Head Shepherd

Mark Ferguson

Mark Ferguson from neXtgen Agri brings you the latest in livestock, genetics, innovation and technology. We focus on sheep and beef farming in Australia and New Zealand and the people doing great things in those industries.

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Top 10 Head Shepherd Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Head Shepherd episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Head Shepherd for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Head Shepherd episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Building Futures in Agriculture with Nancy Crawshaw

Head Shepherd

06/09/24 • 36 min

This week on the podcast we have Nancy Crawshaw, Extension Manager for Angus Australia and winner of the New Zealand Zanda McDonald Award 2024.
The conversation kicks off with Nancy’s reflections on the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle in her home region of Gisborne. “It brought communities together,” says Nancy. “When you're completely cut off, you've got no outside communication, you can't get anywhere. It's only your neighbours and your community who you've got.”
As for the recovery, Nancy points out that there’s still a long way to go. “With the land being so wet, it's been moving. You can go and fix a fence one day and then it's down the next,” she explains. “There's been a lot of repairs that probably need to be done, but we're just waiting to see if that land sort of holds up or not.” Nancy highlights that it’s important to celebrate the small wins, such as a stock-proof paddock, rather than only looking at the overwhelming task ahead of you.
Nancy’s role as Extension Manager for Augus Australia takes her across Australia and New Zealand meeting producers and helping them add value to their business, be that through identifying ‘low-hanging fruit’ or education.
Nancy is also heavily involved in the Angus youth program, GenAngus which is an initiative to help youth in agriculture with their first steps in agriculture. Nancy has been involved in multiple youth initiatives in agriculture and is a firm believer in surrounding yourself with the right people and finding specific mentors within the sector you want to grow in. “You have to ask yourself: who do you actually want to learn from? Who is there in the industry that you want be mentored by and learn from, that's going to actually set you up?” asks Nancy.
This is a fantastic podcast to inspire any young people in agriculture, so make sure to forward it on to your children or young shepherds!

Head Shepherd is brought to you by neXtgen Agri International Limited. We help livestock farmers get the most out of the genetics they farm with. Get in touch with us if you would like to hear more about how we can help you do what you do best: [email protected].
Thanks to our sponsors at MSD Animal Health and Allflex, and Heiniger Australia and New Zealand. Please consider them when making product choices, as they are instrumental in enabling us to bring you this podcast each week.
Check out Heiniger's product range HERE
Check out the MSD range HERE
Check out Allflex products HERE

Feed efficiency and behaviours in sheep with Tricia Johnson

Head Shepherd

01/22/23 • 31 min

This week on the Head Shepherd podcast we have another senior scientist of AgResearch, Tricia Johnson.
Following on from our podcast with Dr Suzanne Rowe on "Genetic selection for lower methane in ruminants", we invited Tricia on to focus on her research in one of Marks favourite topics, feed efficiency and body composition.
Tricia has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to sheep phenotypes and genetics; from muscling and meat quality traits to Facial Eczema .
Mark starts off this epic podcast with the Myomax gene.
"Early 2000's when Texel's were gaining prominence in New Zealand [...] We identified a region of the myostatin gene which was associated with increased muscling in the Texels."
Tricia dives into more about muscling and fat, which then leads to the topic of feed use efficiency.
"We've known for a long time that feed use efficiency is a really important economic trait in terms of feed cost, but also in terms of animals being able to be a little more resilient in the face of variable feed amounts" She explains.
Tricia walks us through the trial that began back in 2015. "We have 6 weeks where we have daily feed intake recording. Any time an animal goes into a feeder we see the timestamp of when she goes in, how long she's there for and how much feed she eats for that feeding event." This gives a fantastic profile of feeding events over the trial period.
"We also take live weights twice a week ... we have a really nice profile of her growth and her feed intake at the time and a whole lot of behavioural traits of how she's eating that feed"
Mark asks about those behavioural traits and if they discovered anything interesing.
Tricia tells us about a fascinating finding when they ran the BLNZG Low Input Sheep Progeny Test animals through the intake facility.
"One of the really interesting things, in terms of looking it some of these behaviour traits, happened in the first cohort of these [low input] girls."
After their Farm manager at the time noticed a "bunch" of them were refusing to transition into the facility, something highly unusual after over 2,000 sheep had previously done so sucessfully.
So, Tricia wondered if they were all from the same low input sire? And they were. He was also a leading ram in a certain trait, can you guess which one?
Tricias knowledge in feeding efficiency and behaviour, the genetics behind them and the resulting factors of those behavioural patterns is just incredible. You'll want to listen to this podcast a few times!
Thank you Tricia for sharing your time with us and our listeners.

