Backing up your farm records

What to back up

• Medicine records: keep them for at least five years for animals that go into the food chain.
• Invoices, receipts and the accounts: HMRC expects records kept for years after the tax year they relate to; your accountant will tell you exactly how long.
• Herd, flock and field software: its data folder, not just the program. Many now store data online, but check.
• Maps, plans and scheme paperwork: the evidence for grants and inspections.
• Photos: everything on the phones, which are the easiest thing on a farm to drop in a trough.

The 3-2-1 rule

Three copies of anything that matters, on two different kinds of storage, with one away from the farm. In practice:

1. 1

   The original,

   on the office computer, in one tidy folder rather than scattered across the desktop.

2. 2

   A copy on a drive in the house,

   updated weekly and then unplugged, so a virus or a lightning strike can't reach it.

3. 3

   A copy in the cloud,

   updated automatically every night, from a reputable backup service, so a fire or a burglary doesn't take it.

Test it

Once every few months, pick a file and get it back from each copy. It takes five minutes, and it's the only way to know the backup is really working. Daniel does this with you when he sets one up, and checks it on each visit if you're on a plan.