Throf for sheep and goat farms: from notebook to numbers

Throf moves every daily task on a sheep and goat farm from notebook and memory to a file per head, a reminder and a number: the morning round starts with a ready list, vaccinations are recorded per group, lambing is tracked by stage, you sell knowing your cost per head, and month-end shows net profit.

Every breeder asks the same thing before trying a sheep management app: "what actually changes in my day?". Instead of a generic feature list, we walk through five tasks that come back on every farm, whether you keep Naimi, Harri or Najdi sheep, Ardi or Shami goats, and compare how each one works on paper and in Throf.

The full picture: before and after

1. The morning round

Before: you start the day walking between pens with a list in your head: ewe 112 was limping, the red doe is close to kidding, the lambs in pen three need weighing. A worker tells you one thing, you remember another, and whatever is not written down is forgotten.

After: you open Throf before stepping out. Reminders show what is due today: a vaccination, an expected birth, a drying-off. An isolated animal has its own clear status so it does not get mixed back into the flock. Any note a worker logs from his phone reaches you straight away, so you know who is still on treatment and who has recovered. For a full daily routine, see the daily farm routine checklist.

2. Vaccination day

Before: you gather the flock, the vet or a worker vaccinates, and someone tries to write the numbers down. At the end you are not sure who was missed or when the next dose is due, and you rely on memory until next season.

After: you record the vaccination for a whole group in one step, or for selected animals. With electronic tags, the Bluetooth RFID reader reads each animal's number and opens its file instead of you typing it. The date appears in the file and a reminder arrives before the next due date. One important point: Throf does not set doses or choose vaccines. Your vet builds the programme according to the official schedule, and the app makes sure it happens on time. See the sheep vaccination schedule.

3. Lambing and kidding season

Before: a sheet on the barn door lists pregnant ewes with a rough mating date, if any. Lambs get numbered late, so you no longer know which lamb belongs to which ewe, or who had twins.

After: each ewe in Throf has a stage: mated, early pregnancy, late pregnancy, close to birth. Gestation is about 147 days in sheep and about 150 in goats, so you can see who will lamb this week. At birth you record single, twins or triplets, the newborn is linked to its dam and sire from day one, miscarriages are logged if they happen, then weaning on time. Over a season you see which ewes twin regularly and which fall behind, the basis for choosing your replacement mothers. Read the lambing season checklist.

4. Selling day

Before: a trader arrives or Eid comes, and you sell at market price without knowing what each animal cost in feed, treatments and labour. You may profit, or you may sell at a loss without realising it.

After: before you negotiate, you open Throf and see the animal's cost per head, weight history, age and stage. In Saudi Arabia, slaughter livestock in pens and public markets has been sold by weight since 1 Muharram 1447 AH, so your on-farm weight history becomes a real tool: you know who has reached the target weight and who needs two more weeks. With a smart scale, the tag is read and the weight goes straight into the animal's history. When you record the sale, the amount flows into net profit automatically. See how to price livestock for sale.

5. Month-end

Before: barley and alfalfa receipts in your pocket, worker transfers on your phone, sales in another notebook. At the end of the month you sit with a calculator and often stop before reaching a clear number.

After: each expense was recorded when it happened, and so was each sale. The finance dashboard shows expenses, sales, net profit and cost per head. If you have partners in the herd, the investors and partners module shows each person's share and profit split. From there you plan next month: cut back on concentrate? Sell the lambs now or after fattening? Read farm income and expense records.

Extra advantages that save time

• Automatic classification by age and sex: unweaned, young males and females, adults, mothers and breeding rams, without manual sorting.
• Feed and stock: meals, feed stock in kilograms and water, so you buy before the store runs out.
• Milk: production records for dairy goats and ewes.
• Team permissions: each worker sees and records only what concerns him, you review the reports.
• Anywhere: iPhone, Android and the browser at app.throf.com, with data stored in Saudi Arabia.
• Excel import: your current herd comes in one batch, and the team helps you upload it.

How to move from notebook to Throf without the pain

1. Start with one group, the breeding ewes for example, and record each ewe's stage.
2. Send the rest of the flock in an Excel file to be imported in one go.
3. Book the farm set-up call: the team configures groups and stages with you.
4. Train one worker first on recording meals and treatments, then the others.
5. After two weeks, review reminders and the dashboard, and start logging expenses and sales.

Small herds up to 25 head start on the free plan. For larger herds, subscribe online without logging in; prices are shown including VAT. For plan details and the onboarding included, see the online purchase page, and use coupon THROF15 for 15% off.