Agrident APR500 User manual

APR500 Hand-reader User Manual
BenguFarm Beef
Version 1.2.1

©Copyright 2015 by RFID Experts Africa PTY Ltd.
All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
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such changes.
Documentation last updated on July 3, 2018
RFID Experts Africa PTY Ltd.
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South Africa
Phone: [phone]
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.rfid-experts.co.za

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Contents
1INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................1
2USING THE APR500..................................................................................................................................1
3TASK DESCRIPTIONS ................................................................................................................................2
3.1 REGISTRATION........................................................................................................................................... 2
3.2 MATING................................................................................................................................................... 3
3.3 SCANNING ................................................................................................................................................ 4
3.4 CALVING...................................................................................................................................................5
3.5 WEIGHING................................................................................................................................................7
3.6 INSPECTION............................................................................................................................................... 8
3.7 VACCINATION............................................................................................................................................ 8
3.8 SICKNESS ................................................................................................................................................ 10
3.9 MOVEMENT............................................................................................................................................11
4ADDITIONAL TASKS ...............................................................................................................................12
4.1 RTU MEASUREMENT................................................................................................................................ 13
4.2 PERFORMANCE DATA................................................................................................................................ 14
5EXCHANGING DATA BETWEEN BENGUFARM BEEF AND THE APR500 ....................................................14
5.1 GETTING DATA FROM THE APR500 ............................................................................................................ 14
5.2 SENDING DATA TO THE APR500 ................................................................................................................ 16
5.2.1 Selecting Breeding Bulls .................................................................................................................. 16
5.2.2 Data Used on the APR500............................................................................................................... 16
5.2.3 Updating APR500 Data and Erasing Old Task Data........................................................................ 17

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List of Figures
FIGURE 1: APR500 START SCREEN................................................................................................................................. 1
FIGURE 2: TASK SELECTION ...........................................................................................................................................1
FIGURE 3: REGISTRATION TASK ......................................................................................................................................2
FIGURE 4: MATING TASK ..............................................................................................................................................3
FIGURE 5: SCANNING TASK............................................................................................................................................ 4
FIGURE 6: CALVING TASK ..............................................................................................................................................5
FIGURE 7: WEIGHING TASK ...........................................................................................................................................7
FIGURE 8: INSPECTION TASK ..........................................................................................................................................8
FIGURE 9: VACCINATION............................................................................................................................................... 9
FIGURE 10: SICKNESS ................................................................................................................................................. 10
FIGURE 11: MOVEMENT............................................................................................................................................. 11
FIGURE 12: MOVEMENT -CANCELLATION...................................................................................................................... 12
FIGURE 13: RTU MEASUREMENT................................................................................................................................. 13
FIGURE 15: GETTING DATA FROM THE APR500 STEP1 .................................................................................................... 14
FIGURE 16: GETTING DATA FROM THE APR500 STEP2 .................................................................................................... 15
FIGURE 17: SELECTING BREEDING BULLS........................................................................................................................ 16
FIGURE 18: UPDATING AND ERASING DATA ON THE APR500............................................................................................ 17

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1Introduction
The purpose of this document is to explain the features and functions of the APR500 hand-
reader that has been set up for use with the BenguFarm Beef software. The hand-reader has
nine tasks that allow data to be recorded and transferred directly into the BenguFarm Beef
software. It must be noted that the APR can only be loaded with 9 tasks at any given time.
2Using the APR500
Switch on the APR500 by pressing the red “C” (cancel) key on the keypad. The start screen will
be displayed.
Figure 1: APR500 Start Screen
To select one of the tasks, press the blue “F” (function) key, this will bring up the main menu.
Navigate to Task Mode using the arrow keys, select Task Mode (select by pressing the green
enter (↵) key on keypad). Navigate to the required task by using the arrow keys, and press
enter to select the task. The APR500 will take you step by step through all the fields of the
task. If any fields are not applicable to the user, it can be left blank, or zero (0), any zero- or
empty values will be ignored by BenguFarm Beef.
Figure 2: Task Selection

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3Task Descriptions
3.1 Registration
The use of this task is to twofold: to register new animals and to register a tag-change. If an
animal is found with one tag missing (electronic or visual), the registration task allows you to
issue a replacement tag, by identifying the animal using the remaining tag. To use this task,
select it on the task menu by pressing enter. This is the only task where the visual
identification number (VID) is used, all other tasks use only the electronic identification
number (EID), it is therefore important that the animals be registered before using other
tasks.
Figure 3: Registration Task

