7 Best Farmlogs Alternatives for Pig Farmers in 2026

What Are FarmLogs Alternatives?

FarmLogs was a farm management platform built for crop tracking and field-level decision making. It was acquired by Bushel in 2021 and the product now trades as Bushel Farm, which describes itself as “formerly FarmLogs.” Either way, if you raise pigs, a crop tool doesn’t fit livestock management. That’s why farmers searching for FarmLogs alternatives usually end up looking at something different in kind: software built around breeding cycles, vaccination schedules, weight tracking, and profitability per animal.

Definition and Background

FarmLogs alternatives, in the sense pig farmers mean it, are livestock-specific farm management apps that replace or supplement a crop-oriented platform. Instead of field mapping and grain contracts, they prioritise herd tracking, individual animal health records, feed cost monitoring, and breeding management. Many work offline, which matters if your sheds sit outside reliable coverage.

The shift reflects a broader pattern: a large share of the world’s pig production happens on smallholder farms, where records are still kept in notebooks or basic spreadsheets. Tools designed for that reality — small herds, patchy connectivity, mixed digital confidence — address a gap that enterprise crop software was never built to fill. The FAO’s livestock portal is a reasonable starting point if you want to read more about how smallholder systems are structured.

Why It Matters

Choosing the right tool shapes how efficiently your farm operates. The wrong one wastes time on features you don’t use. The right one cuts down record-keeping, improves health outcomes through better vaccination tracking, and shows you where your money actually goes. For a farmer managing 10 to 200 pigs, that difference lands directly on your margin.

The best option is the one that meets you where you are — a farm with spotty cellular coverage, a multi-generational operation with mixed digital skills, or a growing business that has outgrown spreadsheets. Fit your herd size, budget, and the specific health and breeding challenges you face.

Key Benefits of a Livestock-Specific Alternative

Primary Advantages

First, they centralise records. Instead of notebooks scattered across the farm or data split across several spreadsheets, one app becomes your source of truth. Breeding history, vaccination dates, weight gains and feed costs all sit on your phone.

Second, they save time. Manual record-keeping — writing it down in the shed, then copying it into a spreadsheet later — is the step that quietly eats your evenings. An app that captures the record once, at the point of work, removes the second pass entirely. How much that saves depends on your herd size and how detailed your current records are.

Third, they enable better decisions. A tool that tracks feed costs alongside weight gain lets you calculate feed conversion ratio and identify underperforming animals before they drain profit. Working out your FCR properly is usually the fastest way to find out whether a pen is earning its feed.

Who Benefits Most

Three groups of pig farmers get the most out of switching:

• Growing operations (20–150 pigs): Too large for notebooks, too small for enterprise software. These farmers need something affordable and straightforward that handles the core functions without unnecessary complexity.
• Health-focused herds: Farmers under disease pressure or with biosecurity obligations depend on vaccination and health history tracking. Automated reminders prevent the lapses that let problems take hold.
• Breeding-intensive operations: Farmers selecting for specific traits or running several breeding lines need genealogy and performance records. Bloodline tracking supports genetic decisions that improve herd quality over generations.

How to Choose and Get Started

Step-by-Step Overview

Migrating doesn’t require starting from scratch. Work through it in this order:

• Step 1: Define your core needs. List the three to five workflows that matter most — breeding tracking, vaccination scheduling, feed cost monitoring, weight records, health alerts. Judge every app against that list, not its feature page.
• Step 2: Test offline capability. Install the app, turn off WiFi and mobile data, and try to log a record. If it fails, it isn’t fit for shed work.
• Step 3: Pilot with a subset of your herd. Track 20–30 pigs before rolling out farm-wide. This surfaces friction early and builds confidence in your team.
• Step 4: Enter your recent history. Check whether your shortlist supports file import; not every livestock app does. Either way, focus on the last 6–12 months rather than trying to reconstruct everything.
• Step 5: Train your team. Spend half an hour showing staff how to log weights, record vaccinations and read alerts. These tools fail when only one person knows how to use them.

Tools and Resources You Need

Adoption needs very little infrastructure: a smartphone, an internet connection for the initial setup, and a backup arrangement — cloud or manual export — for your data. Some apps connect to scales or weight readers, though manual entry is fine for small herds. Check platform availability before you commit; several livestock apps, PigPal among them, are Android-only.

