# PropelMapper: Livestock > PropelMapper is a field-based, location-based reporting platform. People talk through a visit, take photos and pin observations to a place. We organize those captures into structured records and draft a professional client report for review. Agriculture is our first and main market: agronomists, crop consultants, farm managers and land managers. The same tools can document pest-control visits, cultivation walks, home and property inspections, landscaping and site surveys. The person doing the work checks the facts and adds professional judgment before signing and sending PDF and Word copies. Captures save offline; upload, transcription, new report drafting and sending need a connection. US crop and soil data and dated satellite imagery provide context for agricultural visits. Herd and flock visit reporting by species: dairy, beef, swine, poultry, sheep and goats, horses. Generated at build from the published pages (under https://www.propelmapper.com/livestock/) in sitemap order. Every file is listed in the index (https://www.propelmapper.com/llms.txt) --- # Livestock visit guides for herds and pastures URL: https://www.propelmapper.com/livestock/ > Reference pages for dairy and beef cattle visits: what to check pen by pen and pasture by pasture, the readings that matter, and how to record them. A herd visit is a place visit with cow numbers, so PropelMapper keeps each one on the barn, pen or pasture it came from; these pages cover what to check and write down for dairy and beef cattle. Example account: Northwind Dairy Health. ## By species - Beef cattle What to record on a beef pasture walk and a feedlot pen check: forage, water and fence, stocking rate, body condition and bunk scores, with sources. - Dairy cattle What a dairy herd visit checks pen by pen: body condition, SCC and mastitis, locomotion, heat and the feed bunk, with the extension scales behind each. ## Who walks the herd A dairy or a ranch gets more visitors than most farms, and every visitor leaves with something to write up. The vet has a herd check, the nutritionist a ration discussion, the feed rep a promise to follow up on. When those people work on one PropelMapper team, every visit lands on the same barn or pasture, and the owner’s contact page lists all of them. - Dairies Vets, nutritionists, milk-quality and hoof-care visits, kept by barn. - Beef and ranch Pasture walks, water and fence, and the stocking call. - Veterinarians and nutritionists The report you send the producer after a herd visit. Example account: Northwind Dairy Health Example account: Northwind Dairy Health. Herd check and locomotion readings saved on the Freestall barn 2 visit. ## Calculators and forms - Milk-weighted SCC calculator - Stocking rate calculator - Herd health visit record - Alfalfa and hay scouting ## Start with one barn or one pasture Add it in your 45 free days, record your next visit, and read the draft report before you send it. --- # Beef cattle: pasture walks and pen checks URL: https://www.propelmapper.com/livestock/beef-cattle/ > What to record on a beef pasture walk and a feedlot pen check: forage, water and fence, stocking rate, body condition and bunk scores, with sources. Livestock Beef cattle Most beef visits are a pasture walk on a cow-calf or stocker operation or a pen check in a feedyard, and PropelMapper pins each reading from either one to the pasture or pen where you took it. Example account: Bluestem Range Consulting. ## Beef cattle note and report Pasture walk - North summer pasture Oct 28, 2026 “Scored 40 cows at the corral: average body condition 5.5, the first-calf heifers thinner at 4.5.” Example account: Bluestem Range Consulting Visual example; transcript only. Visit record Saved with this visit - Pasture North summer pasture - Forage height (in) 4.8 - Water tank level (%) 87 - Pasture condition (1-5) 3 - Next step Move the pairs off the north summer pasture by the 1st Bluestem Range Consulting ### Pasture walk - North summer pasture Hackberry Ranch › North summer pasture Visit Oct 28, 2026 Version 1 · English Numbered pins: visit captures · Dashed line: walked path · Basemap: Mapbox satellite. Imagery date not stated. #### At a glance Scored 40 cows at the corral: average body condition 5.5, the first-calf heifers thinner at 4.5. Pivot 2 stalks have plenty of dropped ears, about 6 bushels an acre on a quick count. Weaned 212 calves Tuesday, fenceline weaning. #### Readings Readings: Pasture walk - North summer pasture Reading This visit Forage height (in) 4.8 Water tank level (%) 87 Pasture condition (1-5) 3 #### Sources - Recorded on Oct 28, 2026 at North