How do I…?

Step-by-step guides to running your payroll and books in LedgerBarn. Every guide here is also built into the app itself, on the Help tab.

Getting started

Set up your account and brandingCreate your admin login on first visit, then make the app yours — your name, logo, color, and location.Your sign-in (and giving staff theirs)How sign-in access works: one admin login for the books, and separate limited logins for employees.

Farm & livestock

Livestock record-keeping software: tracking your herd in LedgerBarnWhatever you raise — cattle, beefalo, bison, goats, sheep, hogs — the Livestock tab is where every animal, pasture, and health event lives. Here's how to set up your herd records from scratch.Stocker and backgrounder cattle software: lot tracking, cost of gain, and closeoutsBuying feeder calves, running them on grass or in a lot, and selling them heavier is a different business than a breeding herd — LedgerBarn's Stocker Cattle module tracks it by the LOT, not the individual animal, the way the business actually runs.Cattle economics: scenario planning and breakeven pricingBefore you buy calves, sign a grazing lease, or commit to a marketing channel, the Economics tab lets you model the whole plan — cost to raise plus revenue to sell — and see the breakeven price and bottom line before you spend a dollar.Farm equipment maintenance tracking and depreciationTractors, implements, mowers, trucks, ATVs, generators, chainsaws — anything with hours or a service interval belongs in the Equipment tab, with a full service history and a Schedule-F-ready depreciation view.Field, soil, and crop record-keeping for small farmsFrom mapping your fields to logging soil amendments to tracking hay off each cutting, the Soil & Crops tab keeps your field-level records in one place instead of scattered notebooks and phone photos.

Payroll

Add an employee (with their W-4 and state withholding)One form covers pay setup, the federal W-4, and state withholding; SSN and bank details go in an encrypted section right after you save.Run a payrollThe run form remembers your last pay schedule and payment method, and moves the dates forward automatically — each run starts where the last one left off.Pay your employees: checks, paystubs, or direct depositEverything hangs off the run's register: paystub links, check printing in two layouts, and the direct-deposit file for your bank.After the run: what you owe and whenPayroll creates tax debts as you go. The Payroll tab shows what you owe, by agency, and when it's due — so EFTPS and your state never surprise you.PTO: policies, accrual, and using time offPTO accrues automatically every time you run payroll; balances and history live on each employee's record.Agricultural overtime, bonuses, and extra earningsFarm payroll software that gets agricultural overtime right: overtime pays 1.5× automatically, with a checkbox for the FLSA §13(b)(12) agricultural exemption. Commission on billable hours is the built-in extra earning.Deductions and garnishmentsStraight talk: the payroll engine calculates pre-tax deductions and garnishments correctly (and it's tested), but the screens to attach them to an employee aren't built yet. Here's what that means for you today.Quarterly and year-end tax formsThe app builds your federal worksheets, W-2s, and 1099s from pay-run history — including the exact e-file uploads. You do the actual filing, under your own EIN.Give employees their own paystub loginA limited login lets an employee see their own stubs and W-2s on their phone — no printing, no emailing, and no access to anything else.H-2A payroll software: what LedgerBarn handles for migrant farm workersH-2A workers are foreign agricultural employees on a temporary visa program, and federal law layers extra wage-and-hour rules on top of normal payroll. Here's what LedgerBarn's agricultural payroll software automates for H-2A and seasonal farm labor, and what's still on you today.

Money & books

Which kind of worker is this? W-2, 1099, family, or H-2AEvery person you pay falls into one of four boxes in LedgerBarn, and picking the right one drives their taxes, their forms, and what the app shows on their profile.Getting ready for year-end: your checklistA big-picture checklist for the last quarter of the year and the first weeks of January, so W-2 and 1099 season doesn't sneak up on you. For button-by-button steps, see the "Quarterly and year-end tax forms" guide.Invoices, statements, and getting paidBill customers, print or send statements, charge interest on late balances, and watch who still owes you — from the Invoices tab.

Not a customer yet? LedgerBarn is payroll, bookkeeping, and farm records in one place, in your farm's own name and colors — see plans & start a free trial.