The challenge of maintaining herd records is a familiar struggle for many cow-calf producers who grapple with balancing detailed documentation and practical, cost-efficient management. However, there are multiple solutions available to help transition from traditional paper to platforms that make data input and analysis more productive. During Smart Farming week, we will learn more about five record-keeping options available on the market today.
Arkansas cattleman Gabe Wight has tried notebooks, Rite in the Rain pads, commercial software and even his own simple app to keep cattle records. The frustration of taking gloves off, pulling out the phone, logging in and typing data in meant he wouldn’t keep up with records.
Wight explains his No. 1 pain point is keeping up with his cattle records, and traditional systems never fit how he actually works. He wants to be on a horse or in a tractor, just talking, not typing.
With a poultry science degree from the University of Arkansas, Wight’s career started in marketing and brand management, while cattle remained a passionate side business. His professional career spans media, advertising and general management, and he founded a software company in 2019 that he then sold in 2023.
He says the combination of necessity, love for ranching and a drive to fix frustrating processes in agriculture fueled his entry into ag-tech solutions for cattle. His aggravation led to Herd Advisor — a voice‑first, AI-powered record-keeping system built by a working cattleman to solve the problem he hates most: paperwork.
Wight says he built the program for real ranch life:
- No stopping to log in and type, just talk to your phone.
- Works from a saddle, tractor or pickup.
- Focused on what matters: something useful that reduces aggravation.
- Can be used by the whole family or hired help
Hands-Free Record-Keeping
Instead of forms and keyboards, Herd Advisor lets producers “just talk” while they work cows, drive through pastures or feed. It allows ranchers to log herd data such as treatments, calving records, weights, movements and more, hands-free via voice commands.
He says this minimizes manual input and the risk of lost data, making adoption practical for producers who’d rather focus on livestock than data entry. Despite being a self-described technology rejecter, Wight leverages AI as a development partner and backend engineer.
“For me, voice-first cattle records have been a game changer,” Wight explains. “Just to be able to drive through the pasture and just talk.”
Wight first beta tested the program with a group of producers before rolling it out for public download during CattleCon 2026. He says the beta users have been instrumental in refining workflow, especially given the unique naming and tagging conventions in herds.
One of the beta testers was Susan Gurley. Gurley and her husband, Rick, operate Diamond G Farms near Huntsville, Ark. Diamond G is a commercial cow-calf operation. The couple also manage a neighbor’s operation and Rick’s father’s cattle. In total, they manage about 450 cows across 2,000 acres.
“You know the struggle is real when you’ve got notebooks this size and cardboard that size, and 47 different vehicles and people on the farm, and you can’t find the records you need,” Gurley says. “This is going to be something that we can truly utilize and benefit from.”
She says Herd Advisor’s simplicity and flexibility are what excite her most. She loves that initial data entry is not burdensome. Bulk editing and voice entry are also key features for her. She says reminders, pasture records and multi-farm management are also big wins.
“The beautiful thing about voice entry, for example, is on a new calf,” Gurley says. “If I don’t have a tag in the calf. It automatically pops up next to that cow that she’s had a calf, and it calls it calf, and it puts her number and then it puts the date.”
The Gurleys have multiple employees, so they can put reminders in Herd Advisor for their crew with jobs that need to be done — from cow and calf management to pasture management tasks.
“I love the bulk edit,” she summarizes. “If you go work calves, with one click, ‘I used this medicine, this medicine, this medicine,’ and you’re done. And that’s exciting to me.”
How Does it Work?
Herd Advisor is currently available as a website and iOS app, with an Android app in final stages pending Google Play approval.
The system is flexible, with three main ways to capture records:
1. Siri voice command
A user can say something like: “Hey Siri, cattle record for Herd Advisor … Cow No. 2 has a limp. I gave her a shot of LA‑300, 12 ccs, and remind me in five days to give her a booster.”
2. In‑app microphone button
A floating mic button in the mobile app lets users dictate records directly.
3. Emailing voice transcripts
Producers can create a phone contact like “Voice Records” and email dictated notes to a special Herd Advisor address. You don’t have to have the app on your phone. You can input records via email.
Offline use is also supported. If a producer does not have service, Siri or the app holds the text until the phone is back online, then pushes everything through to be processed.
How AI Processes and Organizes Data
When you voice in a record, the record goes through a series of AI agents.
1. Contextual understanding
Siri often mishears “cow” as “count,” or misinterprets drug names, so the first AI agent asks: Is this about cattle and what does it mean in that context?
2. Parsing complex spoken notes into structured records
One long narration might include several cows, a calf and a treatment. The system:
- Splits those into individual animal records
- Handles tricky realities like duplicate tag numbers or long, multi‑generation number sequences
User Workflow and Safety Nets
Wight says critical to the user experience are built in information redundancy and safety nets, with daily database backups and email confirmations.
Each new entry lands in a “Records for Review” page on the web/app. Producers see exactly what the system heard and how it interpreted it. They can:
- Confirm or correct which specific animal a record belongs to (for example, if there are multiple “Cow 600s”).
- Edit details before finalizing.
The system can also set reminders for booster shots or rechecks for animals or pastures.
Multiple safeguards are in place against data loss:
- Optional email copies of each record so the raw text is never lost.
- A daily full database snapshot kept for 30 days.
More than Records: The Cattle Market Guide
Along with the herd management program, Gabe Wight has also developed the Cattle Market Guide and a Cattle Market Guys podcast.
Wight says he always questioned if he sold cattle at the right time.
“I pulled out of the auction market parking lot I was thinking the same thing I every time, which is: ‘Should I have sold this week? And should I have sold them here?’” Wight explains.
That led him to build the market predictor. By harnessing AI, Wight first developed the Cattle Market Guide to report profitability differences in when and where to sell. This catalyzed the broader vision for a practical decision-support tool and records management solution tailored for cattle producers.
To learn more about Herd Advisor, the Cattle Market Guide and to listen to the Cattle Market Guys podcast visit HerdAdvisor.com.
