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How to run a weighing day in Farmeter Buff

Record weight, heart girth, body length and height for a whole buffalo herd in Farmeter Buff, then read the growth trend, box plot and Scoreboard.

Intermediate9 min read

On this page
  1. What a growth record holds
  2. Step 1: choose who to measure
  3. Step 2: pick the date or the age
  4. Step 3: enter values, animal by animal
  5. Reminders: when the app asks for measurements
  6. Reading the charts
  7. The Scoreboard: comparing with other farms
  8. A note on Farmeter Beef
  9. A weighing-day checklist

Weight is one of the few farm numbers that sums up a lot at once. If calves are fed well and stay healthy, it shows up on the scale. If something goes wrong, the gain slows before you can see it from the fence. That is why Farmeter Buff, Farmeral's buffalo farm app, treats growth as a core record. The store listings describe it the same way: "record data such as growth, breeding tracking, health, and pedigree history" (Google Play, App Store).

This guide covers one practical job: weighing day. That means getting measurements for many animals into the app quickly, without mistakes, and then reading the charts so the numbers become a decision. I have also added a short "why it works" section on the tape measure, because many farms don't own a livestock scale.

Each weighing day adds one dot. The shape of the line, compared with the herd average, is what you read.

What a growth record holds

In Farmeter Buff, a growth record (Growth record, บันทึกการเจริญเติบโต) holds four body measurements. You don't have to fill in all four every time. Record what you measured that day.

Measurement Unit What it tells you Tool you need
Weight (น้ำหนัก) kg The direct number for feeding, sales and comparisons A livestock scale
Heart girth (รอบอก) cm Chest size, closely linked to weight A soft tape
Body length (ยาวลำตัว) cm Frame length as the animal grows A tape or measuring stick
Shoulder height (สูงไหล่) cm Frame height A measuring stick

The app asks for these measurements at set ages from birth: newborn, 240 days (about 8 months), 400 days (about 13 months), 600 days (about 20 months) and 720 days (2 years). These are the age buttons you choose from on the recording screen, and they are also the ages at which the app reminds you to measure (more on reminders below).

The Growth record screen in Farmeter Buff, with age buttons at the top and fields for weight, body length and heart girth
Screenshot: Farmeral Technology

Why a tape still matters when there is no scale

A scale is the most accurate option, but it is expensive and hard to move between villages. Heart girth is the next best thing, and it isn't guesswork. Thai researchers measured swamp buffaloes and found a strong link between heart girth and live weight. One study used 517 measurements from 172 buffaloes and reported correlations of about 0.95 to 0.96. It picked a quadratic equation, the most accurate of the models it tested, as the basis for making a girth tape for farms without a scale (Journal of Agricultural Science and Management, 2020). That study covered animals from birth into adulthood, and its equation's coefficients differ slightly from the one below.

A follow-up paper in Buffalo Bulletin, by the same research team, used buffaloes aged 0 to 25 months. It published this equation, with an accuracy of 98.92% (Raungprim et al., 2021):

estimated weight (kg) = 0.0233 × girth² − 2.9263 × girth + 129.81, with girth in cm

The authors conclude that a single heart girth measurement, taken with a girth tape in the field, gives a reliable weight estimate (Raungprim et al., 2021). For example, a girth of 150 cm works out to about 215 kg. Two cautions come with this. First, the equation was fitted to young swamp buffaloes, so treat estimates for older or very different animals with care. Second, an estimate is not a weighing. If you have a scale, record the real weight, and record girth beside it.

Heart girth is measured around the chest, just behind the front legs. The tape gives centimetres; the app stores them next to weight.

A few habits make tape readings comparable from one month to the next. Measure at the same spot, with the animal standing square. Keep the tape snug but not tight. If you can, have the same person do it each time.

Step 1: choose who to measure

Open Record (จดบันทึก) and choose Growth (การเจริญเติบโต). The app first asks you to Select herd for recording (เลือกฝูงสำหรับบันทึก). You get three options:

  • All in farm (ทั้งหมดในฟาร์ม): every animal on the farm. Use it on a full weighing day.
  • Select this herd (เลือกฝูงนี้): one herd, for example the breeding cows or the fattening group.
  • Select livestock one by one (เลือกปศุสัตว์ทีละตัว): search by name or tag and tick several animals. Use it when only a few animals came through the crush.

If this is your first time, look for the Guide (คู่มือ) button at the top right of the screen. It opens a step-by-step walkthrough of the recording screen. It is worth one look before your first real weighing day.

Step 2: pick the date or the age

Next you set when the measurement belongs. There are two ways to do this:

  1. Select record date (เลือกวันที่จดบันทึก): one calendar date for everyone. Use it when you weighed everyone today.
  2. Select the age range to measure (เลือกช่วงอายุที่ต้องการวัด): tap Newborn, 240 days, 400 days, 600 days or 720 days. The app then works out each animal's record date from its own birth date. This keeps age-based comparisons honest even if you weighed a calf a few days early or late.

If an animal hasn't reached the chosen age yet, the app says so. It also turns off the input fields for that animal, so you can't record a 600-day weight for a 1-year-old by accident.

Step 3: enter values, animal by animal

The recording screen shows one animal card at a time, with its tag, age and photo. Type the numbers into the fields you measured. Swipe left or right, or use Previous / Next, to move along the line of animals. The card also shows the last recorded value and the change since then, which helps you catch a typo straight away.

