APR500 Hand-reader User Manual

BenguFarm Sheep & Goats Module

Version 1.2.2

©Copyright 2015 by RFID Experts Africa PTY Ltd. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or other, without the prior written permission of RFID Experts Africa PTY Ltd. RFID Experts Africa PTY Ltd. reserves the right to make changes to any and all parts of this documentation without obligation to notify any person or entity of such changes. Documentation last updated on July 3, 2018. RFID Experts Africa PTY Ltd. Unit 8 & 9 Sycamore Park Sycamore Crescent Atlas Gardens Cape Town 7441 South Africa Phone: +27215560003 Email: info@rfid-experts.co.za Website: www.rfid-experts.co.za

i

Contents

1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 1

2 USING THE APR500 .................................................................................................................................. 1

3 TASK DESCRIPTIONS ................................................................................................................................ 2

3.1 REGISTRATION ........................................................................................................................................... 2 3.2 MATING ................................................................................................................................................... 3 3.3 SCANNING ............................................................................................................................................. 5 3.4 LAMBING .................................................................................................................................................. 6 3.5 WEIGHING ................................................................................................................................................ 7 3.6 WOOL PERFORMANCE ................................................................................................................................ 8 3.7 MOVEMENT .............................................................................................................................................. 9 3.8 VACCINATION .......................................................................................................................................... 11 3.9 SICKNESS ................................................................................................................................................ 12

4 ADDITIONAL TASKS ............................................................................................................................... 12

4.1 EMBRYOS ............................................................................................................................................ 12 4.2 RTU MEASUREMENT ................................................................................................................................ 13 4.3 PERFORMANCE DATA ................................................................................................................................ 13

5 EXCHANGING DATA BETWEEN BENGUFARM SHEEP & GOATS AND THE APR500 ................................... 13

5.1 GETTING DATA FROM THE APR500 ............................................................................................................ 13 5.2 SENDING DATA TO THE APR500 ................................................................................................................ 14

5.2.1 Selecting Breeding Rams ................................................................................................................. 14 5.2.2 Data Used on the APR500 ............................................................................................................... 15 5.2.3 Updating APR500 Data and Erasing Old Task Data ........................................................................ 16

ii

List of Figures

FIGURE 1: APR500 START SCREEN ................................................................................................................................. 1 FIGURE 2: TASK SELECTION ........................................................................................................................................... 1 FIGURE 3: REGISTRATION TASK ...................................................................................................................................... 3 FIGURE 4: MATING TASK .............................................................................................................................................. 4 FIGURE 5: SCANNING TASK ......................................................................................... ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. FIGURE 6: LAMBING TASK ............................................................................................................................................. 6 FIGURE 7: WEIGHING TASK ........................................................................................................................................... 7 FIGURE 8: WOOL PERFORMANCE TASK ............................................................................................................................ 8 FIGURE 9: MOVEMENT FUNCTION – CAMP MOVEMENT ..................................................................................................... 9 FIGURE 10: MOVEMENT FUNCTION - CANCELLATION ....................................................................................................... 10 FIGURE 11: MOVEMENT FUNCTION - MANAGEMENT GROUPS ........................................................................................... 10 FIGURE 12: VACCINATION ........................................................................................................................................... 11 FIGURE 13: SICKNESS ................................................................................................................................................. 12 FIGURE 14: GETTING DATA FROM THE APR500 STEP1 .................................................................................................... 13 FIGURE 15: GETTING DATA FROM THE APR500 STEP2 .................................................................................................... 14 FIGURE 16: SELECTING BREEDING RAMS ........................................................................................................................ 15 FIGURE 17 - UPDATING AND REMOVING DATA ON THE APR500 ....................................................................................... 16

1

1 Introduction The purpose of this document is to explain the features and functions of the APR500 hand-reader that has been set up for use with the BenguFarm Sheep & Goats software. The hand-reader has nine tasks that allow data to be recorded and transferred directly into the BenguFarm Sheep software.

2 Using the APR500 Switch on the APR500 by pressing the red “C” (cancel) key on the keypad. The start screen will be displayed.