Mastering the Trifecta: Sheep, Beef and Dairy Management with Matt Iremonger

Head Shepherd

06/30/24 • 39 min

Join us this week and find out how Matt Iremonger manages multiple dairy, sheep and beef operations across 6,500 hectares in Canterbury, New Zealand. Matt shares the challenges and opportunities in such a diverse farming enterprise, as well as his recent experience as a Nuffield Scholar looking at the integration of beef production from the dairy industry to create a high-value premium product.
When Matt’s parents sold the farm he grew up on, Matt needed to find another way into property ownership. After a stint at the New Zealand Wool Board and some time overseas, Matt returned to New Zealand to lease a farm. Matt and his wife then went into an equity partnership on a larger farm, which they grew for 10 years. More recently they have joined forces with the Thomas family, managing their farming business and purchasing farms in partnership with them.
Matt and his wife Katy run dairy, sheep, and beef farming systems that operate across 6,500 hectares in the Ellesmere district in Canterbury. “We think of ourselves as a pastoral business,” explains Matt. “That pastoralism extends to a number of products which include lamb, beef and dairy. Dairy is no different to pastoral sheep and beef, it's just a different harvesting system.”
Their stock consists of 1,550 dairy cows (plus replacement heifers); 12,000 mixed-age ewes and 3,000 hoggets (producing 22,000 lambs a year); and 1,200 beef cows (from which they finish the majority of the calves).
Running such a diverse business prompted Matt to apply for a Nuffield scholarship in 2023. Matt saw an opportunity in the industry for better utilisation of surplus calves from the dairy side of the operation. Matt spent five months travelling and researching the challenges and opportunities in New Zealand, comparing it with practices in the United States and the European Union, and came across some surprising revelations.
Mark and Matt also discuss the breeding principles that apply across these enterprises and how they select their bulls.
Matt has valuable insights into managing diverse farming operations for optimal productivity and sustainability, capitalising on opportunities. From navigating partnerships to strategic breeding principles, this week's episode has it all.

Ferg's thoughts: New Year Special

Head Shepherd

01/01/23 • 21 min

This week we have another episode in our "Ferg's Thoughts" series. Seeing as it's the start of a new year, Mark chats about what we can achieve in the future.
"How can we set ourselves up for success in 2023?" Mark asks "We always think back to that 30 years, depending on where you are in your farming cycle. That '30' being the number of times you get to select a bull or ram tea to go out."
"So roughly we get those 30 opportunities to keep the females we keep and the males we either buy or keep as well. " says Mark.
"The point of that is that, that is not many, so we have to make the best decision we can." He says, highlighting the importance of every breeding purchase and decision.
Mark asks "What is the story you're telling yourself? What was the story you told yourself in 2022? We have this story in our head about what is possible, but it's hard to not get caught up in the hardships of farming. Be it the weather, legislation or any other problems farmers can face. "
"The reality is, we don't have a lot of control over that. Our opportunities lie within dealing with the cards we're dealt. Our only control is how we react to that. How we get on and farm, how we breed animals.."
"I think 2023 is a great opportunity to try something new. Whether that's something as simple as scanning for twins..." Mark reminds us it's okay to try and fail, rather than not try at all.
If you'd like neXtgen to be part of your New Year to help you reach those new audacious goals, contact us at [email protected].
Thank you to all of our listeners in 2022 and the guests that shared their knowledge with us here at neXtgen and you our listeners. We have a fantastic line up for the start of 2023 that we think you'll love.
Check out The Hub
thehub.nextgenagri.com
Our community where our members have the opportunity to keep up to date with everything we are working on.
Thanks to our Sponsors
Allflex Livestock Intelligence is the leader in the design, development, manufacturing, and delivery of animal monitoring, identification, and traceability solutions. Their data-driven solutions are used by farmers to manage animals. By putting intelligent, actionable information into farmers’ hands, their solutions empower them to act in a timely manner for optimal outcomes.
A big thank you to our sponsors, Allflex Livestock Intelligence and MSD Animal Health Intelligence
www.allflex.global/nz/

Check out The Hub

thehub.nextgenagri.com
Our community where our members have the opportunity to keep up to date with everything we are working on.

