: today, unless you planted earlier.
• Area planted and Unit: how much land, such as 0.5 Acres. Hectares, square metres and square feet are there too.
• Under Add details, set Grown for: Sale, Home use, Animal feed, Seed, Processing or Other. An expected harvest date, a seed supplier and a note are optional.

Tap Start planting. Your crop opens, with its land, variety and what it is grown for.

Step 3: File what it costs

The crop's money lives on its own page. Tap Finances, then Add Transaction. The form already has your crop under Select Batch.

Tap Expense, then choose a Category, such as Seeds & Seedlings. Bought three packets of seed at $4.50 each? Enter 3 in Number of units and 4.5 in Cost per unit. The app works out the total, $13.50, for you. Tap Save expense.

Filing a cost from the Finances tab instead? Pick the crop under Select Batch, or the cost will not show on the crop.

Step 4: See where it stands

The expense is filed on the crop: its Balance is now -$13.50. Back in Batches, every crop shows its crop, area planted, variety and what it is grown for, with its own Income, Expense and Balance. When you sell some of it, file the sale as Income on the crop the same way, and the balance shows what the crop has made.

For more on recording money, see our income and expenses lesson. Every lesson is also on our lessons page, in order.

Common mistakes

• Filing crop costs without picking the crop. A cost with no batch does not show in the crop's balance. Start from the crop's own Finances page and it is filled in for you.
• One planting for the whole farm. Start one planting per field and season, such as Maize - North field, so each balance tells you what that field really made.
• Looking for Track crops as a worker. Only the owner and managers see Farm Settings. Ask them to switch it on.

Frequently asked questions

Can I track crops and livestock in the same app?

Yes. Switch on Track crops under Farm Settings in More. Your plantings then sit in Batches beside your animals, each with its own income, expense and balance.

What if my crop or variety is not in the list?

Choose Other under Crop and type the crop's name. For a variety, tap Create variety, type it and tap Save.

Does a planting count toward my batch limit?

Yes. A planting is a batch, so it counts toward your plan's batch limit: 2 on the free Starter plan and 10 on Growth.

How do I record what a crop earns?

Open the crop, tap Finances, then Add Transaction, and file the sale as Income. It adds to the crop's income and balance.

Who can switch on crop tracking?

The farm owner or a manager. Farm Settings, where Track crops sits, only shows for them.

Does switching Track crops off delete my plantings?

No. Switching it off only hides your crops. The plantings and their money stay, and switching it back on brings them back.