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3.2 Mating
This task records which cows were mated with which bulls, and the start- and end-date of the
mating (multiple bulls are allowed). After the bulls have been selected (the process of
importing bulls to the APR500 is described in 5.2.1 Selecting Breeding Bulls), the APR500 will
go into “speed mode”, this means that the APR500 will continuously scan for tags. It is not
necessary to press the enter key to read a tag. Any tags in the reading range of the APR500
will be recorded (duplicates will be ignored). To stop reading, press the cancel key twice.
Figure 4: Mating Task

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3.3 Scanning
The Scanning task records the pregnancy status of the animal (amount of fetuses found in a
cow) during pregnancy examination, the mating cycle and the number of weeks the ewe is
pregnant for.
Figure 5: Scanning Task

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3.4 Calving
The calving task is used to record which lambs were born from which cows. The mating task
(see section Error! Reference source not found.) already records which cows and bulls were m
ated together.
Figure 6: Calving Task

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3.5 Weighing
This task is used to record the weight of animals. The weighing date is used to calculate the
daily weight gain in BenguFarm Beef. Different weight types can be recorded (in the case of
weaning, the dam weight will be recorded as well as the weaned animal’s weight).
Figure 7: Weighing Task
Shown in the case of
“Wean” weigh-type
Figure 7: Weighing Task

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3.6 Inspection
The inspection task is used to record whether an animal is to be accepted or rejected from the
stud. A number of rejection reasons can be used.
Figure 8: Inspection Task
3.7 Vaccination
Vaccination is used to record the list of animal medicines that were administered to a group.
After selecting the type of vaccine and dosage, the APR500 is set to speed mode: it
continuously reads for animal tags. Press the cancel key twice to stop reading.

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Figure 9: Vaccination

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3.8 Sickness
The Sickness task works similar to the Vaccination task, except that it is used on individual
animals, and that the sickness that the animal is suffering from is also recorded.
Figure 10: Sickness

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3.9 Movement
The Movement task is used to register animal movements. Two types of movements can be
recorded:
Movement: movement between camps or management groups that have been
configured in BenguFarm Beef
Cancellation: Cancellation: when an animal is to be made non-active in the
BenguFarm database, two types of cancellations can be recorded:
oTransfer: if an animal is sold, in this case, the buyer’s name is recorded
oRemoval: if an animal dies, the cause of death is recorded
The cancellation movement removes the EID from the animal’s record in BenguFarm Beef. If
an animal is sold or has died, the electronic tag can be removed from the animal, and can be
reused on new animals (either in the Registration or Calving task). You need to first import
the cancellation movements into BenguFarm and then erase APR data before the applicable
electronic tags can be reused.
In all movement types, the APR500 is set to speed mode (continuous reading). Press the
cancel key twice to stop reading.
Figure 11: Movement

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Figure 12: Movement - Cancellation
4Additional Tasks
The following tasks are available for the APR500 that are not loaded by default as the reader is
only capable of storing 9 tasks at a time. These can be loaded onto the APR500 by phoning
RFID Experts and requesting the task to be loaded.
Note: The additional task will replace one of the 9 tasks on the reader. It can replace any task
specified by the user.

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4.1 RTU Measurement
Figure 13: RTU Measurement

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The RTU Measurement is used to do RTU (real-time-ultrasound) measurement on animals.
4.2 Performance Data
The Performance Data task contains both the RTU Measurement task, and the Inspection task.
This task is used to free up space for one more task on the APR500. At the beginning of the
task the user can select the task he wishes to use.
5Exchanging Data between BenguFarm Beef and the APR500
5.1 Getting Data from the APR500
To get task data from the APR500 into the BenguFarm Beef program, connect the APR500 to
the computer with the USB cable. Start BenguFarm Beef. Select Data Send/Receive, Receive,
RFID Experts APR500 Reader.
Figure 14: Getting Data from the APR500 Step1

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The APR500 Reader Data Exchange window will open, select the COM port where the APR500
is connected. If importing Wool Performance Data, select the shear number and previous
shearing date. Select Import Data from Reader to import all task data from the APR500,
importing data from multiple tasks is supported. If old data, that has previously been
imported, is imported again, the software will notify the user, and ignore the duplicate data.
Figure 15: Getting Data from the APR500 Step2

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5.2 Sending Data to the APR500
5.2.1 Selecting Breeding Bulls
In the Mating task (see section Error! Reference source not found.), only bulls that have been m
arked as Breeding Bulls are available. To configure if a ram is to be used as a breeding ram,
open the Add and Edit Animals screen, and check the Breeding Bull (Herd Bull) checkbox.
Sending the data to the APR500 is explained in section 5.2.3.
Figure 16: Selecting Breeding Bulls
5.2.2 Data Used on the APR500
All other lists that are used in the tasks include:
Camps
Vaccines and Remedies
Camp Movement reasons
Illnesses and Injuries
Rejection reasons
These lists can be edited and updated by the user in BenguFarm, sending the lists to the
APR500 is explained in section 5.2.3.