New users – For more information about Flock Manager read the Getting started and Enhancement guides. These can be found under the Guides & manuals tab. You will also find answers and useful information under the FAQs tab.
Existing users – For more information about this update please read the Enhancement guide carefully before updating. Before you start the installation process check that your licence is up to date and that you have taken a backup of your data. You will also need to make sure the program has been closed.
Windows 8, Windows 10 and Windows 11 operating systems only*
*Please note – Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 are no longer supported by Microsoft, meaning future versions of Flock Manager will not install onto Windows 7 machines. Please contact Farmplan to discuss upgrading your PC if this is applicable.
Summary of changes
Simplified animal categories
Simplified opening numbers screen
Home Page – overview of animal numbers by category/holding/year
Home Page – lamb details by year
Flock Inspector – view running totals of each category by year
Movement options – redesigned to allow multiple entries in the same movement
Stick Reader – allocate breed and category to a tag for future use
Stick Reader – read and summarise slaughter tags by flock mark
Animal Summary Report – total number of animals on any date by holding/year/breed
Animal Movements Report – all movements from a particular date
Reassign Breeds – to tidy up breeds
Active/Default – breeds and locations
Treatments – ability to copy an existing treatment
ARAMS (England) – notify movements electronically
A full list of enhancements can be found in the Help files in the program and during the download process
If you have a hand held device please also update your Virtual Stick Module
This must be updated at the same time as the main program. Please ensure all information is read from the device before you update.
There are now 2 new reports that will also help identify the number of animals of each category and breed at individual holdings. Go to Report Library – Holding Register
Animal Summary Report
This report shows the number of animals on any specific date by holding and/or breed.
Animal Movements Report
The Animal Movements report can be filtered by Holding and Breed to show the detail of all movements to or from any location and a running total since a specified date.
The combination of these 2 new reports will provide you with an accurate and up to date record of all sheep owned by you according to your data. It is similar to the existing Holding Audit but will also show all movements to and from other people’s holdings to monitor all sales/purchases with other traders.
When to Backup will depend on the volume of data that is being entered and individual circumstances. However it is recommended that a portable copy is made frequently and kept away from the computer.
Additional copying will depend on the user – perhaps make a hard disk copy every hour and a web backup or portable copy at the end of the day. But do not overwrite these copies immediately; rotate a series of at least 3 backups always overwriting the most out of date copy.
It is extremely important to label each copy clearly with the exact details of what is on it – the dataset name, date/time and, for example, some details that remind you of the last entry made.
EID
Compatible stick readers
The below stick readers are compatible with Farmplan (please note this may not include all models):
Agrident stick reader (including AWR100)
Allflex stick reader (including RS340 and RS420)
Farmplan virtual stick (Psion/Workabout Pro)
Gallagher stick reader (including HR3 but not the HR5)
Shearwell stick reader (including SDL 400 and SDL 440)
Syscan stick reader
Trutest stick reader (including XRS, XRS2 and SRS2)
To select which stick reader you are importing tag records from please go to Tools, Options and Stick reader from within your program.
If you are looking to purchase a new stick reader and it is not listed above then please contact Farmplan prior to purchase.
Change the read mode on an XRS Tru-Test Stick Reader
Go into Settings on your XRS stick reader. Scroll down to Option 10 and change the setting.
Importing from a stick reader
Check that you have selected the correct model of stick reader within Tools > Options.
You can then read from the stick reader within the Select Animal screen when entering a movement/treatment/action by clicking Stick Reader and then Read Stick.
Installation and logging on
Operating systems (Windows and Apple information)
All our desktop programs need to be installed within a Windows environment (Windows 8 and Windows 10). Windows 7 is no longer supported by Microsoft, meaning you will not be able to install onto Windows 7 machines.
Apple hardware can be configured with Windows 10 Pro using Parallels Desktop. Click here for more information about Apple hardware or for information about our recommended computer spec click here.
Please contact Farmplan’s Hardware team if you have any further queries on 01594 545033.
Licencing
Licencing your livestock software (video)
Licencing Farmplan software
Your software can be licenced by going to File and selecting Licence.
You will be given a new screen where you will have your details entered. Providing your Web Access Code has been entered, you can click Get Key followed by Register.
Your licence will then be updated. To allow Farmplan to update using this method you will need to be connected to the internet.
If you do not have a Web Access Code or internet connection please contact Farmplan.
ARAMS – Electronic movement submissions (England only)
In April 2014, the Animal Reporting and Movement Service (ARAMS) took over the processing of all sheep movements from each local authority in England.
