Setup

The Setup tab is where you configure everything BlackCow needs to know about your operation — your farms, paddocks, weather stations, contacts, and product libraries. Most of this you set up once and rarely need to change.

Farm setup

Start here when you first set up BlackCow. You need at least one farm before you can enter stock numbers, mobs, or records.

1. In Setup, tap Farms.
2. Tap Add Farm.
3. Enter the farm name (e.g. "Jilliby" or "Cooks"), your Property Identification Code (PIC), and the approximate property size in hectares.
4. Optionally upload a farm map image — this is the aerial or sketch map that appears in the Mobs tab as the background for your mob pins.
5. Tap Save.

Your PIC is the unique code issued by your state agriculture department for each livestock property. It's used in NLIS transactions and movement documents. If you don't know yours, check your last agent's invoice or contact your state department.

Paddocks

Paddocks are the building blocks of your farm map — they're the individual fenced areas that cattle graze in. You need paddocks set up before you can assign mobs to locations.

1. In Setup, tap Paddocks.
2. Select which farm you're adding paddocks to.
3. Tap Add Paddock.
4. Enter the paddock name — use the same name you actually call it on the farm ("Home paddock", "Back paddock", "River flat", "No. 4").
5. Optionally draw the paddock boundary on the farm map by tapping the outline on the map image.
6. Enter the paddock size in hectares if known.
7. Tap Save.

Once paddocks are created, they appear in the dropdown menus throughout the app — when creating mobs, logging calf records, recording marking seasons, and so on.

Weather stations

Set up your weather data sources here. BlackCow supports two types:

BOM (Bureau of Meteorology)

Enter the 6-digit station number for the nearest BOM automatic weather station. Find your nearest station at bom.gov.au/climate/data. BOM data updates every 10 minutes through BlackCow's background service.

Weather Underground (WU)

If you have a personal weather station reporting to Weather Underground, enter your station ID and WU API key. Your station ID looks like "INSW1234" or "IQLD567". Your API key is available at wunderground.com under Account → API Keys (free for personal station owners).

You can connect one of each type. See Weather for a full explanation of how each data source works.

Contacts

Store the details for the people and businesses you deal with regularly — vets, livestock agents, contractors, stock and station suppliers.

1. In Setup, tap Contacts.
2. Tap Add Contact.
3. Enter the name, role (vet, agent, contractor, etc.), phone number, and email.
4. Add any notes — their area of expertise, preferred contact method, last job they did for you.
5. Tap Save.

Contacts are available across the app — you can link a contact to an event, a treatment record, or a purchase. It's also just a handy place to keep numbers you don't want to rely on your phone contacts for.

Weed library

The weed library is a list of the weed species on your property. These are used when you're recording weed patches on the farm map and planning spray programs.

1. In Setup, tap Weed Library.
2. Tap Add Weed.
3. Enter the weed name — use the common name you know it by (e.g. "Lantana", "Boxthorn", "Scotch thistle", "Bathurst burr").
4. Optionally add the scientific name and any notes on distribution or treatment history.
5. Tap Save.

Once weeds are in the library, you can mark patches on the farm map and link spray events to specific weed species. This builds a picture of where your problem areas are and whether your control program is working.

Spray profiles

A spray profile is a saved combination of chemical product, rate, and application method. Creating profiles for your common spray mixes means you don't have to re-enter the details every time you record a spray event.

1. In Setup, tap Spray Profiles.
2. Tap Add Profile.
3. Give the profile a name — e.g. "Lantana knockdown" or "Broadleaf mix".
4. Enter the chemical products, rates (L/ha or g/ha as appropriate), and application method (boom, knapsack, helicopter, etc.).
5. Add WHP/ESI information if applicable — some herbicides have grazing withholding periods.
6. Tap Save.

Fertiliser products

Build a library of the fertiliser products you use. Similar to spray profiles — create the product once, then select it when logging a fertiliser job rather than typing the same thing every time.

1. In Setup, tap Fertiliser Products.
2. Tap Add Product.
3. Enter the product name (e.g. "Urea", "Single Superphosphate", "MAP") and analysis (N-P-K values).
4. Tap Save.

Bulls

Record details about the bulls in your herd. Bulls are tracked separately from the main livestock numbers because they're managed differently — they're not part of the breeding cow mob, and they're usually permanent fixtures rather than traded stock.

1. In Setup, tap Bulls.
2. Tap Add Bull.
3. Enter the bull's name or tag number, breed, birth year, and any relevant notes (semen-tested, EBVs, where he was purchased from).
4. Optionally add a photo.
5. Tap Save.

Keeping a bull record is useful when planning joining — you can see at a glance how many bulls you have, their ages, and whether any are due for replacement.