summer pasture. Bluestem Range Consulting · Version 1 · English Pasture walk - North summer pasture, Oct 28, 2026: “Scored 40 cows at the corral: average body condition 5.5, the first-calf heifers thinner at 4.5.” The visit form gets Pasture North summer pasture, Forage height (in) 4.8, Water tank level (%) 87, Pasture condition (1-5) 3, Next step Move the pairs off the north summer pasture by the 1st, and the report lists them under Pasture walk - North summer pasture. Example voice note and reviewed report ## Beef cattle visits on the map Example account: Bluestem Range Consulting. Ellery Cattle Company outlined on satellite and colored by last visit. ## Beef cattle places and hierarchy Ranch: Hackberry Ranch → Pasture: North summer pasture The pastures in Bluestem Range Consulting, with each last visit and report status. ## Beef cattle signed report excerpt Example account: Bluestem Range Consulting. The signed range and herd report for North summer pasture, sent and acknowledged by the contact. ## Checks for pasture and pen visits ## On pasture: forage, water, fence, cattle Forage: Describe where the grass is grazed short and where feed remains. Keep the estimate and its method with the pasture visit. Water and fence: Check the trough, water supply, gates and fence. Photograph a problem and assign the follow-up to a person. Cattle: Name the group and record condition by area or pen. Repeat photos from the same gate, tank or fence corner to compare visits. The USDA NRCS Guide to Pasture Condition Scoring gives you a consistent set of indicators for comparing walks through the season. Example account: Bluestem Range Consulting ## Stocking rate and days of grazing Stocking comes down to forage on hand, how much of it the cattle can actually use, and how much they eat. South Dakota State University Extension works from 26 pounds of dry forage per animal unit per day, an animal unit being roughly a 1,000-pound cow, and about 25% harvest efficiency for moderate continuous grazing. The rest is trampled, fouled, left as residue or eaten by something else. Run the arithmetic for one pasture: 80 acres carrying about 2,000 pounds of dry forage an acre is 160,000 pounds. At 25% harvest efficiency, 40,000 pounds are usable. Forty 1,300-pound cows eat about 1,350 pounds a day between them, so the pasture lasts about thirty days. Our stocking rate calculator does the same sum and lets you change each assumption. Write the clipping or visual estimate into the same visit as the stocking call. Then the number you give the owner has its working attached, and next year’s walk has something to compare against. ## Body condition on a 1 to 9 scale University of Missouri Extension scores beef body condition from 1, very thin, to 9, very fat. Its target for a mature cow just before calving is a 6, and young cows need about one score more to rebreed as well. That puts first-calf heifers going into calving at around a 7. Score by group and by timing: the spring-calving cows a couple of months before calving, the first-calf heifers separately, the bulls before breeding. Note how many you scored and the spread. "Cows mostly fives and sixes, eight thin heifers at four" tells the nutritionist where the supplement needs to go. ## In the feedyard: bunk calls In a feedyard the daily visit is the bunk call. SDSU Extension describes a 0 to 4 score: 0 is a clean bunk, 0.5 is scattered feed with most of the bottom showing, 1 is a thin even layer about a kernel deep, 2 is a quarter to half the feed left, 3 is more than half, and 4 is feed that has barely been touched. Its goal is a 0 most days, with a half on three or four days out of ten. Read bunks at the same time each day and record the pen, the time, the score and the feed delivered. The trend in a pen over a week matters more than any one call, and that only works if the calls are in one place. ## Show and sale cattle Show cattle and replacement heifers for sale get a different kind of visit: weight, average daily gain, days to the show or sale, and the feeding plan. In our example account, a show steer weighed in at 1,186 pounds at the county fairgrounds, gaining 3.1 pounds a day with 34 days to the show. Weighed again at each visit, those three numbers are the whole conversation with the family that owns him. ## What goes in the visit record For a pasture walk: the pasture, the date, forage by area, the water, the fence, the cattle group and its condition, your stocking estimate and its working, and the follow-ups with a name on them. For a pen check: the pen, the time, the bunk score, the cattle and anything pulled. For both: photos from