The calendar answers two different questions, which is why it has two views. Month answers "what is due this week". Year answers "was our lambing season compact, and when does the sire have to go in next time".
Month view
Breeding → Calendar.
On a phone you get an agenda -- only days that carry something. On tablet and computer the familiar month grid appears.
Solid or outlined -- the key difference
- Solid entries are facts: a recorded heat, a mating, a check, a birth.
- Outlined entries are expectations: a projected heat, a check that is due, a due date.
So you see at once what has happened and what Herdy merely assumes. Outlined entries in amber are due, in red overdue.
Filtering
The buttons at the top filter by species. The arrows page through the months. Clicking an entry takes you to the animal.
Year view
Top right you switch between Month and Year.
Per species the year band stacks:
- Mating period -- when the sire was with the herd
- Birth window -- when births are to be expected from it
- Actual births -- as ticks underneath
- Alpine season -- the summering that explains why no checks are due then
The interesting observation is the comparison: if the birth ticks sit close together, the mating season was well managed. If they spread over months, a shorter mating period is worth considering next year.
A mating group appears as one bar with the number of dams -- not as fifty stacked bars.
The backwards planner
Above the year band sits the most useful tool on the page. The usual question is not "when will she calve" but the reverse:
Lambing should start on 15 March -- when does the ram go in?
You enter:
- Species
- First birth from -- the target month
- Mating period (days) -- three cycles is suggested
- Dams -- optional, for the sire warning
Herdy counts back and gives you the sire's in and out dates plus the resulting birth window.
The warnings
- Outside the breeding season -- For sheep and goats the natural season runs September to December. A mating period outside it simply means, for seasonal breeds: the group stays empty.
- Partly outside the breeding season -- The start is right, the end reaches beyond.
- Too many dams for one sire -- see Recording a mating group.
With an aseasonal breed -- White Alpine Sheep, Jura Sheep or Engadine Sheep, for instance -- you can switch the season gate off under Breeding → Settings.
Taking it over directly
If the result fits, Create as mating group leads straight on -- with the period already filled in.
Printing
The year view is prepared for printing: your browser's print function gives you the calving or lambing plan in landscape, without menus and without the planner. The sheet fits on the barn wall.