On the phone, each animal gets a card; type the weight, move to the next one, and submit once at the end.

Three safety nets are built in:

  • Out-of-range check. If a value looks implausible (for example, a heart girth under 50 cm), the app marks it Value too high or Value too low. Before saving, it shows a summary of how many animals and values may be wrong. You can Go back to edit, or Continue saving if you've checked and the number is right.
  • Unsaved-data warnings. If you try to leave the page or untick an animal that still has unsaved numbers, the app asks first and lists the animals that would lose data.
  • One submit at the end. Nothing is sent until you tap Confirm and submit (ยืนยันและส่ง). Check the summary before you tap it.

Afterwards, Measurement history (ประวัติการวัด) lists the growth records by date, with who recorded them. You can filter it to the last 6, 12 or 18 months.

Record history in Farmeter Buff, filtered to the last six months, with breeding and growth entries
Screenshot: Farmeral Technology

Reminders: when the app asks for measurements

You don't have to keep the 240/400/600/720-day calendar in your head. For each animal with a birth date, Farmeter creates a measurement reminder at each of those ages. A reminder stays open for a short window around the target age. Once you record a growth measurement inside that window, the reminder is marked done.

Reminders arrive in the app's Notifications (การแจ้งเตือน) inbox, which every plan includes. They can also come through LINE, from Farmeral's assistant เจ้าบุญมี. The store listing says you can "connect with the Line OA 'เจ้าบุญมี' account to receive notifications directly in the LINE app" (Google Play). On the public plan table, data alerts from the เจ้าบุญมี chatbot are listed from the Growth plan up (plan table). In LINE, the reminder shows the job (วัดค่าสัตว์, "measure the animal") and the age it is due at, for example "ครบ 240 วัน (8 เดือน)".

Reading the charts

Recording is only half the job. The Analytics (การวิเคราะห์) tab is where the numbers turn into a picture. Farmeral describes it as real-time data analysis (Farmeter Buff), and the app's 1.2.0 release added more graphs (Google Play). On the growth side there are three views worth knowing.

Growth trend per metric

Growth trend (แนวโน้มการเจริญเติบโต) plots one measurement at a time (weight, heart girth, body length or height) month by month. A line shows the monthly average, and a shaded band shows that month's minimum to maximum. Watch the slope. A line that flattens while the band stays wide often means a few animals are falling behind, not the whole herd.

Each animal also has its own growth chart on its detail page, so you can follow one calf against its own history.

An animal's detail page in Farmeter Buff with its growth chart, showing several measurements rising over time
Screenshot: Farmeral Technology

Box plot distribution

The box plot (Box Plot การกระจายตัว) groups animals by recorded age (newborn, 240 days and so on). It shows how spread out each group is. In a box plot, the box covers the middle half of the animals, from the lower to the upper quartile. The line inside the box is the median, and the whiskers reach toward the lightest and heaviest (NIST/SEMATECH e-Handbook).

For a farmer, this means a short box is an even group, and a tall box is a mixed one. A long lower whisker is a calf to go and look at. If your farm belongs to a cooperative, you can switch on Show cooperative average (แสดงค่าเฉลี่ยสหกรณ์) to draw the co-op's mean on the same chart.

Herd structure by age and sex

Buffalo herd structure by age and sex (โครงสร้างฝูงกระบือตามอายุและเพศ) isn't a growth chart, but it puts the growth numbers in context. If most of the herd is under a year old, a lower average weight is expected, not a warning.

The Scoreboard: comparing with other farms

The Scoreboard (กระดานคะแนน) answers a question many farmers ask: how does my herd compare? It compares average buffalo weight at the same reminder ages (240, 400, 600 and 720 days). It has two tabs: Co-op farms (ฟาร์มในสหกรณ์) and By area (ตามพื้นที่). This is why recording at the right age matters. A 400-day average only means something if every farm weighed at about 400 days.

A few rules shape what you see:

  • Your farm must be a member of a cooperative before rankings appear.
  • Farms outside your cooperative only show rank and average. Their names are replaced with labels like "Farm ranked #3". Your neighbours can't see your farm's name unless you share a co-op.
  • Rankings aren't in the Free plan. On the public plan table, the provincial Scoreboard comes with a paid plan, and regional and national Scoreboards are listed for the Professional plan and above "when available" (Farmeter Buff plans). Check that page for the current details.

A note on Farmeter Beef

Farmeral also has Farmeter Beef, for beef cattle. It is in Beta and open only to partner farms (Farmeter Beef). Its public page describes growth from the feedlot side. It shows each animal's Average Daily Gain (ADG) alongside feed cost and feed conversion ratio (FCR), and the herd's average weight, which it ties directly to sale income (Farmeter Beef). That is all I can say about it here. The details will settle with the partner farms.

A weighing-day checklist

  1. The day before, check Notifications for animals reaching 240, 400, 600 or 720 days.
  2. Choose All in farm, one herd, or animals one by one.
  3. Pick the age button if you're measuring by age, or one date if you're weighing everyone today.
  4. Measure weight if you have a scale, plus heart girth with a tape, at the same spot every time.
  5. Enter values card by card, and read the previous value as you go.
  6. Fix anything the out-of-range summary flags, then Confirm and submit.
  7. A few days later, open Analytics: trend first, then the box plot, then the Scoreboard.

The numbers get more useful with every weighing day. After two or three rounds, the charts start showing you which calves need attention before you'd have noticed by eye.

Sources

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