How do I get more cows? Raiding has been successful, but what is the most effective trick?

Peace clan, magic spent in herds, miracles that helps your herds, lots of cattle raiding, good amount of patrols so that you are not the one being raided, usage of goods for trade and sacrifice (also some gods favor goods over cows) and careful management of your temples, since while they are a cost-effective way of having miracles active, they still have a maintenance cost attached.

I'm afraid I need help here because there are a couple of things that aren't adding up.

1) I am a peace clan, and the begging sucked. I have ended all feuds and have 18 weapon thanes but out of horses. luckily I don't seem to get raided anymore. problem is I only have 398 cattle.

2) it might be a coincidence of events but I think in previous attempts my cattle raids seem to move the victimized clans into a feud with me. is this just my imagination and that maybe some events just happen to coincide with the cattle raids? feuds mean I get raided and I can't replace the thanes that I do have so I'd like a peaceful solution

3) number 2 brings me to point 3. how do cattle grow? I have all blessings for fertility but from sacred time to sacred time I actually didn't gain any cattle. I'm wondering if this is a once a year thing that they increase or seasonal or what?

I do make enough food and goods to trade because I have 8 trading routes so luckily I can still get some essentials done, but I'm hurting for cattle.

oh and this is the iOS version but I do have the pc version as well however having it mobile kicks butt

ok I went two years succefully driving off all raid attempts and didn't have anything say I lost cattle, and I made sure my pastures were double what was needed and yet I am loosing cattle every year! I'm loosing cattle so the temples are too much and yet I have all the blessings for herds and 2 points of herd magic. the only thing I didn't do was complete uralda's heroquest

Have you tried doing the Uralda's heroquest?
You can get a nice herd from that or a magic item that should increase cow fertility.

Maybe you don't have enough cows anymore to renew the herd? 400 cows is terribly low for a normal clan (normally, my cows are 800-1000. I get very uncomfortable when I get under 650
I think Uralda could save you. Or break you if you fail the quest...

And cattle raid isn't a major offence, but it does irritate your neighbours, so if they didn't like you, it's possible the raid sent them over the edge and started the feud. Esp if you raid the same victim every time.

I managed to get up to 1900 cows because of my insane trading routes. and they seem to be marinating themselves now

There certainly can be coincidences, but nobody likes being cattle raided. You obviously don’t have much vision into the internals of other clans, but they could be nursing grudges for years until a straw breaks the camel’s back.

IIRC most animals are born in Sea Season. (Or maybe it’s Storm Season? I’m not a farmer so I don’t know these things off the top of my head.) Quite a bit of magic can affect this.

Playing at harder levels starts you out with smaller herds, so any problems get magnified.

doles having extra pasture matter? I think you just want a little more so you can grow into it than you really need. i did not notice any affect from this.

how do you tell how much cattle you are using for your temples? This is confusing. you can click on them to build and it tells you one at a time.

In general, ask your advisors. Someone on the Magic screen should let you know your annual temple costs. These are ongoing, unlike the cost to dedicate a temple.

(The iOS version has a bit more information in advice, such as how you spent relevant Sacred Time magic. But the whole point of advisors is to tell you what you need to know.)

Beyond the basic amount needed to avoid overcrowding (a noble on the ring with high animals skill can tell you exactly how much), pasture land doesn't make any difference to the number of animals.