Situated in North Norfolk is where you will find Helena Parker-Wright and her flock of purebred Herdwick Sheep. Helena has been breeding Herdwick’s since 2017 and she regularly attends agricultural shows with her prize-winning flock. With a head count of 85 sheep across 15 acres, the flock consists of approximately 30 breeding ewes, including homebred replacement ewes. Helena, with her husband, runs several hoggs to produce both hogget & mutton meat, which she sells via her online farm shop and at local farmer’s markets.
Coming from a livestock background, with Helena’s grandparents farming a large beef herd where all records were predominantly paper-based, Helena made the decision to use a digital solution from day one to record and report her flock movements. Helena initially used ARAMS but has been using the Livestock Information Service (LIS) since its launch in 2022.
“I’ve always been one for using less paper where I can and reducing the need for paper records is the way forward. I have several sheep-farmer friends who use paper forms, and they have piles of paperwork everywhere! I also find the paper forms quite hard to get hold of in my area and as I don’t attend a huge number of markets it’s not easy for me to pick up forms. So, I have always reported my sheep moves digitally, it’s just so easy. When LIS was launched, I signed up for the service as soon as it was possible to do so and moved all my flock information over from ARAMS.”
Reflecting on the sign-up process and setting up of her LIS account, Helena said “signing up for my LIS account was a very simple process, and once I got the hang of how to move my stock from ARAMS onto LIS, it was very easy to use. I can just login to report the movement and the form is all pre-populated for me – job done!”
On average, Helena records movements using LIS once a month, and explains what she likes most about digital reporting and the Livestock Information Service. “The feature I like most about LIS is being able to check my headcount easily to ensure everything is as it should be. It is just so simple to deal with movements on LIS. I can imagine it would be particularly useful in maintaining your records if you have a large flock where you are reporting movements very frequently.”
Having recently experienced an issue with a market movement, Helena decided to contact the LIS Support Team for assistance. “I recently had an issue where I was four ewes short on the system due to an error with the market movement. The support team were great and sorted it all out for me within 24 to 48 hours”.
As Helena has been using LIS since it went live, she has benefitted from several service enhancements. “In the short time I have been using LIS, there have been many improvements to the system, and I am sure there will be even more functionality to come. There’s probably features on there I don’t use yet, but how I use the service works for me.”
One 2023 enhancement was of particular benefit to Helena. “When LIS was first launched, I couldn’t prepare the necessary movement forms ahead of time. The last thing you want to be doing when heading off to the abattoir early in the morning is having to get up an hour earlier to log into the computer and record the movement. But as LIS has developed and evolved, I can now do all my paperwork the night before, pack everything up that I need, and I’m ready to go the following morning. It’s just brilliant!”
Discussing the benefits of digitally recording movements using LIS, compared to paper forms, Helena explains that “you haven’t got to worry about sending your paperwork in and doing so within a certain amount of time. You go online, record the movement, and it’s done. There’s no risk of losing records or forgetting about paperwork. I would recommend LIS to anyone.”
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