The benefits of supply chain security with Jason Strong

Head Shepherd

11/27/22 • 30 min

This week on the Head Shepherd podcast we have Jason Strong, Managing Director of Meat & Livestock Australia Ltd. (MLA)
Jason grew up on a farm and says "I can never remember not wanting to be a cow farmer." He says that winning a scholarship to the University of Illinois in his late teens was "transformative" in his career.
"The most important thing was learning about meat grading and meat science. I got really excited about being a meat grader and came home [...] and realised we didn't have a meat grading system.... which is quite career limiting."
"That's what got me started working with Dr Rod Polkinghorne and John Webster [...] that set up the Meat Standards, Australia system."
Jason worked in various roles in Agriculture but with one common goal, to make the industry better for everyone. Now, as Managing Director of MLA, Jason gives us a run down of what MLA do, for our non-Australian listeners, and also what they are focusing on in the next few years.
"At our core, we focus on research development and marketing."
Jason makes a great point in saying that over MLAs time, they have invested in 12-13,000 projects. Which means it's hard to find something in the livestock sector they haven't looked into.
"When we think about research and development, so much of what was a challenge for us twenty years ago, [...] so many of those things have been solved or improved. So the breadth of things that we need to invest in, is a much shorter list now than it was 32 years ago"
Jason says that MLA are focusing on the importing things going forward. "When we put our strategic plan together, we took a "Fewer, Bigger, Bolder approach."
Mark asks what the "big ticket" items that MLA are focusing on.
"Sustainability," Jason says. "We've doubled investment in that space. We've committed to double our investment in adoption and extension and we also significantly increased our investment in traceability and biosecurity"
Jason is very enthusiastic about the future of the industry, and as he should be. "The industry is in an amazing shape. Particularly in the last five years. The success of the collective industry are coming to the fore"
Considering the past few years and everything that has happened, Jason says that prices for red meat will remain strong. He says that the collective effort of the last 20 years, building markets and connecting with consumers, is now showing benefits.
"It's not a mistake. It didn't just happen [..] there's absolutely a component of where we're at at the moment. The underlying strength of where we are has come from all of the other things''
One benefit of such a strong market is that we have more certainty in our investments. "We can now make a direct connection between investment and benefit." Jason says. When it comes to genetics, farmers now know their decisions will actually pay off financially. Farmers can now buy rams with traits they know they will be rewarded for by the supply chain.
This episode is a great reminder of how far the industry has come in the past 20 years and

