Track each breeding group, kidding or lambing season, drench and fleece by animal and mob.

A flock or herd is worked in lots. A breeding group goes to the buck or ram on one date. Lambs and kids arrive within a few weeks of each other, and the whole mob is drenched, shorn or weaned together. The trouble is that losses and good performers are individual.

Records for goat and sheep farms start with the mob and the ewe or doe, because the number of live young weaned per breeding female is what the year is judged on. Share your requirements first.

Does and ewes are joined with a selected buck or ram for a set period, then scanned or checked for pregnancy. Breeding stock carry ear tags, while market kids and lambs are often counted by mob. Near birth, the shepherd moves females to a kidding or lambing paddock and notes each birth, the number of young, who mothered up and which ones were lost. Weak ones are fostered or bottle fed. Tails are docked and young are tagged before the mob is moved back out to pasture with the mothers that have taken to them.

The year is busy. The farm drenches against worms, vaccinates, trims feet and rotates paddocks as the grass thins. Sheep are shorn once or twice and the fleece is graded and baled. Goat dairies milk by hand or machine and send milk to a buyer. Weaned animals are weighed and sold at a market, to a butcher or an agent, and each sale needs a count and a movement record.