HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE
EWE BYTE SHEEP MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE SYSTEM

 Ewe Byte was developed as part of a research effort starting back in the late 1980's. The initial team was comprised of veterinarians, animal scientists and sheep producers. Initial development was supported by the University of Guelph, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food and the Ontario Sheep Marketing Agency. It started out as a DOS program and was migrated to a Windows (Microsoft) 3.1 program by the mid-1990's. It has undergone constant revision to accomodate producer ideas and the changing sheep industry. In 2004, Ewe Byte was again migrated to a new platform in order to run more smoothly in the Windows XP(Microsoft) environment. Today, Ewe Byte is still a not-for-profit company, owned by Mr. Bob Comfort (sheep producer, technical support & programmer), Dr. Paula Menzies (sheep veterinarian at the University of Guelph), Mrs. Sharon Duff (programmer) and Dr. Brian Buckrell (retired). Sharon almost single handedly programmed Ewe Byte initially. Most recently Bob successfully migrated Ewe Byte to its new platform and has also developed numerous upgrades. He is currently working to develop compatibility of Ewe Byte with electronic eartags. Bob is also Manager of  Technical Support and Sales. 
 Ewe Byte was developed by the sheep industry to support the sheep industry. The program is used for data collection in many of the on-farm research programs. Where ever possible, revenues are return to further Ewe Byte development and to support the sheep research program at the University of Guelph.

 

Bob Comfort  has worked in technical support for IBM Canada for over 30 years and is now retired. He has helped many producers become comfortable with computer management systems. Bob and his family have also been long-time sheep producers - breeding purebred Polled Dorsets.

Dr. Paula Menzies is an associate professor in the Ruminant Health Management in the Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph. She has developed flock health programs for the industry including the Ontario Sheep Health Program and the Ontario Maedi Visna Flock Status program

Sharon Duff has degrees in education from Simon Fraser and in computer science from the University of Guelph. She and her family farm Rideau sheep near Guelph.

Dr. Brian Buckrell is a professor (retired) at he University of Guelph. He is board certified in Theriogenology and was instrumental in ground breaking research into reproductive technologies such as embryo transfer, including IVF,  and artificial insemination. Brian also developed a commercial AI and ET center for sheep, goats and farmed deer, called SR Genetics which is currently owned and operated by Dr. Chris Buschbeck in Markdale, Ontario.

Bob Comfort assisting producers

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