Innovative lamb processing with Gundagai Meat Processors

Head Shepherd

04/16/23 • 33 min

As producers, you're always wanting to get the most for your hard earned produce and it always helps when your processor wants that for you, too.
Located mid-way between Sydney and Melbourne, Gundagai Meat Processors (GMP) is one of the most innovative lamb processors in Australia. GMP became a household name within the industry as they were the first to offer premiums for IMF.
This week we have Will Barton, CEO of GMP on the podcast. We start off strong diving straight into why GMP decided to offer a premium to suppliers.
"We had a period from 2000 to 2020 where we weren't trading. What that meant for us is, in 2020 when we stuck our head up and decided to launch Gundagai Lamb as a brand, we could start up as we wanted. We said "Hey, we're going to do something different do you want to come with us?"."
Will goes through how GMP decided what that "something different" actually was.
Gundagai started the process of change by paying less for over-fat lambs, and more for lambs that had a better meat yield. They have now developed a scoring system called GLQ score.
"We realised [...] that if we didn't have an eating quality measure to balance the lean meat yield trait... we were potentially going to be in a situation where we bred chicken." i.e lean, fast growing and tasteless. "We need a 'guardian' of eating quality."
Will runs through the work they did with machine learning and AI to come up with the GLQ score.
"It's more than just IMF. It's an algorithm that encourages above average marbling but it also discourages over fattening."
"If we get a carcass thats got an insane amount of marbling but a low lean meat yield, it wont make GLQ5+. Because it's unsustainably fat and we want producers to be tuning into genetics to create that outcome rather than just over fattening an animal to get there." Says Will. "We also track 20 animal health conditions and/or carcass defects. We take a point off for any of those animal health attributes on a carcass by carcass basis."
To sum all of that together means a GLQ5+ lamb has to be above average eating quality, which has not been done via excessive fattening and the animals either got clean bill of health or the farmers been given feedback to improve their practices over time- so a holistic attitude approach.
And how much financial reward as a producer do you get for achieving that?
"We pay, at the moment, $0.80/kilo for a GLQ5+ lamb."
Mark asks if there's any focus on a particular breed, or if they'll work with producers advising on those requirements to be GLQ5+. Will says that's not the role of GMP
"We see that you can have any breed that you like and achieve the desired outcomes if you follow the right genetics and then match those genetics with the right nutritional platform. We're not about to become agronomists or geneticists."

Genetic selection for lower methane in ruminants with Dr Suzanne Rowe

Head Shepherd

01/08/23 • 28 min

This week we have a fantastic podcast for you discussing a very hot topic, Methane emissions in ruminants.
We have Dr Suzanne Rowe, Senior Scientist at AgResearch talking about the history of recording methane in sheep, what the industry is currently doing towards reducing methane emissions and where the future of methane in sheep is heading.
Dr Rowe was born and raised in the UK, studied Agriculture and has a PhD in Quantitative Genetics. She then moved to NZ "..where we've got the great facilities and big herds." Suzanne has been working, for almost the past decade, on breeding sheep with low methane outputs.
"The program was started in 2007 by a man called John McEwan, I'm sure many of your listeners would have heard of John. He set out to understand whether methane could be measured and whether it was heritable."
John started with 1,000 animals from CPT flocks, so his findings would be applicable in the industry immediately. "It took him around 4 years to get them all through the Portable Accumulation Chamber (PAC)." The PAC is a chamber which uses a gas analyser measuring device to record gas outputs from sheep.
Back then it took two days to measure one animal. Every 6 minutes a sample would be taken from a PAC, so it did give a very detailed result.
"From there what John did was select high and low methane selection lines and go on to breed these sheep for generations, to see if methane was passed on."
And was it?
"We're here today because it was. It's heritable."
"We went back and looked at those 6 minutes measures over the 48 hour time periods and we looked at each [...] measure and we worked out which of the ones were most predictive." This research and investigation work, evolved since the initial detailed studies, means now just a half an hour 'stint' is needed inside a chamber.
There are currently PACs in Ireland, units in Norway, one off to Scotland, France and Australia so the world is really starting to ramp up methane measurements in livestock.
AgResearch are currently trying to find out the connection between the gut microbes and methane emissions. "The microbiome that sits in the gut, is a property of its' host." Says Dr Rowe. "I don't think thats some maternal transfer, I think that's from the genetics of the animal"
"There are different ways to ferment feed, it seems that the low methane sheep have picked a different way to ferment the feed"
Suzanne briefly talks about the future of measuring methane in sheep. Recently they have been looking into taking and processing rumen samples and comparing them with PAC results. This could allow for more rumen samples to be taken in difficult locations where a trailer can't reach, or even with larger species such as cattle and deer.
However, it's not currently as easy as it may seem. The feed intake has to be very specific and precise prior to taking rumen samples because, as Suzanne explains, "We just don't have the validation or resources to know it's like for like". (For every grazing scenario)
Suzanne tells us about the Beef and