the same spots each time. In PropelMapper you say most of it as you walk, and each note drops a pin where you stood. The readings land in the visit form for you to confirm, broken fence and a sticking float become tasks, and the report is drafted after upload for you to read and sign. We don’t keep individual animal records or tag weights; your herd software or calving book still does. ## Beef cattle visit questions Q: Can I draw pasture boundaries on the phone? Yes. Walk the fence line or trace it on the satellite view, or import boundaries you already have in the web app. Notes then land in the pasture you are standing in. Q: Will it work out of cell range? Yes. Notes, photos and readings save on the phone and upload when you get back to signal. The report is drafted after the upload. Sources 4 named on this page - Guide to Pasture Condition Scoring (2020) USDA NRCS · 2020 - Setting the Stocking Rate, Chapter 51 (2020) South Dakota State University Extension · 2020 - Body Condition Scoring of Beef Cattle, G2230 (undated; accessed 2026) University of Missouri Extension · undated - Feed Bunk Management (updated 2023) South Dakota State University Extension · 2023 How we source and review: editorial standards · data sources --- # Dairy herd visits: what to check URL: https://www.propelmapper.com/livestock/dairy-cattle/ > What a dairy herd visit checks pen by pen: body condition, SCC and mastitis, locomotion, heat and the feed bunk, with the extension scales behind each. Livestock Dairy cattle A dairy herd visit is a walk through pens with a short list of readings that only mean something with the group and date attached, and PropelMapper keeps every one of them on the barn it came from. Example account: Northwind Dairy Health. ## Dairy cattle note and report Herd check and locomotion scoring - Freestall barn 2 (lactating) Oct 1, 2026 “Locomotion scored the high pen: 14 of 120 cows at 3 or higher, mostly hind feet. The trimmer needs to be in before the end of the month.” Example account: Northwind Dairy Health Visual example; transcript only. Visit record Saved with this visit - Barn Freestall barn 2 (lactating) - Body condition score (1-5) 3.09 - Locomotion score (pen average, 1-5) 1.4 - Bulk tank SCC (x1,000 cells/mL) 165 - Next step Bed the barn 1 stalls with sand twice a week Northwind Dairy Health ### Herd check and locomotion scoring - Freestall barn 2 (lactating) Brandt Family Dairy › Freestall barn 2 (lactating) Visit Oct 1, 2026 Version 1 · English Numbered pins: visit captures · Dashed line: walked path · Basemap: Mapbox satellite. Imagery date not stated. #### At a glance Locomotion scored the high pen: 14 of 120 cows at 3 or higher, mostly hind feet. Fresh pen has two cows with ketones over 1.4 on the meter, both under 10 days in milk. Shook the TMR on the Penn State box: 6 percent top screen, 38 middle. #### Readings Readings: Herd check and locomotion scoring - Freestall barn 2 (lactating) Reading This visit Body condition score (1-5) 3.09 Locomotion score (pen average, 1-5) 1.4 Bulk tank SCC (x1,000 cells/mL) 165 #### Sources - Recorded on Oct 1, 2026 at Freestall barn 2 (lactating). Northwind Dairy Health · Version 1 · English Herd check and locomotion scoring - Freestall barn 2 (lactating), Oct 1, 2026: “Locomotion scored the high pen: 14 of 120 cows at 3 or higher, mostly hind feet. The trimmer needs to be in before the end of the month.” The visit form gets Barn Freestall barn 2 (lactating), Body condition score (1-5) 3.09, Locomotion score (pen average, 1-5) 1.4, Bulk tank SCC (x1,000 cells/mL) 165, Next step Bed the barn 1 stalls with sand twice a week, and the report lists them under Herd check and locomotion scoring - Freestall barn 2 (lactating). Example voice note and reviewed report ## Dairy cattle visits on the map Example account: Northwind Dairy Health. Brandt Family Dairy outlined on satellite and colored by last visit. ## Dairy cattle places and hierarchy Dairy: Brandt Family Dairy → Barn: Freestall barn 2 (lactating) The barns in Northwind Dairy Health, with each last visit and report status. ## Dairy cattle signed report excerpt Example account: Northwind Dairy Health. The signed herd health report for Freestall barn 2 (lactating). ## Checks for the herd walk ## Dairy checks pen by pen Groups: Start with the fresh and close-up pens, then the high group and the rest. Keep the pen name with every observation. Readings: Record the number of cows assessed, the range of scores and the date. A herd average can hide a problem in one group. Visit evidence: The Northwind Dairy Health example below keeps the barn, recording and confirmed herd