Breedr, the free herd management app for farmers, has traded more than £1.85m worth of cattle since launching its trading platform just four months ago. 
In that time, farmers have sold 2912 cattle; 2475 of liveweight trades and 437 deadweight. “We are delighted that farmers are finding it so easy to buy and sell through the app,” says Breedr founder Ian Wheal. 
“Feedback has been incredibly positive, with sellers enjoying the speed and ease of selling stock and purchasers buoyed by the confidence that buying based on actual weights gives.”
The app enables farmers to list their stock for sale, complete with their movement history, weights, growth rates, medicine usage and photos. On average, vendors have received 99.7% of their asking price and have sold within five days of listing. The average lot size is 14 head, commanding £11,530 – and stock range from weaned calves to stores and finished cattle. 
Tom Samuel, who buys and sells about 750 head of cattle a year at South Lendon Farm near Exeter, Devon, recently listed a group of 46 steers and heifers on the app and sold them within days. “The cattle were collected within a week, the customer was delighted with them, and Breedr paid directly into my bank within 72 hours – it was so easy,” he says. 
Even better, he had no haulage to pay, no time wasted, and – for his first three trades – no commission paid. “I had 50 new cattle waiting to come into the sheds, and it was an excellent process for the buyer as it’s totally fair and transparent on weights. They knew what they were going to get.”
Having that confidence in prospective purchases has been extremely valuable to Dan Hutton, who keeps 150 cattle at Church View Farm, Brampton, Cumbria. He recently bought a batch of 18 Charolais and Simmental cattle from Scotland, something which would typically take weeks. 
“It would normally take a month to get that many, but the trade was all done and dusted in half an hour,” he says. “The time it saves is unbelievable. And without doubt, knowing the weight of the livestock gives you much more confidence in buying. All the information you could want is right there in front of you.”
Lois Black, near Greenock, outside Glasgow, has been using the Breedr app since October to help monitor weight gain in her herd of 70 Simmental, Shorthorn, and Angus cattle, and is now selling them using the online marketplace. 
“Using Breedr has changed my life,” she says. “It used to be that the dealer would come and we’d have a look at the animal, guess the weight and then negotiate a price. But when I started weighing my cattle, I realised they were heavier than I thought, so I could sell them for more. I’ve sold 24 cattle so far on Breedr and got around £100 a head more than usual, so it’s made quite a big difference to my income.” 
*Breedr was established to help farmers improve efficiencies through free and easy data analysis. Farmers can record everything they need to know about their animals on the phone app: They can scan electronic ear tags and weights from digital scales, sync movements to BCMS, record medicine use, breeding and fertility information, and then analyse that data to improve efficiencies. Breeding reports align with AHDB KPIs, enabling farmers to choose the best genetics for continual improvement.
A powerful growth predicter enables farmers to plan finishing dates, giving processors greater visibility of forward beef supplies. This has enabled Breedr to negotiate the UK’s first ever minimum fixed price 24-month beef contract which gives farmers confidence to invest. Finance is also available through Breedr to buy new stock due to the additional stability of the supply chain.
The live trading platform means farmers can list their animals for sale, complete with all their data, giving buyers confidence in what they’re purchasing. This reduces marketing costs for sellers by 50% compared with traditional selling methods. 
The app also generates a free eight-week report for dairy producers who have to prove what’s happened to all calves up to eight weeks of life. The live trading platform matches dairy farmers with calf rearers, and the data on the calf can be shared, providing total traceability.