livestock
Victorian producers learning about the
opportunities for sheep management using eID.
Photo – Sheep CRC.
Electronic ID brings benefits
for sheep producers
Electronic identification tags for sheep can be a great tool for producers, helping refine selection, culling and
management processes. However, before buying a lot of expensive gadgetry it is essential to have a clear
understanding of how the information will add value to your enterprise. By Jill Griffiths
At a glance: eid
▸▸ Electronic identification (eID) of sheep is
a relatively low cost and efficient means
of gathering and organising valuable
data.
▸▸ EID enables producers to move from
mob-based management to managing
groups of animals according to their
production or risk characteristics.
▸▸ It is important to know how best to use
the data before you begin collecting it.
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F
arm consultant Nathan Scott,
Achieve Ag Solutions, has helped
deliver the courses from the
Cooperative Research Centre for
Sheep Industry Innovation (Sheep CRC)
and the Victoria Department of Primary
Industries on using electronic identification
tags (eID) in the sheep industry.
Nathan says producers can be confused or
alternatively seduced by the technological
side of implementing eIDs and says it is
sobering to liken the eIDs to chairs at a
conference.
“You don’t go to a seminar to look at the
chair you sit on; you go for the information
you will receive and what you will learn
from it,” he said. “Electronic ear tags are
the same – the tag itself is really just a tag;
what’s important is the information you
collect and, even more important, what you
do with that information once you have
collected it.
“Switching to eIDs won’t solve every
producer’s problems, but they can be a
great tool. The ease of data collection and
manipulation they offer is fabulous.
“They can move an enterprise from
working on mob averages to a far more
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livestock
Nathan Scott (left) training sheep producers in eID technologies. Photo – Sheep CRC.
individualised data set where individuals are
monitored throughout their lives and their
performance recorded.”
Electronic identification tags for sheep
have been around for over a decade now,
with stud breeders the early adopters of the
technology.
Nathan said that for stud breeders, eID is
an obvious tool to use.
Nathan said. “Under traditional mob-based
management much of this variation remains
within the flock throughout their time on the
property.”
The eID system allow producers to
maximise returns from the most productive
animals within the flock, whilst minimising
the cost incurred from the least productive.
“Electronic identification is not a silver
“Before electronic tags, we were still collecting data for the
commercial sheep. We’d be in the yards, reading tag numbers,
reading bits of paper – now sheep just come across the scale
and we flick the ear tag. It takes about a tenth of the time and
is much simpler and more accurate.”
– Rob Kelly
“The stud breeders are collecting the
data anyway. The eID tags provide a much
quicker and easier way to collect the data.”
The system works by identifying
individual animals with an electronic (radio
frequency identification) ear tag which
can then be read by a scanner, much the
same as a supermarket bar-code scanner.
The scanned data is then logged and can
be downloaded to any device the producer
wants to use. Usually it is incorporated into
an Excel-based spreadsheet on a computer
or tablet.
Maximising returns
“Within any flock there is a level of variation
in the performance of individual animals,”
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bullet; it simply makes all the necessary
data collection more accurate, more labour
efficient, easier and therefore more likely to
occur.”
This has certainly been the experience of
Merino producer Rob Kelly, who, with his
wife Fiona, runs a 1500ha property in New
England, New South Wales. The Kellys
began using eID in their breeding flock in
2001 and in their commercial ewes in 2003.
“As of 2012, we started putting electronic
tags in all the young sheep and as of this
year, all our sheep will be electronically
tagged,” Rob said.
Easy data manipulation
“The most important thing for us is the
accuracy of data recording and the time
efficiency. The ease of being able to move
data around is a real bonus,” Rob continued.
The Kellys collect data on pedigree,
weights, fat score, pregnancy status and
objectively measured wool traits (wool
weight and fibre diameter) to build an index
for the flock. From this, the less profitable
sheep are either culled from the flock or
joined to terminal sires. Depending on price
and seasonal conditions, the top 3% animals
are selected for the breeding flock, with the
remainder forming the commercial flock.
“Before electronic tags, we were still
collecting data for the commercial sheep.
We’d be in the yards, reading tag numbers,
reading bits of paper – now sheep just come
across the scale and we flick the ear tag. It
takes about a tenth of the time and is much
simpler and more accurate,” Rob said.
