When to add a reference animal (and why it does not use up your plan)

A reference animal is a lightweight pedigree entry for an animal you want in your family trees but do not manage. It does not count toward your plan's animal limit, so you can add as many as you need.

When to use one#

Add a reference animal when you want an animal in your pedigrees and inbreeding (COI) math, but you will not record its day-to-day life:

• An outside sire or rented stud that covered one of your dams.
• A deceased ancestor you never owned but want in the family tree.
• Off-farm relatives, like a cria you sold or a parent on another farm.

If you only have a name and nothing more, you can just type it in instead. See Linking parents.

Why it does not use up your plan#

Your plan limits how many tracked animals you can manage. A reference is a stub, not a full animal, so it is exempt from that count. Adding a reference for a famous outside stud will never push you over your animal limit.

Good to know. References stay free on every plan, and there is no cap on how many you can add.

Where references live#

Open Animals, then References. From there you can add a new reference or edit an existing one. The reference form is short on purpose: name, species, sex, date of birth, colors, source farm, and notes — plus, if you know them, the reference's own sire and dam, so you can build a deeper tree.

Good to know. You cannot delete a reference while it is still listed as a parent of a live animal or used in a breeding record. Unlink it first, or leave it — references are free.

📷 Screenshot: the References list under Animals, with the add-reference button highlighted.

Promote or demote later#

A reference is not a dead end:

• Promote a reference into a full tracked animal from its edit page. This re-checks your plan limit (because it now counts) and keeps every parent link intact.
• Demote a tracked animal back to a reference from its lifecycle menu. This only works if the animal has no history yet, like events, weights, or breeding records.

Watch out. Promoting a reference adds one to your animal count. If you are already at your plan limit, you will need to upgrade or free up a slot first.

Related#

• Tracked animals, reference animals, and typed-in ancestors
• Linking parents: pick an animal or type a name
• Read your animal's pedigree