I have just purchased a new laptop and this got me thinking about whether there is any software out there to make life easier for the small farmer. We have Sheep Guru which is a dBase and Quick books for the accounts but does anyone know of any software designed to pull all the various threads of farming life together.

We can of course, stick with what we have which includes a range of programmes and applications, but it did occur to me that there might be a market for something that would pull 'an integrated life'  together. It would probably pull data in from a range of MS programmes such as Word. Excel, Outlook and specialist dBases such as Sheep Guru and could be a front end for ones' busy life.

Do I expect too much?

I have a very handy bit of computer hardware which I find excellent for interfacing computer software with a smallholding.  I believe it's called a Lump Hammer.

Peter, What's Sheep Guru?  I can't find any reference anywhere on the web.

We use Quickbooks also for the accounts but up to now have been just using Excel spreadsheets for flock records.  At the Royal Welsh I was talking to someone from Border Software who produce FarmIT3000.  In its full version it included all farm records and accounts.  They did a sheep lite version which only did sheep and I had had a demo version to look at a year or so ago.  The only problem with this, for us, was that it didn't include the pedigree functionality but at the show they had a new smallholder version which did.  The trouble with this was that it restricted numbers in the flock/herd records and was too small for us.  They agreed to configure, via the serial number code, the numbers to suit our flock and I have now loaded this on the computer and entered some sheep but have not found the time yet to enter the full flock!

Its a dBase specifically for sheep developed by a guy in West Wales (not Dave3) and I purchased a copy about eight years ago. It is good but with a few (liveable with) bugs. It is not now supported and has disapeared from the market. I bet your spreadsheets are probably better than Sheep Guru. We still use it because we have it not because it is the best thing since sliced bread.