readings on one visit. Example account: Northwind Dairy Health ## Body condition, by stage of lactation Penn State Extension scores dairy body condition on a 5-point scale in quarter points, where 1 is very thin, 3 is average and 5 is excessively fat. Its goals are about 3.50 at calving (3.25 to 3.75), about 3.00 in the first month of lactation (2.75 to 3.25) and back to about 3.50 at dry-off. It also suggests a cow lose no more than half a point to a point in early lactation. That makes the stage the first thing to write next to a score. Score enough cows in a group to see the spread, not just the average: "forty cows in the fresh pen, most at 3.0 to 3.25, a few thin second-calf heifers" tells the nutritionist more than "fresh pen BCS 3.1". The same pen scored again next month shows whether the thin ones are recovering. ## Somatic cells and mastitis Somatic cell count is the milk-quality number everyone watches, and it comes in two forms on a herd visit: the herd or tank figure, and the individual cows from test day. Penn State Extension suggests a closer look at any cow above 200,000 cells/mL. On the visit that usually means a California Mastitis Test on those cows, quarter by quarter. Record how many cows you paddled, how many quarters were positive, and which pen they came from. "CMT on twelve high cell count cows, three quarters positive, all from the fresh pen" is a finding. Add clinical cases since the last visit and, if cultures were sent, the sample IDs so the lab results can be matched later. To see how much a handful of cows is pushing the tank number, our dairy SCC calculator weights each cow’s count by her milk. Paste the test-day list and it shows the herd figure with and without the top contributors. ## Locomotion and feet Cornell’s locomotion scoring uses a 1 to 5 scale, from 1 for normal to 5 for severely lame, with 4 described as lame: an arched back while standing and walking, one deliberate step at a time. Cornell’s guidance treats cows at 3 and above as needing prompt attention. Score as cows walk out of the parlor, where they move on a flat, consistent surface. Write down how many you scored, how many were 3 or higher, and from which group. A count of lame cows means little without the number you looked at. ## Heat, water and the feed bunk On a summer visit, note the time of day, whether fans and soakers are running in each pen, and what the cows are doing: standing instead of lying, crowding the waterers, breathing fast. Add the weather to the draft and the report keeps the temperature, wind, humidity and the last seven days of rain for that afternoon. At the bunk, note whether feed was pushed up, how much is left before the next delivery, and anything off in the mix, such as sorting or a ration that looks different from the sheet. If the ration sheet isn’t current, that is a follow-up with a name and a date, not a line in your head. ## What the visit record holds A dairy herd visit record that someone else can use has the dairy, the barn and pen, the date and time, who was there, the readings with their group and count (body condition, cell counts, CMT results, clinical cases, locomotion), photos of anything you want someone to see, the ration or records you reviewed, your findings, your advice and who will do what next. In PropelMapper you say most of that while you walk. The readings land in the visit form for you to confirm, the photos and notes are pinned to the barn, and the report is drafted after upload for you to read, correct and sign. The producer gets it from you, and the next visitor from your team starts from it. ## Dairy cattle visit questions Q: Can I score body condition by voice? Yes. Say the pen, how many cows you scored and the spread, and the score lands in the visit form for you to confirm before it is saved as a reading. Q: Does PropelMapper replace herd management software? No. Cow records, breeding and test-day data stay in the herd’s own software. PropelMapper holds the visit: the pens you walked, what you found, what you advised and the report you sent. Q: What if the barn has no signal? Notes, photos and readings save on the phone and upload when you are back in range. The report is drafted after the upload. Sources 3 named on this page - Body Condition Scoring as a Tool for Dairy Herd Management (2025) Penn State Extension · 2025 - Winning the Battle of Subclinical Mastitis Detection (2025) Penn State Extension · 2025 - Locomotion Scoring as a Management Tool (undated; scale 1997) Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, NYSCHAP · undated How we source and review: editorial standards · data sources