Figure 1: APR500 Start Screen

To select one of the tasks, press the blue “F” (function) key, this will bring up the main menu. Navigate to Task Mode using the arrow keys, select Task Mode (select by pressing the green enter (↵) key on keypad). Navigate to the required task by using the arrow keys, and press enter to select the task. The APR500 will take you step by step through all the fields of the task. If any fields are not applicable to the user, it can be left blank, or zero (0), any zero- or empty values will be ignored by BenguFarm Sheep & Goats.

Figure 2: Task Selection

2

3 Task Descriptions

3.1 Registration The use of this task is to twofold: to register new animals and to register a tag-change. If an animal is found with one tag missing (electronic or visual), the registration task allows you to issue a replacement tag, by identifying the animal using the remaining tag. To use this task, select it on the task menu by pressing enter. This is the only task where the visual identification number (VID) is used, all other tasks use only the electronic identification number (EID), it is therefore important that the animals be registered before using other tasks.

If the animals are not yet created in BenguFarm, the registration activity can be selected on the APR500 reader and the animal records can be created on the APR500 reader with certain basic data [electronic ID number (EID), visual ID number (VID), sex, date of birth, breed) of an animal. This data is then imported from the APR500 reader into BenguFarm to get the animal data in the BenguFarm database. In BenguFarm additional animal data can be added, if necessary, to make the animals’ data more complete.

If the animals have already been created in BenguFarm and the EID tags are to be added afterwards, the registration task will need to be used. After selecting the registration task the user will be prompted to scan the EID and enter the VID. It is important to input the VID PRECISELY as it is recorded in BenguFarm. The user can then select the “Yes” option under the tag change prompt to avoid completing extra fields.

3

Figure 3: Registration Task

3.2 Mating This task records which ewes were mated with which rams, and the start- and end-date of the mating (multiple rams are allowed). After the rams have been selected (the process of importing rams to the APR500 is described in section 5.2.1), the APR500 will go into “speed mode”, this means that the APR500 will continuously scan for tags. It is not necessary to press the enter key to read a tag. Any tags in the reading range of the APR500 will be recorded (duplicates will be ignored). To stop reading, press the cancel key twice.

4

Figure 4: Mating Task

5

3.3 Scanning The Scanning task records the pregnancy status of the animal (amount of fetuses found in a ewe) during pregnancy examination, the mating cycle and the number of weeks the ewe is pregnant for.

Figure 5: Scanning Task

6

3.4 Lambing The lambing task is used to record which lambs were born from which ewes. The mating task (see section 3.2) already records which ewes and rams were mated together.

Figure 6: Lambing Task

7

3.5 Weighing This task is used to record the weight of animals. The weighing date is used to calculate the daily weight gain in BenguFarm Sheep & Goats. Different weight types can be recorded (in the case of weaning, the dam weight will be recorded as well as the weaned animal’s weight).

Figure 7: Weighing Task

Shown in the case of “Wean” weigh-type

8

3.6 Wool Performance Wool performance is used to record data of the animal captured during shearing of sheep.

Figure 8: Wool Performance Task

9

3.7 Movement The Movement task is used to register animal movements. Two types of movements can be recorded:

Movement: movement between camps or management groups that have been configured in BenguFarm Sheep & Goats

Cancellation: Cancellation: when an animal is to be made non-active in the BenguFarm database, two types of cancellations can be recorded:

o Transfer: if an animal is sold, in this case, the buyer’s name is recorded o Removal: if an animal dies, the cause of death is recorded

The cancellation movement removes the EID from the animal’s record in BenguFarm Sheep & Goats. If an animal is sold or has died, the electronic tag can be removed from the animal, and can be reused on new animals (either in the Registration or Lambing task). You need to first import the cancellation movements into BenguFarm and then erase APR data before the applicable electronic tags can be reused.

In all movement types, the APR500 is set to speed mode (continuous reading). Press the cancel key twice to stop reading.

Figure 9: Movement function – Camp Movement

10

Figure 10: Movement Function - Cancellation

Figure 11: Movement Function - Management Groups

11

3.8 Vaccination Vaccination is used to record the list of animal medicines that were administered to a group. After selecting the type of vaccine and dosage, the APR500 is set to speed mode: it continuously reads for animal tags. Press the cancel key twice to stop reading.

