Managing your genetic inventory

Add each batch of straws, embryos or other material once and link the animals it came from. Then use the item's page to move, combine or correct it. Your first batch starts from Add your first genetic material on the Genetics page. After that, use Add material.

Add the item

Both buttons open Add genetic material. Fill in the top of the form:

1. Owner: you or your farm. You can't change the owner later.
2. Type: Straws, Embryos, Oocytes, Hatching eggs, Roe, Live juveniles or Other.
3. Preservation: how the material is kept. The choices narrow to fit the type.
4. Status: where the material stands now, such as Available. The choices depend on the type.
5. Quantity: the number of units you hold today.
6. The date: Collection date for straws, Flush date for embryos, Hatch / birth date for live juveniles.
7. Location (optional): a tank, canister or other place you set up under Locations.
8. Sex sort (straws only): Conventional, Female sorted, Male sorted or Mixed.

Once the item has been listed, sold or used, its type locks.

Eggs work a little differently. Eggs from your own flock come in through Collect eggs (see Collect eggs from your flock). For bought eggs, choose Hatching eggs. An Egg stock section then asks for the Species and the Source, such as Bought or collected elsewhere. The Set eggs button at the top of the form starts an incubation instead (see Set a clutch of eggs and follow incubation).

Link the source animals

Linked profiles keep lineage and later offspring traceable.

• Straws link one donor animal, and Oocytes link the donor female.
• Embryos and Roe need both a Sire and a Dam.
• Live juveniles take both parents when known, or a short note about the parent group.

If an animal isn't on Creatures yet, look for Can't find the animal? and its buttons. Add animal I own creates a full profile. Add reference animal creates a reference animal: a profile for an animal you don't manage, kept so the lineage stays complete. Embryos show Add owned sire, Add reference sire, Add owned dam and Add reference dam.

For an embryo already transferred into a recipient female, fill in Recipient and outcome. Choose the Recipient animal, then add the Implant date and the Pregnancy confirmed date when you have them.

Add the details buyers and vets ask for

Under Inventory details, copy what is on the cane, vial or paperwork. For straws the fields are Cane / straw labels, Collection facility / lab, Batch or CSS/DNA number and Motility / grade. The labels change to fit other types. Embryos also have Embryo stage. Hatching eggs add Seller-reported fertility, Expected hatch date and NPIP number.

Turn on Show this item publicly on animal profiles to show it on the linked animals' profiles. An active listing is always public. Notes stay private to you. Select Save genetic material.

Keep counts and places right

Open the item. Move and Combine items are under Quick actions, and Edit is at the top.

• Move shifts units from one place to another. Choose Move from, Move to and Units to move, then select Move units. The owner and total stay the same.
• Combine items appears when you have duplicate entries with the same owner, type, source animals and date. Pick the duplicates, then select Combine into this item. Their counts and history move into the item you are on.
• To fix the total, select Edit. Changing Quantity adds or removes that many available units. You can't set it below what you've already sold or used.

To archive a location under Locations, first move all its material somewhere else. Material you bought stays view-only until you confirm you received it.

Related information

• Recording genetic sales and use
• Listing genetics on the marketplace
• Reference animals: documenting lineage and inviting the owner
• Genetics reference: material types, statuses, and shipping

Updated on: 29/10/2026