Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for goat and sheep farms.
A checklist built from how goat and sheep farms work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Mob and individual register
- Joining, scanning and birth log
- Kid and lamb survival to weaning
- Drench, vaccine and foot-care plan
- Shearing and fleece grading
- Paddock rotation and grazing days
- Goat milk records and sales
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For owners
- For shepherds
- For breeding managers
- For visiting vets
- For the sales desk
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Weaned young per breeding female, by sire and by joining group
- Losses between birth and weaning, with recorded reasons
- Drench and vaccine rounds done and due, by mob
- Egg counts and colour scores for animals treated
- Greasy fleece weight and grade per sheep, with bale lots
- Grazing days and rest periods by paddock
- Sales by class with live weight, buyer and destination
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- Electronic tag readers
- Weigh scale entry
- SMS
- Accounting export
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Can it follow a kid or lamb back to its mother?
- Can we keep unsorted market lambs as a counted mob?
- How does it help with worm control?
- Can sheep and goats share the same paddock plan?
- What does the wool buyer receive?
- Does it record goat milk for a processor?
- Can the shepherd work without a signal?
- Who keeps the flock records if the farm leaves?
- How are the first mobs loaded?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Weaned kids have no known mother
- Worm control runs on a calendar, not on counts
- Joining dates are lost between seasons
- Paddock use is judged by eye
- Fleece and market weights stay in notebooks
Prefer to talk it through? See the goat and sheep farms page.