Products

Agrosoft develops and supports a range of pig recording and management software:

WinPig

Agrosoft WinPig is the most advanced herd recording and management software available in the UK. WinPig is a market leader across Europe and is translated into numerous different languages. The program is based in Windows that allows the user to enter data rapidly and get to any part of the program in no more than three clicks of the mouse via the use of clear sequential menus. The program is regularly updated by our team of programmers with the vast majority of updates occurring as a direct result of customer requests. Each country that uses the WinPig program has their own unique options and reports.

Easicare

Easicare was launched in the early 1980’s by NPD and was originally developed to run on Apple twin floppy computers. The system consisted of one program disk for each program (input / editor / analysis etc) followed by a sow file disk and a data disk. So, depending on what you wanted to do, would determine which program disk went into one floppy drive and which (of either the sow or data disk) went in the other floppy drive. Due to the limitations of the floppy disk on this system, the maximum number of sows in one herd was 840.

With the advent of IBM compatable PC’s in 1982, Easicare was re-developed to work on these computers (still using two floppy disk drives, as hard drives weren’t available until a few years later). 

Each year Easicare was developed to cope with customer requests, enhancements, changes imposed by changes in the industry and also ones to take advantage of improvements in hardware. Support for the software was by a system of an annual user club. Charges for this went towards unlimited support, software development and an annual Yearbook. For this yearbook, clients submitted their data for inclusion at the same time as having their programs / data updated to the current version. This process carried on from version 7 to version 13.1 in 1994. At this point Easicare had been translated into Spanish, Italian, Dutch, French Canadian and German, as well as been distributed worldwide to the USA, South Africa, The Phillipines, Australia and New Zealand.

In 1995 NPD sold out to PIC and it was decided that Easicare would be re-written in a more expandable and customizable fashion and in a more flexible programming language and database structure. This was made available in 1995 and was called Easicare 2000 (version 14 was the actual version number). As PIC already had it’s own Pigtails program it was decided to merge the two together into a Windows based product (called PigCare). Whilst development of the new program was taking place, Easicare still had it’s annual updates including a major one in 1999 to make it year 2000 compliant (version 16). Unfortuneately development of PigCare was ceased in 1999 / 2000 so Easicare and Pigtails carried on to be PIC’s recording systems. 

In 2001 PIC sold off their recording business to Agrosoft, so Easicare is now our product. Development of the software has been minimal with the main one being in the summer of 2004 which was made as it was found that there were limitations in the program which prevented it in reporting on sows properly and also on entering sow / boar information beyond a date in late 2004 (this is version 17). This was supplied to customers for a nominal charge.

As development is now minimal on Easicare, and the Easicare yearbook is no longer in place, it was decided that an annual subscription was no longer good value for the clients, so a “pay as you go” support system is in place to give clients the security of knowing that they can still receive support as and when they need it. 

HM Boot

Agrosoft acquired the HM Boot software from Oulston Computers in September 2005.

Stephen Hall, Managing Director for Agrosoft UK Ltd believes that the acquisition will significantly benefit producers and the industry alike. “Producers are seeking a greater level of development and support from their pig management and recording systems. We see this acquisition as an exciting opportunity to deliver industry based technology to a larger producer base.”

PigPlan 

Pigplan recording & costing is a Whole Herd Bureau recording system.

Originally instigated by the Pig Industry Development Authority in the early 1960’s, the program was updated several times under the management of the Meat & Livestock Commission and has recently being converted to a “Windows” based system while it has been operated by Agrosoft Ltd.

As Pigplan is a bureau system, it is designed for minimal producer input. Two forms a month are sent to the central computer for processing and performance results are usually dispatched the following day.

Reports for any herd can be split into a number of sections and are typically:

• Breeding Herd which takes piglets up to weaning
• Optional Rearing Herd that takes piglets from weaning to around 35kg
• Feeding Herd records pigs either from weaning to sale (where no rearing herd is involved) or picking up pigs from leaving the rearing herd until sold
• A comprehensive costing section providing a cash flow report and a margin report that also calculates the total cost per kilo of pigmeat produced from each farm.

Performance parameters are presented for the latest 3month period, next to the same presentation for the latest 6 months and a third column for the current year. The same periods are presented for the previous year, to pinpoint any seasonal effect on performance. The margin report presents financial data in two columns, the first being the  latest 6 month period and the second being the current year. 

Comparative data is presented on relevant reports, to pinpoint strengths and weaknesses of the business, by illustrating the overall average and the average of the Top Third of similar farms.

Once problem areas are pinpointed, management changes can be made to improve the situation and the effect of these changes are monitored in future reports.

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