Small herd of 50 head: a step-by-step Throf roadmap for breeders

This guide is for the small breeder: a family or hobby farmer with about 50 sheep or goats, working alone or with a son, keeping records on paper or in memory. With the Throf phone app you organise the herd in a day, never miss a vaccination or a lambing, and know what each head costs and when selling it pays.

With 50 head you know most animals by sight. But memory fails on details: when was this ewe last vaccinated? What has this ram lamb cost since you bought him? Which doe is late to kid? This roadmap takes you from day one to a fixed routine that needs only a few minutes a day.

The small herd at a glance

The Free plan covers up to 25 head only, so with about 50 head plus the season's lambs and kids you need more room. The Economic plan covers up to 105 head on one account, which suits a breeder who works alone. If your son will record from his own phone with his own login, the Silver plan gives a main account plus one employee account. Compare the details on the plans page.

What you need to track

A herd this size does not need dozens of indicators. Focus on these five:

• Headcount and classification: how many mothers, how many young stock, how many breeding males.
• Vaccination dates: the last vaccination for each group and the next one, following your vet's programme.
• Mating and births: who was mated and when, and who is close to giving birth. Sheep carry for about 147 days, goats for about 150.
• Cost per head: the purchase price or production cost, plus the feed and treatment added on top.
• Weight and selling time: the weight of male lambs and kids before sale, and the net profit after each sale.

Step-by-step roadmap

Day 1: set up the farm

1. Download the app and create the farm: get Throf from the App Store or Google Play and create your farm. The general steps are in getting started with Throf.
2. Create only 3 or 4 groups: for example mothers, the ram or buck, young stock, and fattening or for sale. A group in Throf stands for a real pen, and a small herd does not need more.
3. Choose your numbers and colours: in Throf an animal's identity is its number and tag colour together. Pick one colour per year or per type and stick to it.

Week 1: enter the herd and its history

1. Add animals one by one: on the add-animal screen, enter number, colour, breed, sex, birth date and group, and add a photo if you can. Fifty head take one or two sittings. If you already have a spreadsheet, import it from Excel in one go.
2. Link mother and father: for young animals whose dam is known, select the mother and the sire. This builds the pedigree and helps later when you choose which females to keep.
3. Record the last vaccination for each group: in the health record, enter the date and what was given. The vaccine programme must follow your vet and the ministry schedule; Throf keeps the dates and reminds you before the next one. To plan it, read the sheep vaccination schedule.
4. Set the production stages: for ewes and does that ran with the male, record the mating, then the stage: early pregnancy, late pregnancy or close to birth. Classification by age and sex happens automatically.

Month 1: start counting the money

1. Enter the purchase price of every animal you bought: cost per head starts from the purchase price or production cost, and expenses add up from there.
2. Record expenses from the first day: feed, hay, barley, treatments, vet fees, transport. Each expense goes in on the day it happens instead of getting lost.
3. Record feeding and weights: log meals and feed stock in kg, and weigh young and fattening animals at least once this month so the growth record starts.

Every day, week and month: the routine

1. Every day: open the app in the morning and check the reminders for upcoming vaccinations and births. Record any birth on the day (single, twins or triplets) and add the newborns with their mothers. Move any sick animal to isolation.
2. Every week: record fattening weights, check the feed stock, and make sure the week's expenses are in.
3. Every month: record each sale on the animal itself, then check the finance dashboard: total sales, total expenses and net profit. Before selling, share the buyer-version PDF of the animal's file with the buyer.

A fixed routine

One rule is enough: record every event on the day it happens. If you keep to it, a 50-head herd takes about five to ten minutes a day.

Common mistakes on small farms

• Saving records for the weekend: after a few days you forget which ewe had twins. Fix: record births and treatments at the pen, straight from your phone.
• Forgetting small expenses: a bag of feed here, a treatment there, and the herd looks profitable when it is not. Fix: log every expense on the day, however small.
• Numbers without clear colours: the same number appears twice and two animals get mixed up. Fix: fix one colour per year or type, so number plus colour never repeats.
• Too many groups: ten groups for a small herd confuse more than they organise. Fix: three or four groups that match your real pens.
• Selling by eye: you sell a lamb at the market price without knowing what it cost you. Fix: check the animal's cost and weight in Throf before you bargain.

When to move to the next stage

This setup is enough while the herd stays under about 100 head and you work alone. Signs you have outgrown it:

• With the season's lambs and kids the herd is getting close to 105 head, the Economic plan limit.
• You now have one or more workers, and you want each one to record on his own account with limits on what he sees.
• You split the herd into many pens and need regular reports instead of a quick check.

At that point move to the Silver or Gold plan depending on the headcount, and read the 1000-head farm with Throf guide to see how to organise the team, groups and reports. To compare every profile in one place, go back to which Throf setup fits your farm. Throf is the first choice for the breeder who wants to grow in good order from the start.