Farm Smart: New sheep management tool, Flockwatch helping farmers become more profitable

Tom and Michael Staunton farm on the banks of Lough Mask in Co. Mayo — home to their flock, aptly named Mask View. The family has a proud history of sheep farming spanning four generations. Today, the farm runs over 300 ewes, including a pedigree flock of Bluefaced Leicesters and crossbred ewes producing mules as part of the Mayo Mule Producer Group.

Tom took over from his father in the early 1980s. In the beginning, the farm ran a mixed enterprise with both cattle and sheep. However, over time he decided the land was better suited to sheep alone. As a result, he focused entirely on building the flock — growing it year on year to where it is today.

Four generations of sheep farming — and the next step forward

Michael has been involved in sheep farming all his life. Furthermore, he played an active role in the development of the Herdwatch sheep management tool. That hands-on involvement gave him a clear sense of what the app could offer — not just for the wider industry, but for his own farm.

Tom also points out something useful for existing Herdwatch users. Sheep by Herdwatch works exactly the same way as the cattle app. The features, the layout, the orange button — all identical. In other words, if you already use Herdwatch, you can pick this up and use it on the spot with no learning curve at all.

From paper and Excel to Sheep by Herdwatch

Performance recording has always been a priority for the Stauntons. However, doing it well was a time-consuming process. Before Sheep by Herdwatch, all data was recorded on paper and transferred into Excel spreadsheets. It was slow, prone to errors, and difficult to interpret when decisions needed to be made.

Now, all the information they need is on their phones — accessible in seconds. Consequently, decisions that previously took hours can be made in minutes.

Getting the flock into Sheep by Herdwatch with EID reader integration

Unlike cattle, sheep cannot be easily downloaded in bulk. With over 300 ewes, scanning the flock in manually would have been a significant task. However, the EID reader integration in Sheep by Herdwatch makes the process straightforward.

The EID reader connects to the app via Bluetooth in seconds. With sheep in a race or shed, all Tom or Michael has to do is scan through them with the reader and each ewe goes straight into the app. From there, the flock can be grouped by rams, ewes, culled ewes, lambs, and more — making medicine recording, breeding, and weighing far simpler.

Error-free medicine recording

Before Sheep by Herdwatch, dosing records were kept in a notebook. When dosing 50 or 60 sheep at a time, keeping track of every tag number that had been treated was almost impossible. As a result, records were often incomplete and double-dosing was a genuine risk.

Now, with the EID reader connected, the process takes seconds. Pull up the app, input the remedy being used, scan through the flock in the race, and save. Every sheep that was treated is recorded — instantly and accurately.

In addition, all medicines purchased from the vet go straight into the app. Therefore, when a Bord Bia audit arrives, the records are already there — no scrambling, no preparation the night before.

Breeding management — more lambs from the same ewes

For the Stauntons, the most important benefit of Sheep by Herdwatch is what it does for their breeding programme. Managing data through the full breeding cycle means they can identify their best and worst performing animals — and make better decisions at the end of each year.

At lambing, each lamb is matched to its sire and dam in seconds. Throughout the year, weighing, scanning, lambing, and breeding records are all captured in the app. As a result, at the end of the year the Stauntons know exactly which rams worked best, which ewes performed, and which animals need to be culled.

The key features Tom and Michael use include:

• EID reader integration — scan ewes and lambs directly into the app
• Lambing records — match sire, dam, and lamb data in seconds
• Flock grouping — split ewes by ram, breeding group, or management task
• Medicine recording — scan and record treatments at dosing time
• Weighing and performance reports — track individual and group gains
• Bord Bia inspection reports — generated instantly from the app

You can read more real farmer stories on our farm case studies page.