Paper ARAMS1 form
When moving animals, it is the recipient of the animals who is responsible for notifying ARAMS by sending the white paper copy of the form to them. The seller keeps one copy (yellow) but the other copies go with the animals – ARAMS (white), destination copy (pink) and the haulier (blue). The ARAMS printout is available from Reports – Movement Documents within the program.
Electronic Notifications
The option has now been added to send movement details to ARAMS electronically via the Flock Manager program.
As a farmer you may either be sending the ‘on’ and ‘off’ movements, for example, when animals are moved from your holding to another farmer’s OR you may just be confirming someone else’s movement onto your holding – providing they have done an off movement – for example buying animals via a market.
Register with ARAMS
In order to use the electronic movement option within Flock Manager, you should first register with the ARAMS service by going to:
You will create an account which will include your user name (usually your email address) which will generate apassword which will be emailed to you. This may take up to 48 hours. Make sure you take a note of these as you will need to enter them into the Flock Manager program.
Make sure that you select the option to be a Package User.
Please note that ARAMS will either allow farmers to register as an ‘ARAMS Portal User’ i.e. movements are entered directly to their website or as a ‘Package User’ to use a 3rd party package such as Flock Manager to submit movements with read only access to their website. You currently cannot use both options. If you have already registered as a Portal User then you should contact ARAMS so that they can change your registration details.
You will need the CPH number and postcode of the main (primary) holding. Additional (secondary) holdings may be linked to your primary holding once you have registered successfully. This must be done within the ARAMS website before they are linked within the Flock Manager program.
Reports
Annual inventory report
Run the current Holding Register Report.
Go to the Report Library
Select this by clicking on the Reports button on the Homepage main toolbar at the top of the screen
When the Library opens, select Holding Register under the Report Categories on the left of the window
Double click on the appropriate Holding Register to run the report This will display English/Welsh/Scottish depending on the Holding location selection.
Emailing a report
You can download a PDF printer driver from the Internet onto your computer. Just use a search engine to find a ‘Free PDF printer driver’. When you are downloading it keep answering ‘Run’ if asked. Go to the report and select the option to ‘Print’. You will see that this PDF driver is now an option under the available printers. Select this one instead of your normal printer and the report will be created in the format of a PDF file. This will allow you to use the normal pdf functionalities of being able to select a page or attach this file to an email.
Change the flock record to Welsh or Scottish format
The Holding Register can be viewed/printed in English, Welsh or Scottish formats. You can change the region of your data to change the layout of the Holding register as necessary by going to Setup – Business Details.
On installing the program it will default the report layout to English but you will be given the opportunity to select the main region when you create your own data. If you have holdings in more than one region you should normally select England at this point. This will default your opening date to 1 December for each holding.
The opening numbers for the Welsh/Scottish holding can either be entered on 1 December or 1 January but the Holding Register will run from 1 January of the new year.
Entries made against individual sheep
You won’t be able to call up a record card for an individual sheep, but you can go from the Tools menu to Find an Animal … Enter the ear tag number of the sheep and click on the Find button to view and select the tag and see what has been recorded against this particular tag number. This record can be printed.
Movement Document
Enter a Sale record prior to the sale, so that date and full details of sheep to be sold are entered. This record will appear as a Planned Sale
Go to Reports and select the Movement Documents category
Select and run the ARAMS Movement Document for Sales to preview and print a pre-populated Movement Document and FCI Statement
Planned Movements can also be entered in order to produce the appropriate Movement Documents.
Setup
My program is showing Demonstration Data, how do I access my data?
If your program is showing Demonstration Data you will need to go to File > Select Dataset within the program and click the drop down arrow (shown below in red) and select your own business before pressing Ok. This will then take you into your business.
If your data is on a Network please ensure you have access to the data location from outside the program.
Program version
To establish which version of Flock Manager is in use:
click the Help menu
then click on About Flock Manager
The program version and your Farmplan customer number will be displayed.
Tagging
Upgrading tags
The exact procedure will depend on the region in which you live. Go to the option called Upgrading from the Actions section of the list bar. Enter the details of the new tags first on the left hand side of the screen, followed by the previous tag details on the right.
Click on the Reports button on the Homepage main toolbar at the top of the screen then Report Library
When the Library opens, select Treatments under the Report Categories on the left of the window
Double click on Animals in Withdrawal periods to run the report
Repeating Drug Treatments
It is now possible to copy an existing Drug Treatment to create a new treatment record. For example you may be repeating an existing treatment on a different date, treat the same group of animals with a different drug or treat 2 different groups of animals with the same drug.
Click on the Copy button of an existing treatment screen to bring up the new entry.
You can then change any details as appropriate for example a different date and time, the identities of the animals or the batch number of the drug.
Can’t find the answer?
If you would like to search within this window please click Ctrl + F and type in the key word, this can be useful when looking for FAQ’s.
