Users of AgroSoft’s WinPig will be introduced to a brand new version of the herd-recording software in the near future, writes Graeme Kirk. After extensive testing, the company is rolling out WinPig.Net, which is a major update of the popular program.
“This is a completely new platform for the software produced using Microsoft’s .NET (dot net) framework for building computer applications,” AgroSoft’s sales & marketing manager, James Nesling, told Pig World. “It has brought WinPig into the 21st century and gives us a solid base to take the program forward.”
The original WinPig software was developed by Morten Rasmussen as part of his studies in the mid 1980s, and it proved so popular among local farmers that he set up AgroSoft to market the program. Today his company markets the software worldwide.
WinPig arrived in the UK in 1999.
Initially Agrosoft Ltd worked in partnership with the MLC, which had been looking for an individual sow-recording package it could offer to pig farmers, although it’s now a wholly owned subsidiary of the Danish parent.
Originally written for the Dos operating system, a new version of WinPig was introduced to run on Microsoft Windows in the late 1990s. As this program was beginning to look dated in an age of smartphones and apps, the company decided it was time to rebuild the program from the ground up.
WinPig.Net will work on computers running all Windows operating systems and means that the program can be developed more easily in future, but as far as users are concerned, it will provide them with a much improved user experience and can be customised to a far greater degree.
Like the previous versions, WinPig.Net is a conventional computer program that’s installed and runs on a stand-alone PC, although it can be networked to provide multiple access points for larger businesses with more than one pig unit. Naturally, it can also still be used with the popular PocketPigs application that runs on a Pocket PC for collecting data while out in the field, and the entire database used to store your herd’s information can still be backed-up over the internet to Agrosoft’s servers to protect against data loss should anything happen to your computer.
WinPig.Net has been developed with help from pig producers, consultants and veterinary experts and is now based on more than 25 years of experience. The new version has retained much of its predecessor’s functionality, but has added a number of new capabilities and increased the options for analysing the data.
“Hopefully customers will see it as a major improvement,” Mr Nesling said. “It looks much more modern and like other programs they’re used to seeing.
“The old WinPig was quite limited in how you could interrogate the data, but now things are much more intuitive. For example, there’s a new filter line on the input and report screens that makes sorting and interrogation of the data easier. It provides a sorting function just like in Microsoft Excel and lets you filter out animals so you’re left with the ones you want to see.”
Rather than selling software outright, Agrosoft Ltd operates on an annual-fee basis that includes supplying and supporting the program, and means the company is able to continue developing the product.
“We’ve held our prices at the same level for the past 10 years, but there’s likely to be a small increase with the release of WinPig.Net,” Mr Nesling added. “In my opinion, herd recording is really undervalued. In times of crisis it’s one of the first things chopped, but it’s actually one of the most important aspects of managing any unit and should be used to run the business.”
AgroSoft WinPig.Net key features:
- Fully customisable data input screens, sow cards and reports
- Simple and intuitive navigation
- Filter data input and report screens to locate exact criteria
- Set up most frequently used windows and reports as icons on the desktop
- Full copy and paste integration with Excel and other software
- Quick data error recognition and resolution
- Set up favourite reports that can be saved and run again
- Continuous flow or batch recording in the feeding herd
- Complete feed, finance and medicine databases to aid input
- Record and analyse your feeding herd by pen, building, section and herd
- Complete personnel control – manage what each user can enter and view
 For information call 01728 685118 or visit: www.agrosoftltd.com.