Two related guides worth reading alongside this: our guide to swine health monitoring software for broader platform context, and the essential pig vaccination checklist to align your app setup with your health protocols.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Mistake #1: Picking Feature-Rich Tools When You Need Simplicity

Plenty of platforms promise everything — genetic database integration, market price forecasting, rotational grazing plans. For a smallholder pig farmer that adds complexity without value. You spend minutes navigating menus to log a weight. Adoption stalls because the app feels overwhelming. Ask of every feature: does this directly improve my herd’s health or profitability? If not, ignore it. A 30-second entry you actually make beats a five-minute process you skip.

Mistake #2: Underestimating Offline Functionality

You’re in the shed checking a lactating sow and the signal is gone. An app that needs constant connectivity is useless at that moment, so you reach for the notebook, and the app quietly dies. Good livestock apps store records on the device and reconcile later. Test it before committing: turn off WiFi and cellular, open the app, log a vaccination. This one criterion rules out a surprising number of otherwise capable tools.

How to Prevent Them

Trial your top three on your actual farm for at least a week. Log ten vaccinations, record weights for five pigs, check an alert. Real use exposes poor design faster than any comparison chart. Involve your staff — if they struggle or complain, that signal matters more than a feature list.

Tips for Getting the Best Results

Pro Tips

• Log daily, not weekly: These tools are only as good as the data in them. Waiting a week to update vaccination or weight records defeats the purpose. Ten minutes each morning or evening is enough.
• Use standardised tags: Instead of “the big sow” or “sick pig”, assign consistent IDs such as Sow-045. Searching and filtering by ID is far faster, and it keeps records unambiguous when more than one person is entering them.
• Review reports monthly: Most livestock apps generate health summaries and cost reports. Half an hour a month turns raw data into something actionable — spotting an underperforming pen, or a disease pattern building.
• Back up your data: Even with cloud backup, take your own export periodically. Data loss is rare and catastrophic.

Advanced Techniques

Once you’re comfortable, look for the depth. Some apps support custom fields, which let you track something specific to your operation. Some support batch entry, which is worth using if you weigh a pen at a time. And if your app produces proper financial reports rather than just a headcount, use them — knowing your cost per kilogram of gain changes how you buy feed. These small habits compound.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is FarmLogs still available?
A: FarmLogs was acquired by Bushel in 2021 and now operates as Bushel Farm. It remains a crop and grain marketing platform, so it isn’t aimed at livestock producers either way.

Q: Can I use these apps if I have poor internet?
A: Yes, if you choose one designed to work offline. PigPal, for example, works offline and backs up to the cloud when you’re connected. Avoid cloud-only tools if connectivity on your farm is unreliable.

Q: Will a livestock app work with my existing farm software?
A: Some support file import and export, allowing basic data exchange; many don’t. Integration depth varies a great deal, so confirm before you buy if that matters to you.

Q: How long does it take to see results?
A: Time savings show up within a few weeks, once entry becomes habit. Financial insight takes a couple of months, because you need enough cost and production history for the numbers to mean anything. Health benefits arrive sooner if you’re using it to stay on top of vaccination schedules.

Q: Are they expensive?
A: It varies widely, from free apps to enterprise platforms billed monthly per user or per head. Smallholders are usually better served by a focused, affordable tool than by a platform priced for large commercial operations. Check the pricing page of anything you shortlist — it changes often.

Q: Which is best for breeding-focused herds?
A: Look for genealogy tracking — sire and dam relationships, and performance traits across generations. PigPal takes this furthest of the tools we’ve used, with a visual family tree for every animal and an inbreeding check that warns you before a risky mating. General farm software rarely goes beyond a parentage field.

Choosing well starts with honesty about your operation’s size, priorities and technical comfort. The best tool isn’t the most powerful — it’s the one your team actually uses. Test it on your farm, not in theory. Start with the core functions and expand as confidence grows. Over months, reliable records become invisible infrastructure behind every decision you make: which animals to keep, when to vaccinate, whether to adjust feed. That’s where the value sits.

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