Sheep weighing and monitoring – Track your flock with ease

Running sheep shouldn’t mean guessing weights, chasing paperwork, or spending hours in the yard with a notebook. With EID ear tags and reliable sheep weighing scales, you can track every lamb’s growth, record treatments automatically, and stay compliant without the hassle. At Electric Fence Online, we supply Gallagher sheep scales and EID solutions built for real UK farm conditions, accurate, reliable, and designed to save you time.

Why Sheep Ear Tags & EID tracking matters

Sheep EID tags are not just a legal requirement, they are an essential tool for modern flock management. Every sheep can be individually tracked, linking its weight, health records, and treatments directly to its digital profile. For example, to track lamb growth and ewe condition throughout the season, sheep EID tags with digital sheep weighing scales are an excellent solution. Allowing the farmer to make informed breeding and feeding decisions. 

Using electronic sheep ear tags alongside a lamb weigher ensures that every weight is automatically recorded against the correct animal, making lamb weighing straightforward and accurate. This is particularly valuable for hill or upland farms, where monitoring growth can be challenging without portable, reliable equipment. Gallagher offers both wired and wireless load bar systems. You should assess whether a wireless or wired weighing setup best suits your needs. For example, wireless systems are ideal for field use or mobile situations, while wired load bars are often better suited to fixed installations, such as weighing in a barn, where a permanent setup is more practical.

Accurate Weighing with Gallagher Sheep Scales

Reliable sheep weighing machines are a cornerstone of efficient flock management. Gallagher’s wireless and portable sheep scales are ideal for smallholdings to larger commercial operations. Weighing your sheep regularly provides actionable insights into health, nutrition, and growth rates.

For instance, smallholdings uses portable sheep scales as a flexible lamb weigher during peak lambing season, quickly weighing multiple lambs at once and linking the data to sheep EID tags. Others rely on digital sheep weighing scales weekly to identify slow-growing lambs early, allowing feed adjustments that improve growth rates and survival.

Choosing the best sheep weighing scales ensures your data is accurate and your animals are managed effectively. Sheep weighing scales and lamb weighers provide insights into feeding efficiency, health monitoring, and breeding decisions, helping farmers make confident choices for their flock.

Advanced features through animal performance plus

For sheep farmers who want deeper insights and automation, the Gallagher Animal Performance Plus subscription unlocks a range of advanced tools beyond basic weighing. The Plus plan provides powerful and detailed performance analytics that help you spot issues early and make better breeding, feeding, and sale decisions. It also enables cloud syncing across multiple devices, full historical animal records, advanced reporting, and the ability to use your phone (Apple app, Android app) as a “weigh scale in your pocket” when paired with Gallagher Wireless Load Bars. With Plus, you can also record individual traits, treatments, pregnancy data, and life‑history information directly against each EID tag. These features offer a more complete picture of flock performance and are designed to save time, improve accuracy, and increase profitability.

Gallagher Sheep Weighing 

	I am a Sheep Farmer who wants to...	Weigh my stock and have basic data analysis tools	Weigh my stock and draft by weight	Weigh my stock, draft by weight and add notes and animal alerts
	Software	Animal Performance Plus	Animal Performance Every Day	Animal Performance advanced
	Weigh Scale	Smart Phone	W-0	W-1 + EID Tag Reader
	Handler	3-way drafting crate	3-way drafting crate	3-way drafting crate
	Load Bars	600mm, 2500kg,Wireless	600mm, 1500kg, 2500kg	600mm, 1500kg, 2500kg, Wireless
	EID Reader	HR5 & HR4 EID Tag Reader	N/A	HR5 & HR4 EID Tag Reader
	Trait recording	Record 9 traits per session using the HR5	N/A	Record 9 traits per session using the HR5
	Suggested package*	Tag Reader + Load Bars + Animal Performance Plus	W-0 Weighscale + Load Bars + Animal Performance Everyday	W-1 Weighscale + Load Bars + Tag Reader + Animal Performance Plus

*We understand every farming operation is different, so please discuss your requirements with our customer service team who will be able to create custom packages to suit your specific needs.

**Smartphone is not included

There are plenty of options to choose from when it comes to livestock weighing equipment. However, after testing a range of systems, we can confidently say that you don’t need the most expensive solution to get started. Reliable, accurate results can be achieved with a straightforward, well-built setup that covers the essentials without unnecessary extras.

For most small to medium-sized flocks, a simple and practical system is more than enough to monitor performance effectively. Starting with dependable, easy-to-use equipment also makes daily handling quicker and less stressful for both you and your sheep, while keeping costs under control. You can always expand or upgrade your setup later as your needs grow.

Wool weighing and tracking

Using Gallagher weighing and EID equipment together with compatible barcode scanners and printers can greatly simplify wool management. By connecting the HR5 handheld reader to a barcode printer, you can quickly and easily print and assign barcodes to each batch of wool for clear, reliable identification.

When used with suspension load cells and a barcode scanner, you can efficiently record both the weight and barcode information simultaneously. All data is instantly displayed and securely stored on a compatible Gallagher weigh scale, providing accurate records without the need for manual note-taking.

This streamlined system helps reduce handling time, minimise errors, and improve overall wool management, making weighing, recording, and tracking faster and more efficient. 

We recommend the following set to start weighing wool: 

Gallagher APS SmartReader HR5 - Portable EID Reader

Gallagher Loadcell 300kg suspension

Grants and Funding Opportunities

Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF) – England

This is the main current UK government grant scheme available for agricultural technology, including livestock weighing and EID equipment. The fund operates through competitive scoring and offers funding towards purchase costs. FETF 2026 has not been announced yet, as soon as it will we will publicize the grants.  

Relevant grant items under the Animal Health & Welfare section can include:

• Automatic weighing & drafting systems – crate that automatically weighs livestock and reads EID tags
• Electronic weigh crate for sheep – EID‑compatible weigh crate
• Individual electronic weigh system (indicator controller) – digital weight indicator capable of tracking weights and interfacing with EID data/software
• Electronic weigh bars and platforms – load bars/platforms that work with digital weigh heads
• EID handheld recorder devices – RFID handheld devices for scanning and recording animal IDs and data
• EID handheld stick readers – portable stick readers for scanning HDX and FDX‑B tags
• EID panel readers (fixed) – static readers fixed into handling systems (higher grant levels)

Note: There are separate codes for each item category, such as FETF78 (electronic weigh system), FETF79 (weigh bars), FETF80 (bars/platforms under 300kg), FETF81/82 (EID readers).

Stephen Hill
Fencing Expert at Electric fence Online & Farmer

Stephen grew up on a farm and now runs a smallholding of his own in Devon. With a genuine passion for animals and the countryside, he enjoys sharing his experience and offering support to others on their farming journey.