Decision Making Software

Five case studies have been conducted on the use of eID. Download the brochure and case studies below.

Profit margins for feedlotting can be low and it is important that producers accurately estimate the profitability of such ventures prior to committing resources to this labour intensive activity. The web based gross margin feedlot calculator developed by Dave Stanley and Geoff Duddy of NSW DPI enables the user to enter different real time production, economic and feeding scenarios to estimate likely profit for a lamb feedlotting enterprise. For those not experienced with lamb feedlotting it is suggested that the linked nutrition information (eg. agnote on feedlotting lambs) be read.

The Lamb Growth Predictor is a useful tool for making management decisions in lamb production systems. It uses repeated live-weights to calculate individual growth rates and adjusts these (for expected conditions) for future weight predictions. It predicts how many animals will reach a target weight on a specified date and how many animals will reach target weight.

This model assists producers to decide the appropriate number of ewes to allocate to self-replacing Merino matings and first cross matings, with the aim of maintaining a sustainable self-replacing flock.

The OFFM calculator assists commercial wool producers to determine whether fleece measurement is likely to be a profitable practice for their flock. Using basic information on flock structure and performance, the calculator shows the likely profit from four areas of production: hogget clip preparation, adult clip preparation, ewe selection and wether selection. The returns are shown in a simple graphical format over a ten year period and offer some suggested changes for increasing profit by altering structure or selection method.

This calculator was developed to estimate and compare the dollar ($) value of rams within a commercial flock. It relies on base flock information for the ewes (and adult wethers) and estimates the consequences of individual rams mated to this flock by modelling the flow of genes from each ram through generations of ewes.

Selection Assist enables producers or their advisors or classers to compare results from different breeding directions, so as to choose which is most applicable to their flock. The program predicts the likely outcome of selected breeding objectives. It also shows the impact of reproductive rates and where the progress can come from within a flock.

This software was developed to allocate animals into their most appropriate “meat” or “wool” groups according to individual information on the animals (eg. fibre diameter (FD) and body weight (BW)). In combination the wool animals will have a lower average micron and the meat group a higher average body weight, rather than just a “select” group and an alternative group.

Smart Merino is a decision support software system designed to assist in planning a Merino-based wool production enterprise, using four integrated tools:

• Merino vs Terminal Sire Flock Calculator;
• On-Farm Fibre Measurement (OFFM);
• Wether calculator;
• Flock Structure Tool.

This calculator shows the economic consequences of varying the proportion of wethers within flocks of varying fibre diameter over a range of meat values for surplus stock. A range of selection options are also available for consideration. It relies on base flock information to be entered and uses these to make predictions on future fibre diameter (FD), fleece weight (FW) and body weight (BW). Meat and wool pricing options are then applied to these predictions to determine gross margins and shows the optimal economic proportion of wethers within the flock (the decision for including wethers or not is determined on more factors than just economics).