Use this when a producer tells you they cannot sign in, cannot book, or cannot get a cutsheet filled in. Copy it, fill in the brackets, and send it to that producer directly.
It covers the three places people actually get stuck, and every link goes to a help article they can follow on their own. For the wider picture of what producers see and how to roll Farmshare out across your producer list, see Introducing Farmshare to Your Producers.
The email
Subject: Quick help with booking and cutsheets
Hi [Producer name],
We book drop-offs and collect cutsheets through Farmshare. A few people have told us the first time through is confusing, so here is the short version. None of these steps should take more than a couple of minutes.
Signing in
You do not need to sign up for anything, and there is no password to remember. We already have an account set up for you.
When you sign in, enter the phone number or email address we have on file for you. Farmshare sends a six-digit code to that phone or email. Type the code in and you are through.
The one thing to get right: use the same phone number or email address our messages come to. If you sign in with a different one, Farmshare will start a second account for you, and it will look like you have nothing booked at all.
Once you are in, your animals are under Your Jobs.
Step by step: How Producers and Buyers Log In to Farmshare
Booking a drop-off
Go to [your scheduling link] and pick a date. The calendar shows what is open: green means we have room, red means that day is full. Then tell us how many animals, what species, and whether you want USDA or exempt.
There is a box called Producer Identifier. Put your ear tag numbers there. It helps us keep your animals straight once they are here.
Step by step: Schedule a Job with your Processor
First time booking: Getting Started as a New Producer
Cutsheets
Once your animals are here, whoever is getting the meat gets a link from us. They sign in the same way you do, with the phone number or email we sent the request to, and their share shows up under Your Orders. From there they click Fill in Cutsheet and answer the questions: ground size, roast size, steak thickness, steaks per pack, and which cuts they want.
Two things worth knowing before they start:
Anything they do not choose goes to ground or trim. It is worth clicking through the whole thing rather than stopping halfway.
If they ask for more of something than one animal can give, they can rank their choices so the important ones get filled first.
Step by step: Filling out a Cutsheet as a Buyer
New to buying a whole or half animal: Understanding Your Beef Cuts
If you get stuck
Call us at [your phone number]. We would much rather spend two minutes on the phone than have you guessing, and we can do any of this for you from our end.
Thanks,
[Your name]
[Processor name]
Before you send it
Check the contact details you have on file first. The whole email assumes the phone number and email you have saved for that producer are the ones they actually use. If they are not, the producer will sign in, see an empty account, and be worse off than before you sent it.
Swap the cuts guide for the right species. The template links to beef. Use Understanding Your Pork Cuts or Understanding Your Lamb and Goat Cuts instead where it fits.
Send it to one producer at a time, addressed by name. A bulk send to your whole list reads as an announcement and gets skipped. This works because it reads like a person wrote it.
Resist adding more sections. Signing in, booking and cutsheets are where people actually get stuck. Anything else is better handled on the phone than added to the email.
Fill in both brackets in the last paragraph. The offer to do it for them is the part that gets a reply from producers who are not comfortable online.