Managing Financial Categories

Categories help you organize transactions by type of income or expense — such as Feed, Veterinary, Equipment, or Sale Proceeds. Cattle360 supports a hierarchy with parent categories and subcategories.

Accessing Category Management

1. Open the Financial Dashboard.
2. Click Manage Categories from the toolbar or navigation, or on mobile, tap the FAB and select Add Category.

The category management page displays all your categories in a tree structure.

Adding a Category

1. Click the Add Category button at the top of the page.
2. Enter a Name for the category (up to 100 characters).
3. Optionally, select a Parent Category from the dropdown to make this a subcategory. Choose — None (top-level) — to create a top-level category.
4. Optionally, set a Category Type of Income or Expense to limit which transactions can use it.
5. Optionally, pick a Schedule F Line so the category’s totals land on the right line of your Schedule F report. Click the help icon next to the field for examples of what belongs on each line.
6. Click Save.

Choosing a Schedule F Line

The Schedule F Line list follows the lines on the IRS form. The income lines you will use most for cattle are:

• Line 1a — Sales of livestock you bought to resell, such as feeder or stocker cattle.
• Line 1b — What you paid for the resale livestock sold on line 1a. The Schedule F report subtracts it from line 1a to get line 1c.
• Line 2 — Sales of livestock you raised, such as calves, cull cows, and bulls.

Expenses go on lines 10 through 32, for example Line 16 for feed and Line 31 for veterinary, breeding, and medicine.

Categories created before this list was corrected may have shown Line 3 for raised-cattle sales. Those are now counted as Line 2, and the category shows Line 2 the next time you edit it.

Breeding, dairy, and draft animals you sell are reported on Form 4797, not Schedule F. Have a tax advisor confirm your line choices before you file.

Adding a Subcategory

You can create a subcategory in two ways:

From the category list:

1. Find the parent category in the tree.
2. Click the plus icon (+) next to the category name.
3. A dialog opens with the parent pre-selected.
4. Enter the subcategory name and click Save.

From the Add Category dialog:

1. Click Add Category.
2. Enter the name.
3. Select the desired parent from the Parent Category dropdown.
4. Click Save.

Editing a Category

1. Find the category in the list.
2. Click the three-dot menu (⋮) on the right side.
3. Select Edit.
4. Update the name, parent, category type, or Schedule F line as needed.
5. Click Save.

Deleting a Category

1. Click the three-dot menu (⋮) on the category row.
2. Select Delete.
3. Confirm the deletion.

Category Hierarchy

Categories are displayed as a tree:

• Top-level categories appear at the base level.
• Subcategories are indented beneath their parent.
• Click the chevron arrow next to a parent category to expand or collapse its children.

Example hierarchy:

Feed
  ??? Hay
  ??? Grain
  ??? Supplements
Veterinary
  ??? Vaccines
  ??? Treatment
Equipment

Empty State

If you haven't created any categories yet, the page will display: “No categories yet. Add one to get started.”

Using Categories

Categories appear throughout the financial system:

• Transaction form — Select a category when adding or editing a transaction.
• Receipt line items — Assign a category to each line item.
• Profit & Loss report — Transactions are grouped by category.
• Schedule F report — Each category’s total is placed on its Schedule F line.
• Ledger filters — Filter transactions by category.
• Dashboard insights — Top spending categories are highlighted.