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flock management software?


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You may be a computer geek - but you also raise delicious lamb, Deb! I'm remiss in not telling you how much we enjoyed your lamb chops (one of our first meals in the new house), or the stuffed peppers we had last week. YUM!!!

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4-H ewe forms & a three-ring binder, plus a Rite-in-the-Rain notebook for field use. I tried software, and went back to handwritten, paper notes. It worked much better for me. I kept up with two separate flocks, ~100 ewes each. I'm sure the software is much better now (I tried it in 2004-2005), but it seemed overly complicated at the time.

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Hi,

 

I use FlockFiler. The developer understands the business and he lets you "test drive" the software before purchasing it.

 

The Lite version is very affordable ($49.95 US); provides health, breeding, and management capability; and it works on Windows and Mac's. You can read about it and download it here < http://www.flockfiler.com/ >.

 

Deb

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Thanks, Ben!

 

I think the key would be to transfer field notes to the laptop/tablet. That requires discipline. ....

But that is almost always the issue.

 

These days a number of larger farms in the UK are using RFID equipment and associated software (electronic ID is compulsory in the UK). Something like this http://www.shearwell.co.uk/p/112/shearwell-stock-recorder . I,ve seen some demos of this and have been on a couple of farms where this sort of system is used. One (over 1000 ewes) bought into the whole Shearwell system - RFID weight crates etc - and it certainly made his record keeping much easier . Another (approx 350 sheep) had just a scanner and associated software ( - different brand/software but I can't remember what it was). I think he found it useful for tracking animal movements on/off farm, but too much work for collating additional info and still kept paper records as Ben described.

 

From my perspective - as a small flock owner - buying into RFID technology is just too expensive to justify...maybe one day. So I''m also very interested in identifying software that is not only easy/quick to input all the data but also intuitive and informative to interrogate afterwards , Thanks Lynn for starting the thread.

 

Deb's suggestion looks interesting,

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Thanks, Deb! FlockFiler was the one recommended to me by someone at my FAMACHA class at the Sheep and Wool festival the other weekend. Glad to have you second the endorsement.

 

I agree, Maxi, an RFID system seems out of my price range (especially since I just got the first estimate for bringing the electrical in the barn up to code - $4K - OUCH!).

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Does anyone know if a developer has included code that can "read" a barcode on an ear tag or the printed number on the ear tag from a picture taken with a phone?

 

Take a picture of a ear tag and add notes in the field using a phone then import the notes to the flock database using the photo of the ear tag to link to the animal in the database.

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Does anyone know if a developer has included code that can "read" a barcode on an ear tag or the printed number on the ear tag from a picture taken with a phone?

 

Take a picture of a ear tag and add notes in the field using a phone then import the notes to the flock database using the photo of the ear tag to link to the animal in the database.

 

flock filer is a FileMaker Pro database. Filemaker has FilemakerGo which will run on iPhone or iPad. FileMaker go can use the camera on an iPhone to scan a barcode (not a photo but actually read the barcode) into any data field. I have used it for inventory applications. I haven't tried it with FlockFiler but It ought to work. Or, you could write your own over the course of a weekend if all you wanted was scan barcode --> add notes.

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