There are websites that give a lot of help.  This is one I looked at briefly; I was looking at the Excel section earlier.   If you google "MS Access" you should get a lot of helpful hits.  Do you have Access available on your computer?  If so, what version?  Have you checked with cooperative extension for cow/calf db's?  They may have something that could be edited to fit your needs.  "Cow calf database" gets a number of hits on google.

 I have worked some with Access 97 and recently installed 2007 (have not looked at it.)  Bill at the insurance agency in Kimball is pretty sharp on Access but may be too busy to provide much help.  I have three books on Access 97: "Access Database design & programming" from O'Reilly, "Access 97 for Windows for Dummies", & "Access 97 One Step at a Time" from IDG Books.  I have "MS Access 2000" from New Perspectives.  You are welcome to borrow them any time.  For a few years I kept the used book store (including Goodwill and Salvation Army) shelves picked clean of books on Access, Excel & html.  More recent titles require a trip to Barnes & Noble and a much heavier hit on the checkbook.  I usually prefer a reference book over a tutorial; I guess I'm too impatient to follow along, which also means I often miss the basics and do things the hard way.

If you want to email me an Excel template, I'll look at it (probably not right away due to work schedule) and we can discuss what you would like to do with a db.  It would take a little time to slap together a couple of initial tables, queries, forms and reports; then you could use them as an example to design and edit what you want.  If we could find the time we could meet somewhere and take a look at Access on this laptop.

I've worked some with a couple different db programs for my IPAQ but that IPAQ crashed and I have not taken the time install any of the db programs on my current H3975.  If you google "MS Access IPAQ" you should get a number of hits on different db's that work on your IPAQ.  I was not real impressed with the two or three pocket-pc based db's I looked at.  You may not want to use a db on the IPAQ, but import your Excel files into Access at the desktop instead.

If you get into Access and develop your forms for inputing data & etc, I believe you will discover the learning curve pays dividends.  Hope this helps!

Gary