User Guide

Everything you need to install and use KraalBook — register your animals, capture events in the field, and produce the paperwork to move and sell stock. KraalBook is currently in an invitation-only pilot.

What is KraalBook

KraalBook is a complete herd health & compliance platform for your phone. You register your cattle, sheep, goats and pigs, capture every health event in the field — FMD and other vaccinations, treatments and more — and produce fact sheets and the §6/§8 removal certificates needed to move and sell stock. FMD is the flagship compliance use case, and it works on a basic Android phone, in the field, with no signal.

Animals can be individuals or batches (a group tracked together, like a flock of sheep). Each animal needs at least one unique tag — an EID (15-digit electronic ear tag, usually starting 982) and/or a visual tag (the printed plastic ear-tag number). Your farm brand is the owner's mark and is the same on every animal.

Getting started

1. Create your farm in the app (14-day free trial), or sign up on the website.
2. Install the app — Android (.apk download) or iPhone (TestFlight during the pilot).
3. Add your farm details — name, brand, district, and your locations (camps, crushes, fridges).
4. Invite your stockmen by phone number — they get a WhatsApp link and a 6-digit invite code.
5. In the field, scan animals with an EID reader and record events.
6. Records save to the phone instantly (no signal needed) and sync automatically when you get signal.

Installing

• Android: on the install page tap “Download for Android” to get the .apk. Open the downloaded file; if your phone asks, allow installing apps from this source; tap Install, then Open.
• iPhone: installs go through Apple's TestFlight during the pilot, and access is by invitation. Tap “Request an iPhone invite” to ask for one.

Signing in

Sign in with your phone number (international format, e.g. +27821234567) and password — your phone number is your username. You stay signed in for 30 days, and your phone number is remembered after the first login.

The app tabs

• Home — active-animals summary, FMD compliance, alerts, and Field mode.
• Animals — your herd, with species tiles (cattle / sheep / goats / pigs); tap one for that species' list.
• Reports — compliance and performance reports.
• Alerts — one inbox of what needs attention.
• Settings — account, farm settings, stockmen, language, sign out.

Field mode is the simpler, action-first set of screens for working at the crush — big, glove-friendly buttons for Add animal, Birth, Purchase, Vaccination, Sale and Death.

Adding animals

On the Animals tab, tap +. Pick the species and whether it's an Individual or a Batch (a batch adds a head count). Scan the EID tag with your reader, or type a visual tag — fill at least one (both is best). Set the sex and the location. “More details” adds breed, colour, cattle category and date of birth (needed for auction documents). “Save and add next” keeps your settings so you can run through a whole group fast. Everything saves instantly, even offline.

Recording events

Birth

Records a new calf and links it to its mother. Set the date and location, pick the mother (only females show; the calf inherits her species), then enter the calf's tag(s), sex and date of birth. Works offline, except the mother must already be synced before you record her calf.

Purchase

Records animals you bought plus the seller details in one step — “bought from”, date, destination location, then each animal.

Vaccination

Three steps: set up → scan → done. Pick the vaccine (FMD, Anthrax, Lumpy Skin, and more), enter the batch number, and the location. For FMD the fridge temperature, expiry date and authorised vet are required. Then scan each animal — a big counter tracks progress. Fully offline.

Treatment coming soon

Recording medicine given to animals (with a withdrawal period) follows the same shape. It may not be enabled yet in the pilot.

RFID tag — add or replace an electronic tag

Most animals start with only a visual tag. To register an electronic tag later — or replace one lost in the field — open Field mode → RFID tag, or use “Add / replace RFID tag” on an animal's fact sheet. Scan the animal, scan the new 15-digit RFID, and save. Every tagging is recorded on the animal's history.

Death

Use Field mode → Death, scan the animal, and record it. It moves to the Deaths list.

Sales & §6/§8 certificates

There are two sale types:

• Private sale — sold directly to a buyer. You capture the buyer's full details up-front (these print on the document).
• To auction — animals are consigned; you confirm the outcome (sold / not sold) after the sale.

Set up the sale, then scan or filter-and-pick the animals. KraalBook warns if cattle going to a sale aren't FMD-compliant. When you build a sale it generates the §6/§8 removal certificate as a PDF — filled with your farm details, brand, the animal list and tag numbers — which you send via WhatsApp, email or print. For a private sale the buyer's details fill the document's “buyer / recipient” column.

Working offline

The app works fully without signal, including login after your first online login. You can view your herd, search, add locations and animals, and capture events offline. Locally-saved items show an orange “Syncing” badge; a rejected item shows a red “Failed” badge (tap to see why and fix or delete it). When you reconnect, the queue syncs automatically. You cannot lose data by going offline — even force-quitting keeps the queue.

Animal fact sheets

Tap any animal to open its fact sheet — the complete, buyer-ready history: animal details, your farm details (name, address, GLN, GPS, brand, owner signature) and the full event history. Tap “Print / Share fact sheet” to make a PDF and send it via WhatsApp, email, AirDrop, Files/Drive or a printer. Works for any status and works offline.

EID scanners

KraalBook works with any reader that acts as a keyboard (HID) and reads ISO 11784/11785 tags; the reference model is the Sycreader W90B. Tap a Tag/EID field first, then trigger the scanner — the 15-digit number types in and usually auto-submits.

• Android: USB scanners plug in (USB-A needs a USB-C OTG adapter); Bluetooth scanners pair as a Bluetooth keyboard.
• iPhone: Lightning iPhones (iPhone 14 and earlier) must use a Bluetooth scanner; iPhone 15+ (USB-C) works with a USB-C OTG cable or Bluetooth.

To test a Bluetooth scanner: pair it in the phone's Bluetooth settings, open any notes app, tap into a text field, and scan a tag — the 15 digits should appear. Use Bluetooth HID mode (not BLE).

Stockmen

In Settings → Stockmen (farmer/owner only) you can invite, deactivate and revoke stockmen. To invite: enter the stockman's name, SA mobile number and language (English or isiZulu), generate a 6-digit invite code (valid 7 days), and share a WhatsApp message with install + activation steps. The farmer and stockman use the same app — the role is decided after sign-in.

Farm settings

Settings → Farm settings:

• Owner — your name and 13-digit SA ID number (needed for auction paperwork; can add later).
• Farm — name, brand mark (pick 1–3 characters from the legal SA chart using the visual brand picker — it prints on every fact sheet and §6/§8 document), district, GLN and address.
• Farm GPS — tap “Use my current location”, or type latitude/longitude.
• Signature — draw your signature once and it appears on every fact sheet.

Reports

The first live report is FMD compliance by camp live: one card per camp showing how many active cattle are up to date / due soon / overdue, worst camps first. Tap a camp to see which animals need attention. More reports (top breeding cows, vaccination register, mortality, animals by location, weight & growth) are on the way.

Languages

The app supports English, Afrikaans and isiZulu. Set it at sign-up or change it in Settings → Language; it follows your account across devices.

Get help