Embedded Files
RanchAssist™ Hay Needs Calculator — Privacy Policy
Effective date: August 28, 2026
This Privacy Policy describes how the RanchAssist Hay Needs Calculator handles information when you use the calculator, save or open RanchAssist project files, export results, or use optional sharing features.
1. Scope
This policy applies to the RanchAssist Hay Needs Calculator and the functionality described here. Other RanchAssist tools or websites may have separate or additional notices if their features differ.
2. Session-First Product Design
The Hay Needs Calculator is designed as a standalone, session-first utility. The calculator itself does not require a user account in order to perform hay calculations.
Project information you enter may include livestock-group details, head counts, average animal weights, dry-matter intake assumptions, feeding dates or feeding days, weather-buffer days, reserve days, hay types, bale weights, hay dry-matter percentages, bale prices, storage-loss assumptions, feeding/refusal-waste assumptions, inventory counts, ration shares, project name, and notes.
The application may use browser sessionStorage to protect the active project from accidental refresh or same-tab navigation. sessionStorage is intended for active-session resilience, not permanent cloud storage. The current RanchAssist standard does not use localStorage as the long-term project-saving mechanism for this tool.
3. RanchAssist Project Files (.ra)
If you choose Save Project, the calculator creates a RanchAssist .ra project file containing the editable project state needed to resume your work later. A project file may include project metadata, a project UUID, project name, timestamps, livestock groups, feeding-period settings, hay types, ration shares, inventory, reserve settings, advanced-mode settings, and notes.
The .ra file is downloaded or saved through your browser/device and is controlled by you. Creating a .ra file does not by itself upload the project to RanchAssist cloud storage.
If you later choose Open Project, the selected .ra file is read to restore the project. The calculator validates the file before restoring state and recalculates derived results from the restored source inputs.
RanchAssist project files are intended to contain project data, not private API keys, passwords, authentication tokens, or executable code.
4. Clear Session
If you use Clear Session, the calculator clears the current active project state and related sessionStorage used by the tool. Clear Session does not delete .ra project files, PDFs, CSVs, or other exports that you previously saved to your device.
5. Exports
When you choose an export action, the calculator creates the requested output from the current project. Depending on the feature used, this may include:
• CSV data;
• A print-optimized report that you may print or save as PDF;
• A copied text summary; or
• Other user-initiated outputs supported by the current version.
Files saved to your device are subject to the privacy and security controls of your device, browser, operating system, storage provider, or any service to which you later upload them.
6. Email Share
When the Hay Needs Calculator is deployed through Google Apps Script, it may provide an Email Share feature using Google Apps Script MailApp.
Email Share is user initiated. If you choose to send a summary, you may provide a recipient email address and an optional note. The calculator sends the summary you requested through the deployed Apps Script environment. The recipient email address and message content necessarily leave the local browser session in order for the email to be delivered.
Do not use Email Share to transmit information you do not want the intended recipient or the applicable email systems to receive.
7. Developer Credentials and API Keys
The Hay Needs Calculator does not require the end user to provide a developer API key or Mapbox token. Application credentials, if introduced for future server-side services, are not intended to be stored in project data, browser storage, .ra files, exports, or user notes.
8. Information You Choose to Send for Support
If you contact support, you may choose to provide information such as a description of the problem, screenshots, exported results, or a .ra project file. Information you choose to send for support is no longer confined to the calculator's normal local/session workflow.
Please send only the information necessary to resolve the issue. Do not send passwords, API keys, authentication tokens, financial-account credentials, or unrelated sensitive information.
9. Cookies, Analytics, Advertising, and Tracking
The supplied Hay Needs Calculator code and product specification do not establish a required advertising, behavioral-profiling, or analytics system. If the website operator later adds analytics, advertising, embedded third-party services, consent tooling, or other tracking technologies to the website or hosting environment, the applicable privacy disclosures should be updated to describe that implementation.
10. Third-Party Platforms and Hosting
The calculator may be deployed through Google Apps Script or adapted to other hosting. When Google Apps Script functionality such as MailApp is used, Google services and the site operator's Google Workspace or Google account environment may process information necessary to provide that feature.
Your browser, device, operating system, email provider, hosting provider, or any third-party service you intentionally use to store or share exported files may process information under its own terms and privacy practices.
11. Data Retention
The calculator's active project state is intended to remain in the active browser session rather than in a RanchAssist-hosted permanent project database. sessionStorage retention is controlled by browser/session behavior.
Files you intentionally save, including .ra, CSV, or PDF files, remain wherever you choose to store them until you delete them or the relevant storage provider removes them under its own rules.
Information transmitted through Email Share or support channels may be retained by the systems involved in delivering or supporting those communications according to their applicable policies and operational requirements.
12. Security
RanchAssist is designed to separate project data from application credentials. Project files are treated as data files and are validated before restoration. The calculator is not intended to execute code contained in imported .ra files.
No method of electronic storage or transmission can be guaranteed to be completely secure. You are responsible for protecting files that you save or share from your device.
13. Children
The Hay Needs Calculator is a professional agricultural planning utility and is not designed as a service directed specifically to children. If the site operator introduces accounts, age-specific services, or other features that materially change this scope, this policy should be updated accordingly.
14. International Use
If you access the calculator from outside the jurisdiction in which the site operator is based, your information may be processed in locations associated with your browser, hosting provider, email systems, or other services you choose to use. You are responsible for determining whether your use of the tool is appropriate under laws applicable to you.
15. Your Choices
You control whether to:
• Enter project information;
• Save a .ra project file;
• Keep or delete exported files;
• Open a previously saved project;
• Use Copy Summary;
• Use Email Share;
• Send project information to support; or
• Clear the active session.
16. Changes to This Policy
This Privacy Policy may be updated as the Hay Needs Calculator changes. Material changes should be reflected by updating the effective date and revising the relevant disclosures so they accurately describe the current product.
17. Contact
For privacy questions about the Hay Needs Calculator, use the RanchAssist Contact & Help channel provided on the website. Do not send private credentials or unrelated sensitive information with a privacy inquiry.
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