EID On A Large Scale - Nigel Elgar

Nigel uses FarmIT3000 to manage Cannon Farm, a commercial organic stock farm in the hills above Llanerfyl, Mid Wales.

With over 1000 breeding ewes the thought of individually tagging and recording every lamb born on the farm would be seen by many as impossible, however Nigel does so with remarkable ease and has done for a number of years.

He has used FarmIT for the last three years. Keeping accurate records for this number of sheep has only been possible using Electronic Identification and the GES II Reader which allows Nigel not only to identify the animal but also record information about the animal, whether that be Lambing Data, Weighing Data or just obtaining a list of animals to treat, feed or move. Without this it would be very difficult to keep the records at all and there are great advantages to using EID.

 The time taken to input the data on the computer is reduced to almost zero, as the data is simply imported automatically from the reader, and accuracy is improved dramatically as manual typing errors are removed. All this gives Nigel more time to analyse the data and manage his farm accordingly.

As to cost - Nigel feels the benefits identified by better recording have improved the quality not only of the breeding animals but also the carcass weights of lambs, more than justifying the extra cost of the EID tag.

One problem that has been recently resolved is with the reading of EID's of ewes that are bolused. When reading boluses in a race with a hand held reader the fact that the bolus is actually under the animal can make it difficult, however the use of an external stick antenna with GES II Reader makes this much easier as Nigels comments confirm:

"At Cannon Farm sheep are electronically recorded at every movement or treatment. The ease of this operation has been increased significantly by the use of a stick antennae for the GES II reader. Instead of having to put the GES reader against either the ear, for tags, or the body of the sheep, for boluses, the antennae allows easy access to wherever the EID is located and keeps the reading on the GES II reader visible at all times. This speeds up recording and reduces the physical effort to virtually nothing. Misreads are less likely as the antennae is switched to read only when it is in the right place. When handling wet sheep the use of an antennae helps keep the GES II reader drier and therefore less likely to become illegible due to damp and dirt. Work rates are up and effort down."