Choose the tool by the question you need answered
Use the tool whose primary output matches your decision. RanchAssist tools are standalone, so you can use one without setting up the others.
| Planning question | Recommended tool | |---|---| | How much will a proposed fence cost? | Fence Cost Estimator | | How many acres are inside a mapped pasture or exclusion? | Pasture Acreage Calculator | | How many head can the forage support, or how many acres/days are needed? | Stocking Rate Calculator | | How much hay will the herd need? | Hay Needs Calculator | | How should hay, supplements, mineral, inventory, and purchasing fit together over winter? | Winter Feed Planner | | How much livestock water, storage, or source flow is needed? | Livestock Water Requirement Calculator | | How should paddocks be sequenced and what graze/rest dates result? | Rotational Grazing Planner | | What materials, equipment, labor, and total cost are involved in a corral plan? | Corral Cost Estimator | | What are the projected cattle margin, breakeven, cost of gain, or ROI? | Cattle Profit Calculator | | What will livestock hauling cost and how do carrier quotes compare? | Livestock Freight Calculator | | How much carrier/product is needed per tank or acre, and how is a sprayer calibrated? | Sprayer Calculator | | How can ranch features such as pastures, roads, water, gates, structures, and hazards be mapped? | Ranch Map Builder |
When two tools are related
Some workflows naturally involve more than one tool. For example, you may measure a pasture before running a stocking calculation, or map ranch infrastructure before creating a fence estimate. The tools remain independent, and version 1 of the RanchAssist project format does not automatically merge unrelated tool state.
When a mapping tool supports GeoJSON, that format may be useful for spatial interoperability. A GeoJSON file is not the same as a complete .ra project file.
Keep the decision narrow
If you are unsure which tool to use, identify the output you need at the end: acres, head count, bales, gallons, rotation dates, dollars, freight cost, tank mix, or a ranch map. That usually points directly to the correct tool.
