Posted: 29 January 2024

Preparation for EID recording in 2024
2024 is only a week away.  For those who are not yet performance recording their sheep for flock improvement but who want to start in 2024, now is the time to prepare.

What do your need?  
1. A tag reader. The Agrident range of readers will all allow you to record management data. All Agrident readers supplied by TGM have the sheep and goat recording software pre-installed.
2. Software to go with the tag reader.  For some users, the free software which is supplied by TGM is sufficient for viewing the recorded data on a windows computer. Other users may want to use the more comprehensive Select Sheepware from TGM.  Others may want to use a phone based solution.

How do you get the sheep into the software system?  If you use the free AgriDataTransfer software, you don’t need to add your sheep before recording births. The birth data will transfer from reader to computer and be displayed in a spreadsheet type format – EID of the ewe, date of lambing, number of lambs, EID(s) of lamb(s) etc. If you want to use Select Sheepware and already have your sheep data in spreadsheet format, or you’ve been recording with Sheep Ireland, Signet, or a different software system, then contact TGM to discuss how to import the data from wherever it currently is to Select Sheepware. If you want to use a phone app system, discuss with the phone app supplier how to get the sheep into the system.

What happens next? When lambing begins, you use the reader to scan the ewe, record how many lambs she has, scan the tag of each lamb and enter the lamb details – sex, breed, weight etc. This can all be done directly on the reader. If you don’t want to tag the lamb at birth, you can spray mark the lambs. The Agrident readers allow you to enter the spray mark of the lambs linked back to the ewe. The lambs can be EID tagged later, before the spray mark wears off and the link to the mother will be retained.

What if you already use AgriDataTransfer and want to upgrade to Select Sheepware?  The data in AgriDataTransfer can be imported to Select Sheepware. Contact TGM and get this done as soon as possible so that everything is ready to go when lambing starts.

After recording births what next?  To get comprehensive performance data, you need to weigh your lambs.  Ideally you want to weight them at least twice, once around 56 days and once around 90 days.  Select Sheepware adjusts the weights to 56 day and 90 day weights, according to the age of the lambs at weighing. Once that’s done, if you’re using Select Sheepware, you’ll have ewe, ram and lamb performance reports available. You can identify the ewes with the highest performance according to lamb weights at 56 days and/or 90 days. For the rams, you will see the average 56 day and 90 day weights of his offspring, which helps identify the rams producing the fastest growing lambs. For the lambs, you can filter out the best performing lambs from the best performing mothers as your selection pool for replacement for the next year.

What if you don’t have a Bluetooth Weigh Scale?  The APR450 and APR600 readers have a full numeric keypad, which enables fast entry of weights from a non Bluetooth scale.
If you’re a member of Sheep Ireland or Signet, Select Sheepware can enable you to send the recorded data directly. All births, movement on and off, tuppings, pregnancy scan results and weights  The free AgriDataTransfer creates two files for sheep Ireland – weighing file and sales file.
A future newsletter will have more information on what to do later in the season when tupping and pregnancy scanning is being recorded.  Please see our website,  Facebook and Youtube videos of readers being used on farms.

Season’s Greetings

Merry Christmas and a successful 2024 lambing season to all of our customers and friends.