📋 Before you start
What the register is for.
Two jobs, and most people come for one and stay for the other.
- A record of what you own — makes, models and serial numbers, with purchase cost and current value. This is the list you'd want if you had to make an insurance claim, and the one nobody has when they need it.
- A service history — what was done, when, at what hours, for how much. Which is what stops the chainsaw going three seasons without a proper look at it.
🔌 Turning it on
Equipment is off by default for new accounts. It's in Settings → What do you track? if it isn't showing.
1️⃣ Adding equipment
One record per thing worth tracking.
Use + Equipment. The fields:
- Equipment name — what you call it.
- Category — Tractor, Quad, UTV, Chainsaw, Pump, Trailer, Generator, Fencing gear, Milking equipment or Other.
- Make, model and serial number — the serial is the one that matters for insurance and for police if something walks. Worth ten minutes with a torch in the shed.
- Status — Active, In Service, Needs Repair, Retired or Sold.
- Purchase date and purchase cost.
- Current value — update it occasionally; it's what your register totals.
- Service due and notes.
The register summarises what you've got: total items, how many active, how many due for service, how many need repair, and total current value.
2️⃣ Logging a service
The bit that pays for itself.
+ Service record against a piece of equipment takes:
- Service date and service type — Oil change, Grease, Blade sharpen, Tyres, Repair, Full service, Inspection or Other.
- Hours / odometer — record this every time. Service intervals are usually hours, not months, and a run of hour readings tells you how hard something is actually working.
- Cost.
- Next service due — sets the flag on the register.
- Notes.
💰 Tick the expense box
There's a checkbox to add this service cost to Finances as an expense, allocated to that piece of equipment. Tick it and the cost lands in your farm money without re-entering it — and over a few years you get the running cost of each machine, which is the honest way to judge whether the old tractor is cheap or just familiar.
3️⃣ Keeping it current
Status is the field people forget.
When something breaks, set its status to Needs Repair. When it's away, In Service. When it goes, Sold or Retired — don't delete it, because the service history and purchase cost are worth keeping.
The register counts by status, so a glance tells you what's actually available to use and what's waiting on you.
✅ What the app does vs what you do
The honest split.
My Block Hand handles: a register with makes, models, serials, purchase and current values; status tracking with counts; a full service history per item with hours and costs; next-service due flags; and posting service costs to Finances against the right machine.
You still have to: do the servicing; check the manual for the right intervals, because they vary by machine and by how hard you work it; and keep current values roughly honest if you want the register to mean anything for insurance.
This guide describes My Block Hand as at July 2026. Values recorded here are your own estimates and are not a valuation — check with your insurer about what they need.