A "find" function for eid?

[primmiemoo]

Hello all,

Just wondering if any of the eid software technowhizzes have included ~ or are likely to include ~ a "find" command to help sort sheep couples.

Been picking lambs, which is straightforward enough, but finding the dam and any twin of a prime lamb so that the couple can be put into a separate group until selling takes quite some time.

It would be made much easier were I able to task a reader to do this ~ giving a cheery beep or ta-dah! when they're spotted.

Cheers, p.

 

[primmiemoo]

... Of course, a "find" by GPS function would be an occasional but important help for some of the flock members that go astray [sigh] ...

 

[Tim W]

I can do this with my Shearwell software & Psion

 

[Bury the Trash]

yes, but the op will have still needed/need to eartag very early on in order to link the lambs to their mother.as a starting point.

and a lot of money worth for just that reason

 

[yellowbelly]

Been picking lambs, which is straightforward enough, but finding the dam and any twin of a prime lamb so that the couple can be put into a separate group until selling takes quite some time.

When ours go through the scales, this comes up......

2598T U signifies lamb 2598 is a twin(T) that was born unaided(U). Have then to watch out for it's sibling (either 2597 OR 2599) and the dam (1773) coming through to draft off with it.

 

[primmiemoo]

yes, but the op will have still needed/need to eartag very early on in order to link the lambs to their mother.as a starting point.

and a lot of money worth for just that reason

My lot are tagged with eid within their first week, and that's all cross-referenced to dam's records and other lamb/s, so the process should be simple to reverse, I'd hoped.

Using a psion at the moment. If I could patch in a means of the device doing the watching out for a lamb's ma and any twin still at foot for me, I could then shed them out without fuss.

 

[primmiemoo]

When ours go through the scales, this comes up......
View attachment 682318 2598T U signifies lamb 2598 is a twin(T) that was born unaided(U). Have then to watch out for it's sibling (either 2597 OR 2599) and the dam (1773) coming through to draft off with it.

Yup, that's the sort of info that comes up on the handheld ~ the weight/grade has still to be put in manually at the moment, as I'm looking to upgrade the weigher to digital weigh bars.

Longing to waft the handheld over the rest of the group after picking to beep the dam and any sibling/s and shed them in with.

 

[tr250]

All very clever stuff but someone needs to put all this info in at lambing time and correctly or there could be a few thin lambs

 

[primmiemoo]

All very clever stuff but someone needs to put all this info in at lambing time and correctly or there could be a few thin lambs

It's a major problem with sheep, isn't it.

They know who they are, but ...

 

[JD-Kid]

if set up on a spread sheet all the twinning. ewes ranked. and there off spring. on the same sheet they could be put in to a draft file and. would stop or draft them off
we lamb in scaned mobs of breeds there off off spring. recorded as. dam and sire breed so we can follow then we can't link lambs back to dam tho due to outdoor set stocked lambing
a prefix of T or something beside twins etc. could be used for drafting etc
what are you trying to work out ? total weight wean for the ewe and post weaning weight for the ewe etc or. just to split. them out of a mob for different feeding

 

[primmiemoo]

if set up on a spread sheet all the twinning. ewes ranked. and there off spring. on the same sheet they could be put in to a draft file and. would stop or draft them off
we lamb in scaned mobs of breeds there off off spring. recorded as. dam and sire breed so we can follow then we can't link lambs back to dam tho due to outdoor set stocked lambing
a prefix of T or something beside twins etc. could be used for drafting etc
what are you trying to work out ? total weight wean for the ewe and post weaning weight for the ewe etc or. just to split. them out of a mob for different feeding

I'd initially use a "find" function to put lambs picked out as fit into a convenient separate run of fields with their dams and twins for however many days until the lorry comes or, if it's a small lot, popped into the trailer on market day, as garbled in my op. Once weaning has taken place, there's no problem.

I've seen an amazing race/shedding system that could be programmed to do that sort of thing automatically (the flock would have to go through twice, though) but truly can't justify the cost, which is why I'm seeking tweaks to what's already here.

It's a teeny flock in comparison with NZ mobs, but searching through a couple of hundred-couple groups for the right ewes and lambs takes a lot of time. At the moment, ewe lambs are being assessed for potential as replacements as well, so they, too, could be drafted out into another run with their dams as part of one operation with a system that actively indicates dam and any siblings.

Using the handheld and software has really helped focus on identifying elite ewes (you really can't tell by looking sometimes), predicting ewe performance, and has improved weight of lamb sold per ewe off grass. Flipping expensive up front, but gradually working out what else it can do, and what it could do in the future.

 

[JD-Kid]

I'd initially use a "find" function to put lambs picked out as fit into a convenient separate run of fields with their dams and twins for however many days until the lorry comes or, if it's a small lot, popped into the trailer on market day, as garbled in my op. Once weaning has taken place, there's no problem.

I've seen an amazing race/shedding system that could be programmed to do that sort of thing automatically (the flock would have to go through twice, though) but truly can't justify the cost, which is why I'm seeking tweaks to what's already here.

It's a teeny flock in comparison with NZ mobs, but searching through a couple of hundred-couple groups for the right ewes and lambs takes a lot of time. At the moment, ewe lambs are being assessed for potential as replacements as well, so they, too, could be drafted out into another run with their dams as part of one operation with a system that actively indicates dam and any siblings.

