User guide › Load your herd

Load your herd

Already have your animals on a spreadsheet or in your own records? Load them all into KraalBook in one go, instead of adding them one by one.

⬇ Download herd template (CSV)

Best done on a computer. Opens in Excel or Google Sheets.

How it works

On your computer, click “Download herd template (CSV)” above.
Open it in Excel or Google Sheets. The first row is the column headings, and the next few rows are filled-in examples showing the format. Delete the example rows and type in your own animals — one row per animal (or per batch).
Save the file as CSV.
On your phone, open KraalBook, go to “Import herd”, tap “Choose file”, and pick the CSV.
The app shows a preview — how many animals are ready, and anything it couldn’t read and why. Check it, then tap Import.

The template already contains a few example rows showing exactly how to fill it in. The file holds up to 5,000 animals at a time — for a bigger herd, split it into batches.

What goes in each column

Column	What to put
`visual_tag`	The animal’s ear-tag/number you read by eye. Up to 10 characters. You must fill in a visual_tag OR an eid_tag — at least one.
`eid_tag`	The 15-digit electronic RFID number (starts with `982`). Leave blank if the animal isn’t RFID-tagged.
`species`	One of: `cattle`, `sheep`, `goat`, `pig`.
`sex`	`M` (male), `F` (female), or `X` (mixed — only allowed for a batch).
`kind`	`individual` or `batch`. Leave blank to default to individual.
`head_count`	How many animals this row represents. `1` for an individual; the count for a batch.
`breed`	Optional (e.g. Bonsmara, Dorper).
`date_of_birth`	Optional, format `YYYY-MM-DD` (e.g. `2022-03-15`). Must be a real past date.
`colour`	Optional (e.g. Brown, White).
`cattle_category`	Only for cattle: `heifer`, `cow`, `bull`, `ox`, `steer`, or `calf`.
`location_name`	The camp/location name. If it doesn’t match a camp you’ve created in the app, the animal still imports but won’t be placed in a camp (the app flags this so you can fix it).
`mother_tag`	Optional. On a calf’s row, put the mother’s tag (her visual_tag or eid_tag). The mother can be another row in the same file or an animal already in your herd. To record several calves against one cow, give each calf row the same mother_tag. (Only for individual animals.)

Adding just a few animals? You can also add them one at a time in the app.

See how to add animals