End of financial year is approached by my most farmers with an impending dread of the insurmountable paperwork they will need to do. Tax time is the ultimate test of record keeping and organisation and for most of us that is something we need a little bit of help with. So in today’s post we will look at what records you need to make your life and your accountants life a little easier come tax time.

Farm diary and paddock book

This is one most producers would do already. The diary should keep track of major farm activities such as calving dates or livestock vaccinations. The paddock book observes long term trends in the paddocks this can include rainfall, stocking density, cultivation, fertilisers, herbicides or insecticides.

Livestock records book

This can be a little harder to keep up depending on how intensive your operations is the livestock records should have details from both the farm diary and the paddock book that pertain to livestock. This needs to detail calves, weaners, yearlings, 2 years olds and 3yrs plus and must define between male and female. You must also note sales, deaths and missing animals in each section.

Livestock summary

This is used to summarise livestock from the livestock records and account for increases due to births and purchases and decreases due to deaths and sales. Under each group of livestock (e.g. 2 year old steers) you will need to identify the stock on hand from 1st July, the number purchased, sold, missing or dead. You will also need to transfer the age of the groups of livestock as necessary. So the previous years weaners become this years yearlings. For tax purposes the breeders do not have to be broken down into separate ages however it is beneficial to know the age structure of your breeding herd.

This information is then given to your accountant to make up your livestock trading account and end of year financials.

Whilst this process may sound daunting and even unattainable for many of the extensive cattle operations it can be beneficial from both a management respective and will ease the burden come tax time.

At Black Box we make software that makes farmers lives easier, and this includes tiresome record keeping. With our herd inventory tool we are able to produce an accurate livestock record book and livestock summary that accounts for purchases, sales, deaths and missing animals. These records are all broken down as needed into sex and age groups. The best part, is this is all based off the crush side data you would already be collecting through out the year. This means no need to rifle through documents or spend hours staring at an excel spreadsheet. Simply upload the crushside files through our smart importer and within minutes you will have an accurate herd inventory that will make your accountant smile.

To find out more or get started have a chat with our team.

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