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Log a buffalo's breeding cycle in Farmeter Buff

Record heat, breeding, pregnancy checks, calving and weaning for a buffalo cow in Farmeter Buff, and see how each record sets up the next step.

Intermediate7 min read

On this page
  1. Why the chain matters
  2. The chain at a glance
  3. Step 1: Heat
  4. Step 2: Breeding
  5. Step 3: Pregnancy check
  6. Step 4: Calving
  7. Step 5: Weaning
  8. How the reminders follow the chain
  9. A short checklist for each cow

A buffalo's breeding records are a chain. Missing one heat or forgetting one pregnancy check doesn't just leave a gap in a notebook; it pushes everything after it back. In this guide we follow one cow through every breeding record in Farmeter Buff, the buffalo farm app from Farmeral Technology, so you can see why each record matters for the next one, not just which button to press.

About our cow. "Cow A" is an illustrative example, not a real animal, and this post has no real farm figures in it. The dates and numbers on your farm will be your own.

Why the chain matters

Buffalo don't make this easy. A review of buffalo reproduction in Animal Reproduction Science notes that the oestrous cycle averages 21 days but varies more than in cattle, that the signs of heat are less obvious than in cattle, and that under optimal conditions swamp-type buffalo whose calves suckle freely start cycling again 60 to 90 days after calving (Perera, 2011). The same review notes that harsh conditions often lead to poor expression of heat and long calving intervals, and that in many farming systems a long gap with no heat after calving is a major problem.

Put simply: if you miss a heat, you are usually waiting for the next one. If you don't check whether a mating worked, you might wait a long time before you find out it didn't. A written chain of dates is how you catch these things early.

The chain at a glance

In Farmeter Buff, the whole chain lives in one place. Tap Record (จดบันทึก) in the middle of the bottom bar. Under Reproduction (การสืบพันธุ์) you will find Reproductive cycle (วงจรการสืบพันธุ์), with the subtitle Breeding, pregnancy check, calving (ผสมพันธุ์, ตรวจท้อง, คลอดลูก). You pick one female, and the app opens her reproduction record with a three-step bar at the top: Mating → Check → Birth (การผสม → ตรวจท้อง → คลอด).

Weaning sits in a different part of the Record menu, under Growth (การเจริญเติบโต), because it is about the calf rather than the mother.

Cow A goes round the chain. Her first check says "not pregnant", so she takes the short path back to heat for attempt #2; the second check says "pregnant", and a calf follows her to weaning.

Here is the order of the records, and what each one feeds into:

Step What you record What it unlocks
Heat The date she showed heat The breeding date makes sense against it
Breeding Date, method, sire or semen, AI technician A mating to check
Pregnancy check Date, result, who checked Calving (if pregnant) or a new attempt (if not)
Calving Birth date and the new calf The calf's record, linked to its mother
Weaning The weaning date for the calf The calf's "Weaned" badge

Step 1: Heat

Our story starts when someone on the farm notices Cow A in heat. In the app, the heat date is the Estrus date (วันที่เป็นสัด) field at the top of the breeding entry. In the cycle history this step shows up as Record heat (บันทึกการเป็นสัด).

Why bother writing the heat date down if you are recording the mating anyway? Because the two dates tell a story together. To me, a mating recorded far from the heat date is worth a second look. And since the cycle averages about 21 days, the heat date gives you a rough idea of when to start watching for the next one if this mating doesn't take. Given how quiet buffalo heat signs can be (Perera, 2011), a recorded heat date is worth more than a vague memory of "sometime last month".

Step 2: Breeding

Next comes the mating itself. The breeding entry asks for:

  • Mating date (วันที่ผสม).
  • Mating method (วิธีผสม): Artificial insemination (ผสมเทียม) or Natural mating (ผสมธรรมชาติ).
  • For artificial insemination: the semen (น้ำเชื้อ) used, picked from your semen list, and the AI technician (นักผสมเทียม).
  • For natural mating: the sire (พ่อพันธุ์), either one on your farm (ในฟาร์ม) or an external one (ภายนอก).
  • Optional notes.

The app won't save a natural mating without a sire, or an AI mating without a semen record. That isn't fussiness. It is what lets the calf's father be known later.

The app also checks your dates against the sire. If you pick an on-farm sire who was born after the mating date, or who was culled or sold before it, you get a warning and a prompt to choose a different date or sire. Before anything is saved, a review screen shows Review breeding data before confirming (ตรวจสอบข้อมูลการผสมพันธุ์ก่อนยืนยัน), with a reminder that the data can't be undone, so check it carefully.

Each mating in a cycle is numbered: Breeding attempt #1 (การผสมพันธุ์ครั้งที่ 1), #2, and so on. Keep that number in mind, because Cow A is about to need a second one.

