The power of the wand: boosting profit by identifying poor performers

Tim Gole, For Flocks Sake, gave his talk as part of a information day hosted by Tooraweenah Prime Lamb Marketing Co-operative.

Dr Gole said at the producer level, eID was not just about driving production, but also identifying the poorer performers to weed them out.

"That's how we bring our average up," he said.

"They take all the money and - probably more importantly - they take all the time. I think more and more, time is the scarcest resource."

The easiest way for producers to get started using eID data was to use a scanning contractor, as they would already have the necessary equipment, he said.

Once they had scanned and carried out a draft, the contractor would email the producer the data file.

Dr Gole said there were numerous programs that could be used to interpret the data, ranging from Excel to BreedElite, and each had their pros and cons.

He used Gallagher equipment, but said most providers were similar in that producers could also use a stick reader as a way to draft by creating a list on the computer.

The list could include categories like dry, singles and twins and could be synced to the wand.

"I now run my ewes back in, and I can go up my race with a can of paint. I can wand it, and it'll go: dry, wand it: single, wand it: twin," he said.

"I can unbox my entire mob."

The stick reader could help draft whether the mob was boxed accidentally or by design.

In the case of grazing management, producers may want to box mobs together to maximise their stocking rate before needing to split them again in the leadup to lambing.

"Now I can unbox them, now I can use this as a tool to break them down into smaller mobs and can maximise my lamb survivability," he said.

"Now I'm playing in a bigger game because I can run a better operation with eID."

Another example of improving efficiencies was creating a cull list.

The stick reader would identify the tag and the animal could then be placed on the list, even if it was not physically drafted out immediately, he said.

"The problem is spotting a cull, and recording it, and drafting it out by itself, is painful. And when it's painful, it doesn't get done," he said.

"We're allowing them to be identified permanently. All year, anytime you see a sheep you don't like, it get wanded.

"Cull now or cull later - it doesn't matter, because we've got their number."

Other tips for making the most of eID and the subsequent equipment included having a practice run the night before to iron out any potential issues with Bluetooth connectivity, charging all devices regardless of when they were last used, and turning off the screen backlight on all gear.

Like a mobile phone, having a bright backlight would drain the battery, he said. He also recommended staying away from metal objects, as it could impair the machine's ability to read tags.

"The other one is stray tags. Tags in the dirt or tags in your pocket - the machine hates that. It thinks there's one sheep staying in the same spot," he said.