“At this stage we don’t need flashy gear;
we only have a stick reader, scale head and
a set of weigh bars, which we need for our
cattle trading enterprise anyway. One set of
gear can do all the operations.
“There’s a lot more we could add. If
the premium for fine wool lifts we would
possibly look at purchasing an auto-draft,
but without the premium it’s not profitable
to do so.
“With the use of the index, the adult flock
(consisting of 2000 wethers and 1600 ewes)
now averages 16.8 micron. About 10 years
ago we were an 18.3 micron flock.”
Rob attributes a large portion – around
1.3 micron – of the fleece improvement to
measuring and data collection. Fleece cuts
have also increased.
“Pregnancy scanning is not yet fully
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livestock
Rob Powell collecting data using eID equipment at lamb marking time. Photo – Sheep CRC
automated, but we are hoping it will be
this year. This will result in the ewes all
being recorded so no spray will be required
to separate the ewes; it’s all linked to the
tag. When the ewes are brought in for
shearing (six weeks before lambing), they
are split into pre-lambing groups based on
pregnancy status and fat score. Our current
weaning rate is 87% from ewes joined,”
he said.
According to Rob, it is slightly more
expensive to use electronic ear tags but the
difference (about $1.30 per animal by his
calculations) is not huge money and is well
worth it in terms of time savings and ease of
data collection and manipulation.
“At certain levels, it means you might do
a job that you wouldn’t otherwise do. The
whole process is easier,” he said.
Not just about the
technology
Lu Hogan (Sheep CRC) says stud breeders
have been quick to see the value proposition
of the technology and that other producers
are now also seeing it.
“In 2011, a Sheep CRC survey of 1000
producers found that 7% were using eID
tags with their sheep and a further 22%
were considering using them,” she said.
“When the survey was repeated in 2014 the
numbers had crept up to 8% using and 23%
considering.
“The technology is very attractive to
young people coming in to the sheep
industry. As far as technology goes, it’s
right up there with anything happening
with precision ag in cropping. But it is not
just about technology. Really it’s about the
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additional information that producers can
collect and how they use it.
“We are going from a mob-based
approach and working off mob averages
for management towards a more individual
approach. We can gather data that goes to
an individual animal’s story and that can be
used for better management and selection
and breeding purposes. Groups can be
selected within the flock and management
targeted to those groups.”
Broad industry relevance
Lu says electronic ID has relevance for
many sheep producers, be they running
Merino enterprises or prime lamb. Nathan
Scott agrees, saying that the data collection
made possible through use of an eID system
makes it possible for prime lamb producers
with self-replacing flocks to use a two-tier
culling system.
“Pedigree MatchMaker (PMM) is a
walk-by system that uses electronic tags
to estimate associations between ewes and
their lambs, and provides the ability to trace
individual animal pedigrees,” Nathan said.
“Through the use of Pedigree
MatchMaker and recording individual
weaning weights, a ewe flock can be ranked
based on the kilograms of lamb each ewe
has weaned. This allows the producer to
rank the flock based on kilograms weaned
per ewe, culling the worst performers and
capitalising on the most profitable sheep.
“The hardest part of implementing an
eID system is making sure producers only
collect data that is relevant to their own
KPIs and their own enterprise. The key is to
focus on what they are trying to achieve.”
Opportunities to
learn more
Producers wanting to learn about the
technology and understand how it may
benefit their enterprise can now participate
in a course run by the Sheep CRC.
Lu Hogan says the courses offer
producers an insight into how eID may fit
with their business and their expectations.
“We are running the courses across
Australia, on demand,” she said. “We need
about 10 people to sign up to run them and
they cost $120 per business for the two-day
course.
“In the course we focus on the bigger
picture and demonstrate the opportunities
that are available and the equipment that
is most useful. We talk about what data
should be collected to progress the business
and participants go away with a plan
for investment in data collection and its
effective use. We also help to plan the next
steps – who to contact and how to make
a start.”
For information on the course “eID in
sheep management in breeding” contact:
Lu Hogan, Sheep CRC.
[email protected]
0427 687 432.
Other contacts:
Rob Kelly
[email protected]
0437 773551
Nathan Scott, Achieve Ag Solutions
[email protected]
0409 493 346
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