The buffalo list in Farmeter Buff, with each animal's status tags, such as bred or pregnant for a number of days
Screenshot: Farmeral Technology

Once a mating is saved, the cow's status shows on the buffalo list, as in the tags above, so anyone on the farm can see who has been bred and who is pregnant.

Step 3: Pregnancy check

After the mating, Cow A's status is Awaiting pregnancy check (รอตรวจท้อง), and her record shows how many days have passed since the mating. When the check is done, tap Add pregnancy check (เพิ่มการตรวจท้อง) and enter:

  • Check date (วันที่ตรวจ).
  • Result: Pregnant (ตั้งท้อง), Not pregnant (ไม่ตั้งท้อง) or Unclear (ไม่แน่ชัด).
  • Pregnancy examiner (ผู้ตรวจท้อง): the person who did the check.
  • Optional notes.

Again, a review screen comes first: Review pregnancy check result changes before confirming (ตรวจสอบการเปลี่ยนแปลงผลการตรวจท้องก่อนยืนยัน). Then the result decides what the app offers next. This is the fork that matters most:

The pregnancy check is a fork: tick a result, review, confirm. "Pregnant" changes the status from AWAITING CHECK to PREGNANT and sets a due date.
  • Pregnant: the next step offered is Record birth (บันทึกการคลอด). Pregnant animals also show how many days they have been pregnant and a due date (ครบกำหนด) once the system has one.
  • Not pregnant: the app offers a new breeding record in the same cycle. That is Cow A's first result, so her next heat and mating become Breeding attempt #2.
  • Unclear: the app lets you add another pregnancy check later, instead of guessing.

In our story, Cow A's first check came back not pregnant. She was bred again, and the second check said pregnant. Because both attempts are on her record, you can see later how many matings this pregnancy took.

Step 4: Calving

When Cow A calves, open her reproduction record and go to the Birth step. You choose the outcome, Birth (คลอด) or abortion (แท้ง), and the Birth date (วันที่คลอด). For a live birth, tap Create offspring (สร้างลูก). The app asks you to confirm, then opens the new-animal form for the calf.

This is where the earlier records pay off. The calf's form opens with Use breeding record (ใช้บันทึกการผสมพันธุ์) already chosen and locked, with the note that the breeding record comes from the calving record. The mother is filled in from Cow A, and with a natural mating the sire comes along too. You add the calf's own details, such as its tag and sex, and save. The birth itself is saved only when there is a birth date and a calf record, so the two can't drift apart.

After calving, Start new breeding cycle (เริ่มรอบการผสมพันธุ์ใหม่) opens the next round for Cow A, and past rounds stay under Reproduction history (ประวัติการสืบพันธุ์), numbered as cycles.

An animal's life timeline in Farmeter Buff, showing birth, measurements, weaning and a first pregnancy with a natural mating
Screenshot: Farmeral Technology

Each animal also has a life timeline, like the one above, where birth, weaning, matings and pregnancies line up in order. On the Farmeter Buff page, the timeline view is listed from the Growth package up.

Step 5: Weaning

The chain ends with the calf. Under Record → Growth, tap Weaned (หย่านม), described as Record calf weaning (บันทึกการหย่านมของลูกกระบือ). The app lists calves on the farm that haven't been weaned yet; if there are none, it tells you so. Select the calf, set the Weaning date (วันที่หย่านม) and save. The calf then gets a Weaned (หย่านมแล้ว) badge.

The weaning date can't be set later than today, and a calf only appears in the list if it was born on or before the weaning date you picked, which catches the most common typing slips.

How the reminders follow the chain

You don't have to keep every date in your head. Farmeter's notifications include reminders that line up with the chain we just walked through:

  • an estrus check for heifers (ตรวจสัดกระบือสาว);
  • an estrus check after calving (ตรวจสัดหลังคลอด);
  • an estrus check after a failed mating (ตรวจสัดหลังผสมไม่ติด);
  • a pregnancy check (ตรวจท้อง);
  • a due date (กำหนดคลอด);
  • weaning (หย่านม).

Farmeral lists in-app notifications in every package on the Farmeter Buff page, and the store listings mention task reminders and LINE notifications through the เจ้าบุญมี account (App Store, Google Play). On the product page, reminders through the เจ้าบุญมี chatbot are listed from the Growth package up, so check which package your farm is on. Connecting LINE gets its own guide in this series.

A short checklist for each cow

  • Write the heat date the day you see it.
  • Record the mating with its method and the sire or semen; don't skip the sire.
  • When the check is done, record the result and who did it. "Unclear" is a real answer.
  • On "not pregnant", watch for the next heat and record attempt #2.
  • When she calves, create the calf from her record, so the parents are linked.
  • Record weaning when it happens, so the calf's history is complete.

Each record is a small job. Together they show you, at any moment, where every cow is in her cycle and what should happen next.

Sources

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