To get started quickly with your cattle, you can connect your iLivestock account to the British Cattle Movement Service CTS (Cattle Tracing System) and download your full herd list.

To do this you'll need your CTS Farm Software Credentials, which can be requested from CTS specifically for connecting with Farm Software such as iLivestock

*** Please note these are different to your Government Gateway details ***

You can call BCMS to request these 0345 050 1234, Monday to Friday 8:30am to 5pm, just ask for your 'Farm Software credentials to connect with iLivestock'

Alternatively, you can complete this BCMS CTS Web Services User ID and Password Request Form and then email it to [email protected], with the email title: CTS Web Service User ID and Password Request.

BCMS will then send your User ID and Password in separate emails to you, usually within 5-10 working days.

IMPORTANT: Before connecting your iLivestock account with BCMS CTS, please ensure your primary holding is added correctly in the HOLDINGS section of your iLivestock account.

If your primary holding is not added or is added incorrectly, the connection will fail, and you'll get an error notification. See our guide on How to add Holdings

Step 1. Go to Admin on the lower navigation menu and tap the National Databases option

Step 2. Next, tap the BCMS-CTS (Cattle) option

Step 3. You will now be taken to the BCMS CTS login screen and prompted to add your Farm Software Username and Password.

Step 4. Add in your BCMS CTS Username. (Note: This should be added in with hyphens 123-456-789)

Step 5. Next, add your BCMS CTS password - (Note: This should be added as capital letters and numbers A1B2C34).

Next, tap the Login button to connect your iLivestock account to BCMS CTS. The screen is then locked.

Navigate back to the main BCMS CTS (Cattle) screen by tapping back in the top left-hand corner.

Step 6. Next, select Holdings under Settings

Step 7. This will take you to a new screen where you'll see that your holding is now successfully connected.

Once your iLivestock account is connected, you can import your herd list with all your cattle information from BCMS CTS.

Step 1. From the BCMS-CTS home page BCMS-CTS menu, select Get Cattle

Step 2. The next screen will show a list of cattle currently on your BCMS-CTS account. You can scroll up and down the list to view them all.

Next, if you are happy with the list, tap the Selector option at the top right of the screen to start Selection mode

Step 3. You can now select the Select All option at the top right of the screen to highlight all the available cattle. Alternatively, choose individual cattle from the list or Select All and then deselect certain animals.

Step 4. When you are happy with your selection, tap Add at the bottom left of the screen.

Step 5. A confirmation pop-up will now show; if you are happy with the selection, tap Confirm.

Step 6. Now go back using the back arrow at the top left of the screen

Step 7: Navigate to animals on the lower navigation menu, where you'll see your downloaded herd list.

Step 8: Under Groups on the lower navigation menu and then Auto on the upper navigation menu, you'll also see that this has created an Auto Group of your CTS download.

Step 9: Tap the group to open it and see the herd list.

To view your cattle in passport (Visual ID) order, go to (as shown below):

1.a Groups on the lower menu, then select 1.b Permanent on the upper group menu. Open the Cattle group 1.c by tapping the chevron on the group card, and then tap 2.d Visual at the top menu of the screen

When your animals have been allocated to a group, it's easy to update the group animal details using the 'Settings on ALL group animals' feature.

This action can be done on any group, Auto groups, Sheep groups, Cattle groups or your Permanent groups if you are adding cattle for the first time.

Step 1: Find and open the group and then tap the Action button to open the Group Action menu

Step 2: Select Settings on all group animals

Step 3: Now select Set group ON Holding to allocate the group to the relevant holding.

Note!: If you want to record a Move On, it's best to set them on the Third Party holding that you purchased them from. If just adding animals that are already on farm, simply select the relevant Your Holding

Step 4: If adding directly to your own holding, select the relevant holding under My Holdings

Step 5: Your animals will now be allocated to the holding you have selected. You can open each animal and verify the location by checking the holding details at the bottom of each animal summary.

Step 4: If adding to a third-party holding, select the relevant holding under Third Party

Step 5: Your animals will now be allocated to the holding you have selected. Note, as this is a Third Party, your animals will be greyed out (meaning they are OFF farm). You can open each animal and verify the location by checking the holding details at the bottom of each animal summary.

To update the rest of your animal details, repeat steps 1 & 2 and then choose from the relevant Group Settings to add the - Breed, Gender, DOB, Management Tag and so on from the list of options below:

Online: Use the chat icon in Admin on the app or lower right on the web dashboard