Articles

A 24U phidgets plug-in to sort sheeps

Counting sheeps may put anyone asleep, but for a sheep farmer sorting sheep is a real madness! And commercial solutions are too expensive...

Cathy

16 January 2019 • 2 min

24U and FileMaker to the rescue

24U developed a new solution Sheep Sorter which works on FileMaker Pro with Phidgets 1017 relay using 24U Phidgets Plug-In, so that sheep sorting is no longer a real headache for sheep farmers!

What are the solution’s benefits?

• Price – this Sheep Sorter is cheaper than other commercial solutions
• Sorting animals by many different attributes:
  • Age of the animal
  • Weight
  • Sex
  • Quantity which farmer wants to send in a given area
• Possibility of additional features such as proximity reader

How does this solution work?

Sheep’s tag is read and input into the electronic scale. Than info is sent to Jacque’s flock management app written in FileMaker Pro. 

The app reads the info, extracts the record for weighted sheep, calculates the weight gain, records the weight in the appropriate area. The app selects the door to open to transfer the sheep to the appropriate location. 

The scale has 6 automated air controlled doors all controlled by the FileMaker application: one entry door, one main exit door and 4 “sorting doors” that are working according to the instructions given in the application. Each sorting door is activated depending upon a mix of variables: age of the animal, weight, sex and the quantity which farmer wants to send in a given area controlled by a given door. 

The first 3 doors are such programmed, and the 4th door is an exit for the animals that either do not meet any of the criteria chosen by the producer or if an animal has received a medication for which the set aside period is not completed (its in the medical recor of he animal in the database).

24U Phidgets Plug-In sends appropriate information to the appropriate door for which the conditions are met, and I also control the synchronization between entry and exit doors, timers etc. Jacques has added a proximity reader, also controlled by our plugin to initiate the timers only when the sheep has started exiting the scale.

For more information, visit 24U website.