Sheep and Goat Farm: 7 Messages to Cost Every Head
A sheep and goat farm owner needs two monthly answers a notebook cannot give: how many head each pen holds, and what one head cost after feed, treatment and deaths. Seven WhatsApp messages to Fahim from the worker or owner, each naming a tag number or pen, answer both. For livestock farm accounting, sheep farm management or sheep fattening software that costs each batch, this method fits.
The rule: each head by its tag number
Six fields per head, grouped by pen or batch:
- Tag number, or a temporary one.
- Type and sex: ewe, ram, lamb, doe, buck or newborn.
- Source and entry date: mother's number, or seller and price.
- Pen or fattening batch.
- Weight at entry and at sale.
- Status: present, under treatment, reserved, sold, dead or slaughtered.
Feed goes to the pen; births, deaths and sales to the head. It is tracking stock from WhatsApp, except the item is alive. Request these fields or others, plus a rule spreading feed, vet and death costs over live animals, in Arabic; Fahim shows the change and applies it once you approve, leaving past data intact.
Livestock tagging: the rule and the platform
Article 92 of the Executive Regulation of the Agriculture Law requires owners to tag and register animals with the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture within three months of birth, and to report cases including deaths, losses, ownership transfers and confirmed or suspected infectious or epidemic disease. Request tagging and transfers on the Naama platform, https://naama.sa, via Nafath; Fahim is not connected to it and only stores the number. Check it at mewa.gov.sa.
Seven messages from purchase to sale
Workers who cannot write Arabic send numbers and photos; the owner adds the rest.
1. Purchase
The owner photographs the trader's invoice, which the system reads, or types count and price; the worker adds tag numbers, transport, pen or batch, and weights.
2. Births and weaning
By text or Arabic voice note, the worker sends the mother's number, newborns' count, sex, date and temporary numbers, later weaning date and weight. Each newborn is linked to its mother and cannot leave the records unreported; you see births per mother, and which had none.
3. Feed
The worker sends the feed invoice, and the stock of barley, concentrate and alfalfa rises. He then sends what each pen received; stock falls and the cost spreads over that pen's live animals. Pen breeding ewes and does apart from fattening batches, and have their cost divided over weaned young.
4. Vaccination and treatment
After a vet visit the worker sends tag numbers or pen, treatment and invoice; Moeen, Fahim's personal assistant, reminds you of the next dose. Article 98 of the same regulation bars selling livestock that has not completed ministry-approved vaccination programmes. To flag a head offered for sale unvaccinated or inside the vet's withdrawal period, request a custom alert.
5. Deaths
The worker sends the dead animal's number, any known cause and a photo showing its tag; its cost moves to the batch's survivors. A hypothetical example, excluding VAT you reclaim: 50 head at 800 riyals each cost 40,000; add 1,000 transport, 15,000 feed over three months, 1,000 vet and 3,000 of the worker's wage: 60,000. Two die, so each of the 48 left costs 1,250. Sold at 1,400 on average, each earns 150 before overheads, not the 600 the price gap suggests.
6. Selling to traders
The owner sends tag numbers sold (or the whole pen), weights, price, cash or credit, and any broker's commission. Invoices come from the animals' records, making invoicing from WhatsApp part of the sale; credit sales join the trader's balance, with an alert when overdue. ZATCA says VAT on taxable goods has been 15% since 1 July 2020, and its VAT Implementing Regulations list no zero rate for livestock or feed. Check zatca.gov.sa and your accountant.
7. Sacrifice and slaughter deposits
When a customer reserves an animal, the worker sends its number, the customer's name, deposit and date of delivery to the customer or slaughterhouse. Moeen reminds you a day ahead and drafts a confirmation, sent only on your approval.
Notebook and Excel versus structured messages
| Situation | Notebook and Excel | Structured messages |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths | "One died" | Tag number and photo |
| Feed | Bags, no destination | Issued per pen |
| Head cost | Purchase price only | Purchase, feed and vet on survivors |
Four numbers after a month
- Weekly gap per pen: opening plus births and purchases, minus deaths, sales and slaughter, against the worker's weekly count; likewise for feed bags.
- Deaths by tag and cause, per pen and batch.
- Cost per head per fattening batch and per weaned lamb or kid.
- Open trader balances, and reserved animals not yet collected.
Ask in Arabic for an instant report.
How to start this week
- Count each pen by tag number and send the list in Excel: your opening balance.
- Give untagged animals a temporary number and request tagging on Naama.
- Have the worker send weekly counts of pens and feed bags. No death without a tag photo; no deposit without a head number.
- Set worker permissions: he sends invoices, counts, feed and deaths but sees no cost, profit or trader-balance reports.
The takeaway: run a sheep and goat farm by the head, not the herd. Seven tag-numbered messages track each head and spread feed, treatment and death costs over survivors: real cost per head.