Using the handheld and software has really helped focus on identifying elite ewes (you really can't tell by looking sometimes), predicting ewe performance, and has improved weight of lamb sold per ewe off grass. Flipping expensive up front, but gradually working out what else it can do, and what it could do in the future.

yea a lot of gains to be made hard at times. to work out what. things really drive. the. money flow at times
some times nice looking sheep get the nod even tho down on figgers and the. top ewe might. get the arse. on looks

 

[yellowbelly]

searching through a couple of hundred-couple groups for the right ewes and lambs takes a lot of time.

I know what you mean. There's no time to draw our lambs on a market morning, it has to be done a day or two before.

What I do here (which may or may not suit your set up) is bring the mob back to a paddock next to the yard where the race/scales are. I give them half an hour to settle down and they will roughly sort themselves into families. I then draw 20-25 families out with the dog and put them through the race. That way they don't take so much sorting out. Keep doing the same until they've all been through.

 

[JD-Kid]

I know what you mean. There's no time to draw our lambs on a market morning, it has to be done a day or two before.

What I do here (which may or may not suit your set up) is bring the mob back to a paddock next to the yard where the race/scales are. I give them half an hour to settle down and they will roughly sort themselves into families. I then draw 20-25 families out with the dog and put them through the race. That way they don't take so much sorting out. Keep doing the same until they've all been through.

be interesting how many are mixed up with aunties taking one lamb. others mixing up lambs etc etc
know in Ozzie there put a eid reader near a drinking hole and recorded all the ewes and lambs when they went drinking grouped them as to. ewe x traveled with lamb 1 and 2 etc etc. then dna tested them and they were all to hell seemed ewes trade lambs quite a lot kinda make you wonder how good some stud records are if tags are put in in the paddock 2 ewes with twins in a corner may of already swaped lambs

 

[yellowbelly]

be interesting how many are mixed up with aunties taking one lamb. others mixing up lambs etc etc
know in Ozzie there put a eid reader near a drinking hole and recorded all the ewes and lambs when they went drinking grouped them as to. ewe x traveled with lamb 1 and 2 etc etc. then dna tested them and they were all to hell seemed ewes trade lambs quite a lot kinda make you wonder how good some stud records are if tags are put in in the paddock 2 ewes with twins in a corner may of already swaped lambs

Really! Never noticed that happening here, but we're obviously on a much smaller scale and have less 'naturally orientated' systems than you in Oz.

What I have noticed though, is when cade lambs are reared artificially and then turned out with a mob, containing their mothers and siblings, they will often 'tag along' with them (not sucking the ewe, but grazing alongside their original family).

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

be interesting how many are mixed up with aunties taking one lamb. others mixing up lambs etc etc
know in Ozzie there put a eid reader near a drinking hole and recorded all the ewes and lambs when they went drinking grouped them as to. ewe x traveled with lamb 1 and 2 etc etc. then dna tested them and they were all to hell seemed ewes trade lambs quite a lot kinda make you wonder how good some stud records are if tags are put in in the paddock 2 ewes with twins in a corner may of already swaped lambs

There was a trial being conducted in NZ several years ago where the lambs were tagged when they were first drenched and then allowed to walk between two paddocks with an EID scanner set up in a narrow aperture. This way the ewe would go through first and her lamb(s) would follow. If you use a program to calculate the likelihood of the lambs following the ewe as being hers then you get a high likelihood of getting the correct ewe to lambs.

Do you know if this was successful JD?

 

[JD-Kid]

There was a trial being conducted in NZ several years ago where the lambs were tagged when they were first drenched and then allowed to walk between two paddocks with an EID scanner set up in a narrow aperture. This way the ewe would go through first and her lamb(s) would follow. If you use a program to calculate the likelihood of the lambs following the ewe as being hers then you get a high likelihood of getting the correct ewe to lambs.

Do you know if this was successful JD?

that would of been much like the Ozzie. trial and found some interesting. out comes
true story mate has a corrie stud and as we have seen if using white and black faced rams we see the odd ewe with both back and white lambs. wee smirk think. tart
ok. guy had. all white mated. ewes and ewes to black face in 2 mobs mid winter kids helping feed out left gate open mate thought he got. the black faced mob out as they had only just come in (rams out by this stage )
any how come lambing a few sets of white only lambs in the blacks and some black twins in the whites BUT. then ewes with one each shaped lambs at birth or soon after
I can't recall the numbers but think the cross over is high and even if taged at drenching the bond would be there. as a ewe with twins. even. tho they may not both be hers unless. proven by DNA testing
the idea I think was to match. lambs back to dam in a simple. hands off system but it has. a degree of error in the system

 

[JD-Kid]

Really! Never noticed that happening here, but we're obviously on a much smaller scale and have less 'naturally orientated' systems than you in Oz.

What I have noticed though, is when cade lambs are reared artificially and then turned out with a mob, containing their mothers and siblings, they will often 'tag along' with them (not sucking the ewe, but grazing alongside their original family).

find here with. ewes lambing the have there. wee lambing groups of aunts etc see ewes left on guard to look after lambs while. others away grazing the. stronger the early bonds in a group it seems to flow on to later years
with. EID noticing lambs born as singles seem more shy and even. notice in ewe that are repeat singles seen shy and un sure of them selfs. lambs. from twins or repeat twinners. more forward ewes and mob up better when moved ....