Figure 12: Vaccination

12

3.9 Sickness The Sickness task works similar to the Vaccination task, except that it is used on individual animals, and that the sickness that the animal is suffering from is also recorded.

Figure 13: Sickness

4 Additional Tasks The following tasks are available for the APR500 that are not loaded by default as the reader is only capable of storing 9 tasks at a time. These can be loaded onto the APR500 by phoning RFID Experts and requesting the task to be loaded.

Note: The additional task will replace one of the 9 tasks on the reader. It can replace any task specified by the user.

4.1 Embryos The embryos task is used to determine which ram and ewe the lamb will be from and help in keeping track of implanted animals. This is done by selecting the ram from an approved list. The ewe is then selected from a second user created list. The animals the embryos are implanted in to are then scanned via speed loop. In this phase the EID tags can simply be passed by the reader. It will automatically record all unique id’s.

13

4.2 RTU Measurement Real-time Ultrasonic (RTU) Measurement task is used to record the quality of the meat on a sheep.

4.3 Performance Data Performance data is a combination of

14

Wool Performance 0 and RTU Measurement 4.22

5 Exchanging Data between BenguFarm Sheep & Goats and the APR500

5.1 Getting Data from the APR500 To get task data from the APR500 into the BenguFarm Sheep & Goats program, connect the APR500 to the computer with the USB cable. Start BenguFarm Sheep & Goats. Select Data Send/Receive, Receive, RFID Experts APR500 Reader.

Figure 14: Getting Data from the APR500 Step1

15

The APR500 Reader Data Exchange window will open, select the COM port where the APR500 is connected. If importing Wool Performance Data, select the shear number and previous shearing date. Select Import Data from Reader to import all task data from the APR500, importing data from multiple tasks is supported. If old data, that has previously been imported, is imported again, the software will notify the user, and ignore the duplicate data.

Figure 15: Getting Data from the APR500 Step2

A log of the import activity will be displayed on the window. Take a note of errors highlighted in red. In most cases it would be where an animal could not be located in BenguFarm. Animals will not be located if the EID (microchip number) of the animal is not saved in BenguFarm or if it is incorrect in BenguFarm. Microchip numbers of animals can be entered in BenguFarm at Animals > Edit Animals (table format). Once missing microchip numbers are entered, try again to import the data from the APR500.

5.2 Sending Data to the APR500

5.2.1 Selecting Breeding/AI Rams

In the Mating task (see section 3.3), only rams that have been marked as Breeding/AI Rams are available. To configure if a ram is to be used as a breeding ram, open the Add and Edit Animals screen, and check the Breeding/AI Ram checkbox. Sending the data to the APR500 is explained in section 5.2.3.

Please note: In the Mating task, only rams that have been marked as breeding rams are available. To mark rams as breeding rams, go to Animals > Add and Edit (Single animal layout),

16

highlight the applicable ram, make a tick mark in the field "Breeding Ram (Herd Sire)" and Save.

Figure 16: Selecting Breeding Rams

5.2.2 Data Used on the APR500

All other lists that are used in the tasks include:

Camps

Vaccines and Remedies

Camp Movement Reasons

Management Groups

Illnesses and Injuries

These lists can be edited and updated by the user in BenguFarm, sending the lists to the APR500 is explained in section 5.2.3.

17

5.2.3 Updating APR500 Data and Erasing Old Task Data

To update the information on the APR500 (breeding rams and lists), and to delete imported old task data, open the APR500 Reader Data Exchange window as described in section 5.1, and select Erase and Update Reader Data. A message will appear indicating that the action was successful.

To hide items in the dropdown lists for injuries, medicines, vaccines & dosages not used on the APR500, go in BenguFarm to Settings > Diseases, Injuries and Parasites/Medicines/Vaccines, Remedies and Supplements and remove the tick mark in the Device column next to the items in question. Click Save. Then go in BenguFarm to Data Send/Receive > Receive > RFID Experts APR500 Reader. Click on Erase and Update Reader Data to send the updated BenguFarm dropdown lists to the APR500.

Figure 17 - Updating and Removing Data on the APR500