[Great Holt]

Hello, I’m totally new to sheep and shall be getting some soon. Can any of you tell me about your record keeping? How you do it, any tips, things you wished you’d kept a note of from the start? Any info would be greatly appreciated. I’ll be starting off with a small number (14) so I’ve got no excuse not to get things right from the start!! Plus any general advice is always welcome! xxx

[Black Sheep]

After looking at a number of the software/online offerings and either finding their cost too great or their functionality too basic I've reverted to a spreadsheet. It's still a bit more basic than I'd like but at least the data is there if I want to do something with it.

I have a main table of the individual animals (one per row) that stores record number, status (current, reference, removed), flock and individual animal names, flock number and individual number (combined = the tag number), breed tag number, group name/colour (management identifiers), gender and sex, castration date. breed, number of horns, date of birth and current age (calculated), birth type, sire, dam, date acquired, time in flock (calculated), date of removal and reason for removal (sale, death, slaughter).

This is brought together using a pivot table to create an individual animal sheet that self-populates, including a several generation pedigree, to show all the pertinent information about one sheep once I select the animal from the slicer.

I have a further sheet, populated using look ups once I enter the individual tag number (the digits after the zeros), int which I enter any weight and condition score data I gather. I have set up a pivot table to pull this together from which I have a graph that plots each individual animal's weight over time. The slicer allows me to filter the graph for any of the management groups I have set up or just look at selected individuals.

Aside from this I have keep paper records of lambing at the time and use these to estimate gestation dates (so far a reasonable degree of intra-animal consistency) and note down any problems.

To begin with, with only a few sheep, record everything - it won't be that much work and a notebook will be sufficient. Over time you'll get a feel for what data helps you most and you can refine things. But my advice would be definitely note down any problems so you can spot any trends and definitely record weights.

[twizzel]

I have a breeding and service book with all my flock ewes recorded in it, then a spreadsheet for each years lambs for recording weights, litter size etc.

[shep53]

What about the official Holding Register that every one should have ??

[Buttermilk]

I have a desk diary where I note everything day to day.  Movement and medicine record books as per regulations.  I have found that for me putting things on paper is better than using a computer.  On the year planner pages I put in things like dates to put the teaser ram in, when to put in the live rams and take them out.  When to vaccinate ect.  Under the daily headings I note if anyone is not happy for any reason ie slight limp ect.  Lamb weights, when bales of hay or haylage are given and when fields are changed.  This way I can easily see what is happening and compare to previous years.

I blame my college years where each enterprise had a day book, pre computers.

[Dan]

After looking at a number of the software/online offerings and either finding their cost too great or their functionality too basic

We're working (slowly) on a web-based management tool for small flocks, including breeding, medicines, movements, with a diary / planner / reminders built in.

We'll be looking for a small number of testers this autumn / winter if all goes to plan, and looking for feedback on pricing and features.

If you're interested and want to receive updates on progress please subscribe here: https://eflock.co.uk/

[Womble]

This might sound a bit strange, but my one regret is that we started out recording all movements electronically on the government system, and then later realised that it's easier just to do it using the traditional carbon copy pad instead, with the returns sent by snail mail!


The official holding register is exactly that, and ONLY records movements on and off, plus deaths.

Then we have a diary spreadsheet which we put in everything that happens. it has the following columns:

Date   
Animal(s) - e.g. "all ewes" / "all lambs" / "Buttercup"   
Observation / Treatment - e.g. "seen limping front left, sprayed with purple gunk"   
Meds Used - E.g. Purple gunk, [batch number if applicable]   
Quantity Each   e.g. 2ml
No. Treated   
Meat Withdrawal Period   
Person Administering

Then we have another tab on the spreadsheet which is our flock record. In that, we record the tag numbers and parentage of each sheep, plus the number of lambs they had each year. This tab is colour coded according to maternal line.

This is really interesting in our case, since although we didn't set out to do this, 70% of our flock now stems from one key ewe we bought early on, who turned out to be amazing. Her daughters then turned out to be amazing too, as did their daughters, and six years on, just about everybody is now related to her in some way!!

[Black Sheep]

We're working (slowly) on a web-based management tool for small flocks, including breeding, medicines, movements, with a diary / planner / reminders built in.

We'll be looking for a small number of testers this autumn / winter if all goes to plan, and looking for feedback on pricing and features.

If you're interested and want to receive updates on progress please subscribe here: https://eflock.co.uk/

Oooh yes definitely and would be happy to help testing. I've subscribed. Thanks.