EPIM and Sheep

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Steve L
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Jul 10, 2006 11:14 am

EPIM and Sheep

Post by Steve L »

Great product folks, & here's a slightly different use of EPIM.....

As part of the recent changes to farming in the UK we have to keep detailed records of all our sheep including transportation, medical treatments, illness etc. This is all to be kept in the farm 'Flock Book' which can be inspected by DEFRA at any time.

As I breed rare breed animals I also need to maintain a 'family tree' of parentage so that we avoid bad breeding etc.

I found (by tinkering) that some careful editing of the .LNG file (sorry guys) that it is possible to change the button\command\list names to something more suited to the database that you wish to keep (It would be really great if this was a customisable feature).

Using this technique my 'contacts' are renamed 'Sheep' and task descriptions can be renamed 'Foot Trimming', 'Shearing', 'Tupping', 'Worming' etc. This is great as I can record when these activities were undertaken and set a reminder to (for example) undertake worming in six weeks or whatever. Colour coded too and the table view makes it easy to see all years activities.

I also add custom fields to the databse to add 'Sire', 'Dam', Sires' Dam etc. so that I can record the parentage of each sheep to plan my breeding program. Adding photos and ear tag numbers, sex, etc etc. is great.

I realise that editing the LNG is probably not to be recommended (always make a backup!) but it does help flavour EPIM to something suited to the type of database you wish to work with.

All in all EPIM is really great product because of its ease of use and the fact that it is supported by a most helpful and enthusiastic team. After a bit more testing I sahll certainly buy the Pro version which is really good value for money.

Steve L
smgregory
Novice
Posts: 29
Joined: Wed Sep 06, 2006 6:43 am
Location: San Diego

Post by smgregory »

Steve, this is an excellent idea. Again, a backup copy of any changed file is essential, but I love the idea of "configuring" the buttons to indicate what they are really used for. The .LNG files can be opened in any text editor, and it only takes a small amount of tinkering to truly customize this program.

One note. I have the Pro version, so I don't know if this customizing will affect synchronization, but it certainly makes the program more adaptable!
Steve
Live Simply
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