LedgerBarn is bookkeeping for a farm: Schedule F accounts, livestock and field records that post to the money, equipment service logs, and cent-verified farm payroll with Form 943, for one flat price per farm. Cloud-based, on your phone, built by a Virginia cattle producer.
Income and expense accounts that map to the Schedule F lines, so the year-end report is the tax form in rough draft, not a spreadsheet exercise.
Buy a set of stockers and the purchase posts to the books; sell them and the closeout shows cost of gain. Fields carry soil tests and amendments; equipment carries its service log.
Form 943, the agricultural overtime exemption, and the family-employee rules are built in. Every paycheck is checked to the cent for North Carolina, Virginia, Texas, Florida, South Dakota and Michigan.
Download a CSV, OFX or QFX file from the bank and Match Transactions lines it up with the register, like QuickBooks’ bank feeds without the live link.
Upload the tractor manual, the chemical label, the baler spec sheet. Ask what filter the 5085 takes and the assistant answers from the page.
No per-head fees, no per-employee payroll fee, no per-user seats. Hire a summer crew and the bill stays the same.
The cloud programs a farm is likely to weigh, side by side. Payroll is the column most of them leave empty.
| Software | Price | Payroll | Bookkeeping | Livestock | Stocker lots & closeouts | Fields & crops | Flat price, no per-head fees | Your own brand |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LedgerBarn that’s usPayroll, books & full farm records in one — in your own name and colors. | $12–$49/mo | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| QuickBooks OnlineBooks for any business; payroll is a separate subscription, from $88/mo with the smallest plan plus $6.50 per employee. No farm records. | $38–$340/mo | add-on | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| AmbrookModern farm bookkeeping — the books only; no payroll or herd records. Priced per entity. | $59–$99/mo per entity | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| FarmbriteLivestock + crops + basic accounting, split across tiers by what you raise. | $29–$109/mo | ✗ | basic | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| CattleMaxFocused cattle & ranch record-keeping — records only; the price steps up with herd size. | $30–$41/mo, billed yearly | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| AgriWebbLivestock & grazing platform; priced by your animal numbers, on a quote from the vendor. | See vendor site | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | grazing add-on | ✗ | ✗ |
| HerdwatchHerd-health & compliance app, strongest in the UK/Ireland; the US price is set by farm size. | See vendor site | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | — | ✗ |
Competitor prices and features are from each vendor’s own pricing page, checked October 2026; they change, so confirm before you decide.
Bookkeeping built for a farm: income and expense accounts that follow the Schedule F, records for livestock, fields and equipment that tie to the money, and payroll that handles Form 943 and agricultural overtime rules. General business programs keep books for anybody; farm accounting software keeps them for a farm.
Cloud. It runs in any web browser and installs on a phone, so the books are the same in the barn, the truck and the office. Your data is encrypted at rest and you can export all of it any time.
Yes. The farm edition keeps a Schedule F report from the books, and the chart of accounts is set up around the Schedule F lines from day one.
Yes. Hourly, salary and commission pay, pre-tax and post-tax deductions, Form 943 figures, the agricultural overtime exemption, W-2 and 1099 files, and a direct-deposit file for your bank. Payroll is set up for North Carolina, Virginia, Texas, Florida, South Dakota and Michigan employers today; other states are added on request. You file and pay; e-filing is coming soon.
Yes. An animal or a lot bought posts the purchase; a sale posts the income; the closeout shows cost of gain and what you made per head. Fields, soil tests and equipment service live beside them.
Farm Records is $12 a month (livestock, fields, equipment, weather, farm economics). Farm + Books & Payroll is $49 a month for everything. Pay a year up front, $588, and the QuickBooks Desktop history import is included. Free through January 31, 2027, no card.
Yes. Your chart of accounts, customers, vendors and items, each account’s opening balance, and the invoices and bills still open import yourself from QuickBooks Desktop exports. Employees are set up fresh under Payroll. Your transaction history is brought across for you as part of the cutover.
Programs like FarmBooks, PcMars and Farm Biz run on one Windows computer and are bought outright or by the year; they are good books but keep no herd, field or equipment records and most need separate payroll. LedgerBarn runs in the cloud, keeps the farm records and the payroll with the books, and charges one flat monthly price.
No card, nothing to install. Records only, or the whole operation.
Running a shop or a service business, not a farm? The Small Business Edition is the same books and payroll without the farm records.