The Priority list of endemic diseases for the red meat industries report published by Meat & Livestock Australia Limited in 2015 lists neonatal mortality as having the biggest impact on sheep producers, with $440 million attributed to collective production costs and $100 million to treatment.

Representatives from farm and livestock management software company AgriWebb visited Tasmania last week and co-founder John Fargher said technology could bring those costs down.

“There’s stats out there that say 30 per cent of lambs are lost before weaning through not optimising animal nutritional requirements. It’s quite confronting stuff,” Mr Fargher said.

More than 200 Tasmanian producers use AgriWebb to manage their businesses, which accounts for 500,000 head of livestock but, more specifically, 25 per cent of the state’s sheep flock.

“We have a strong presence down there,” he said.

Some farmers use pen and paper, others Excel spreadsheets and then there are those who operate instinctively, but cost savings and productivity can be increased by studying the data, Mr Fargher said.

“It’s a tool that farmers can use to manage health checks, nutrition and treatments, or if you think about the year ahead for sheep, joining rams and ewes will trigger other events.”

“We’ve digitised that process in a planning tool and set it out in a calendar format and tailored it to the region and that enterprise. We’re setting a plan so farmers can see what they need to do, what to track and when to kick it off,” he said.

AgriWebb’s software uses an app loaded on to a phone or mobile device to report data on livestock, pasture, cropping and inventory back to the producer’s computer, which then generates management reports and insights.

The animal management protocols Mr Fargher mentions were developed in conjunction with a Bayer vet.

“[Bayer] provided the intellectual property about what to do when and we digitised it so it can fit to a daily plan,” he said.

AgriWebb’s reports can be used for compulsory biosecurity, auditing and accreditation requirements, but Mr Fargher said producers could drill down into the data for farm planning, integration and management.

“Part of our role is in education. We’re not telling farmers what to do, but we’re getting people to change their behaviour from what they’ve always done to take the next step,” he said.