PSM Software

Many decision support and operational tools for Precision Sheep Management have been developed through the Sheep CRC. Most of these can be downloaded freely from this website (below). There are some products listed below which require specialised training, and licensing in some cases, before gaining access to the tools. Training for these tools is available. Please click here for training dates.

 

All of the software relies on macros to complete the calculations. The default settings in MS Excel have security set to high. To enable macros to run, this needs to be set to medium prior to opening any tools. This process is listed below. These security settings will only need to be changed once, but please ensure that macros are ‘enabled’ when prompted every time each tool is opened.

 

To enable macros, MS Excel security must be set to Medium or Low. To do this:
Open a blank MS Excel spreadsheet
Choose:Tools > Macro > Security
Select: Security Level > Medium

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.

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 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).

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.

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.

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.

Smart Merino was developed to enable one entry screen to be used where base flock information could be entered once and transferred between each of four decision support tools:

It also allows changes from each tool to be updated back into this sheet so each change is progressively included for the overall management decision. The other advantage of using this tool is the ability to be able to compare where the flock was heading and the responses expected if adopting the suggested changes. These results can be viewed on the summary sheet and show both the production changes as well as expected economic responses.
 

This software is only available after completion of training. For further information please contact Cheryl Pope.

Pedigree Matrix is the software used to process the files produced in the pedigree matching process. Three files are required - a file of lamb tags, a file containing dam IDs and the output file from the data logger or Tru-test XR 3000. This software is only available on completion of training and licensing - click here to find out when training is scheduled and contact Cheryl Pope for details on licensing.

Weigh matrix is the software used to analyse the data files generated in the Walk Over Weighing process. This software is only available on completion of training and licensing - click here to find out when training is scheduled and contact Cheryl Pope for details on licensing.

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. It relies on sire breeding values for fibre diameter (FD), fleece weight (FW), body weight (WT) and reproduction (NLW) to be entered and some basic information such as how many years the ram will be mated to the ewes and also how many ewes each ram will be mated to. It also calculates the economic consequences by placing values on these changes in production levels, determined by wool and meat pricing selected by the user.

The calculator is only available on completion of training - click here to find out when training is scheduled.

For further information on the listed software please download the Product Capability Statement below.