Reproduction

What it is for

Reproduction follows the females through their cycle and turns the records into recommendations. Its sub-sections are Reproductive summary, Mating, AI/ET sessions, Lambing statistics, Reproductive material and Protocols.

Reproductive states

A female is pregnant (●), exposed (◐), empty (▲) or of unknown status (?), and may also be lactating (◔), which overlaps with the others. Females not yet of breeding age are counted apart. The summary shows empty and unknown counts with the share of all females, the average days in status and how many have been empty for more than 45 days, and "Update reproductive status" records diagnoses in bulk.

Alerts and recommendations

Alert rules generate recommendations such as "Repeated exposures with no pregnancy" (threshold 2 exposures), "Empty after service" (the "Empty too long" rule alerts at 45 days) and "Post-partum breeding start" (threshold 60 days since lambing), each with a suggested action. You can snooze one for a few days, turn it into a task or dismiss it for that cycle only; it comes back with the next service, lambing or weaning. Thresholds are set in Alert settings.

Mating

Mating has a matrix that ranks rams for a ewe (predicted merit minus expected inbreeding) under a breeding objective (Balanced, Growth, Maternal, Prolific, Purity, or your own), a planning view, a mating history and reproductive jobs. You can load a whole lot of ewes, record an exposure or a mating mark from here.

AI/ET and reproductive material

AI/ET sessions record artificial insemination and embryo transfer. Reproductive material keeps donors, semen and embryo inventory, collections by donor, storage locations and movements. In the demo, Estrella's last service is "AI of DEMO-R01 — Sultán, frozen semen", and the lambing form has a checkbox for "embryo transfer (this female is the recipient)".

Lambing statistics

Read-only: lambings are recorded on the animal profile or in the Chute and reviewed here, filtered by date, breed, lot and birth type. It reports lambings, born alive, born dead, average litter size, females exposed, abortions, birth mortality and mean birth weight; perinatal losses (stillborn vs deaths 0–10 days, with the explanation that the first points at the lambing and the second at rearing); lambing ease (unassisted, easy pull, hard pull, cesarean); assisted vs unassisted; distribution by birth type; what was observed at lambing (udder, milk, mothering 1–5, descriptive and not in the EBVs); and a breed comparison.

Protocols

Reproductive protocols generate tasks when an event happens; templates (Lamb rearing, Reproductive cycle, Pre-lambing) install only on request. This page is also where the 50-day and 100-day weighing windows are stated.

Decisions it supports

Which ewes to re-expose, which to scan again, which to cull after repeated empties, and which ram to pair with each ewe to keep inbreeding low.