Breeding Tracking in Throf: From Mating to Lambing and Weaning

Breeding tracking in Throf gives every ewe and doe a clear record of her stages: mating (natural or artificial insemination), early and late pregnancy, close to birth, birth (single, twins or triplets), miscarriage and weaning. You record a stage for one animal or a whole group, get reminders before expected births, and follow results in the breeding hub dashboard and Excel reports.

Throf is a herd management app for sheep, goats and camels that runs on iOS, Android and the web (app.throf.com). Breeding is where a small-ruminant farm makes or loses money. Every ewe that stays open for an extra cycle eats feed without producing, and every birth that catches you by surprise at night raises the risk of losing the lamb. This guide shows how to follow the full breeding cycle in Throf, what to record at each stage, and why that makes Throf the first choice for breeders who want an organised season.

Why breeding records beat memory

With 30 ewes, memory may be enough. With 200 or 500 head, several rams and more than one worker, details slip fast. A proper breeding record answers everyday questions:

• Which ewes were mated this week, and with which ram?
• Which are confirmed pregnant, and which are still open after mating?
• Which are close to birth and should move to the lambing pen?
• What is this season's twinning rate compared with last season?
• Is miscarriage repeating in one group?

Without numbers you cannot tell whether a ram is weak, whether pre-mating feeding worked, or whether a health problem is spreading. For the full season plan, read the breeding season plan from ram in to lambing.

Breeding stages in Throf and what to record at each

Throf splits the production cycle into clear stages that show on each animal's file. Here is what to record at every stage and why it matters:

Gestation lengths behind the dates

• Sheep: about 147 days (roughly 142 to 152).
• Goats: about 150 days (roughly 145 to 155).

These are averages that vary a little by breed and individual, so start preparing a few days before the expected date. See gestation length in sheep, goats and camels for more.

How to record a breeding cycle in Throf, step by step

1. Set up the herd files. Each animal has a number and tag colour (together they form its identity), breed, sex, birth date and group. If your herd is in a spreadsheet, import it from Excel in one go. Automatic classification by age and sex sorts out the mothers and breeding males for you.
2. Record mating. Select the ewes or does, choose natural mating or artificial insemination, and set the ram and date. You can record the stage for a whole group instead of one head at a time.
3. Confirm pregnancy. After the pregnancy check, move pregnant females to the pregnancy stage. Open females stay visible so you can re-mate them or review them.
4. Follow close to birth. As the date approaches, Throf reminds you before births so you can move dams to the lambing pen and plan who is on duty.
5. Record the birth. Enter the number of lambs or kids, their sex and weight. Each newborn gets its own file linked to its mother and father, so pedigree is kept.
6. Record a miscarriage straight away if one happens, with a note, and call your vet. The record shows whether cases cluster in one group.
7. Record weaning. The weaning date and weight move the youngster into young stock, and the dam moves on to drying-off and then a new cycle.

The breeding hub: your season on one screen

After a few weeks of recording, the data becomes a picture. The breeding hub is one of Throf's live dashboards and shows where your females stand: mated, pregnant, close to birth, newborns and miscarriages. One look tells you how the season is going.

Alongside the dashboard, Throf produces Excel reports for the whole farm, a group or selected animals, including:

• Pregnancy report.
• Newborns report.
• Births, twins and lactating females report.
• Natural and artificial insemination report.
• Miscarriage report.
• Production cycle report.

Advanced reports are included in the Gold and Enterprise plans. From these figures you can work out conception rate, twinning rate and miscarriage rate yourself, and compare rams and groups side by side.

Common breeding-record mistakes and how to avoid them

• Recording a birth without linking it to the dam. Pedigree is lost and you cannot see which ewes twin reliably. In Throf every newborn is linked to its mother and father.
• Leaving open ewes with the pregnant group. They eat a ration they do not need. Separate them after the pregnancy check.
• Recording miscarriage late. Abortion can be a sign of infectious disease. Record it at once and call your vet; testing and prevention programmes follow your vet and the ministry. Read causes of abortion in sheep and goats.
• Relying on one worker who remembers everything. With worker permissions in Throf, each person records their own tasks and you review from your phone or browser.
• Skipping birth and weaning weights. Without them you cannot tell which dams raise the strongest young.

Get started today

Download Throf from the App Store or Google Play, or open app.throf.com in your browser. Start on the free plan for small herds; larger herds choose a yearly plan by herd size on the pricing page. Enter the current matings first, then add stages as the season moves on, and your breeding hub will be ready before the first birth.