Managing Drench Resistance in Sheep With Ginny Dodunski

Head Shepherd

02/26/23 • 46 min

Want to know more about sheep parasites? This week we have Ginny Dodunski on the podcast chatting about everything from drenches and capsules, to resistance and refugia. This podcast is full of handy, helpful tips, which will hopefully make you take a step back and look at your worm management programme on farm.
In the last 12 months, Ginny has been the Wormwise programme manager but, prior to that, Ginny was (and still is) a practising large animal vet.
Wormwise was launched as an initiative to help farmers manage drench resistance. Ginny says that resistance to anthelmintics was always going to happen. "Parasites were always going to develop a resistance to drugs. The more days in the year your worm population is exposed to drugs, the more opportunities they have to breed and get around it."
Mark and Ginny spend the podcast discussing what you can do if you do have drench resistance and how you can clean your farm up practically.
From different methods of refugia, cattle grazing and careful management of drench usage, Ginny says there are solutions to the problem. Mark points out that, "Well-monitored is the only way to be, you can't do any of this shooting blind." Ginny explains that, for the first few years, technical management can be overwhelming, but once you "get your eye in", she says it can be a lot less formal.
Mark and Ginny discuss the genetics behind it, and how it's not always about doing faecal egg counts and watching drenches. "It's about really focusing on feed and condition and minimising larval challenge."
If you'd like to keep up to date with Ginny and Wormwise, you can find them on Facebook here.

Reducing Drench Usage in Sheep with Nick Cotter

Head Shepherd

06/16/24 • 51 min

From direct organic lamb sales to a firewood business and developing algorithms for drench recommendations, the Cotter family pretty much do it all.
This week we have Nick Cotter of Cotter Agritech on the podcast to chat about their farm in County Limerick, Ireland, and the various inventions and innovations they have come up with.
In Ireland, sheep farming is considered the least profitable, behind beef and dairy. This prompted the Cotter family to convert to organic farming in 2014. Nick Cotter discusses the challenges of organic farming and the direct marketing of organic lamb products. "It is bloody hard and there is a lot of work in it. But if you get it right, there is a significant premium to be found," he explains.
As the proverb goes, necessity is the mother of invention and Nick explains that the added challenges of being organic inspired them to create “a lot of good ideas.”
One of their first ideas was their CotterCrate, a manual sheep handling and weighing system. The handling system was thought up after having to handle lambs more often under an organic regime. They developed it over a year, adding and changing things as they went. Then they took it on the road and worked with farmers to finesse the design. So, it is truly built by farmers, for farmers.
Their latest engineering feat is SmartWorm. As an organic producer, Nick is all too aware of the challenge of reducing drench usage, along with minimising drench resistance in sheep and cattle farming, so Cotter Agritech created technology to combat the issue.
Instead of directly counting worms, SmartWorm assesses the real-time impact on lamb performance through a special algorithm. The tool integrates multiple factors to make accurate predictions for drenching, significantly reducing unnecessary dosing without compromising animal health or weight gain. The algorithm considers factors such as recent weather conditions, lamb physiology, recent drenches and pasture availability. With real-time analysis, it accurately determines whether treatment is necessary for each lamb.
Cotter Agritech is currently focused on driving the adoption of SmartWorm technology in Ireland, the UK, New Zealand and Australia, with plans for expansion into cattle farming.
If you are interested in working with Cotter Agritech, contact Nick at [email protected].
You can find out more about their technology here: cotteragritech.com.
And, there is more information about their premium lamb sales here: https://www.cotterorganiclamb.ie/

Agtech is not always about making money.

Head Shepherd

04/03/22 • 20 min

This week on the Head Shepherd podcast we have Jock Lawrence, creator and founder of Mobble.
After returning home to the family farm in Victoria Australia, and realising that all of the important information was up in "Dads head", Jock and his family trialed some farm management software in an attempt to get the operation running more smoothly. However, none of them worked for both generations of farmers, and none had all of the things they both wanted.
And so, Mobble was born.
"Everything you need to help manage your livestock farming business. Simple, practical, flexible livestock farm management software."
There has been great feedback so far on Mobble, with farmers finding it solving their communications issues between teams and family members without any complications.
Being a "mob" based app, you can't get caught up in the complications of individual animals which is where some software goes wrong. "The data the farmer needs most, is up in their face. We want to give them quick access to the information they need, giving them more time in their day"
Eventually, Jock hopes to add individual animals as an "add on" to Mobble.
Jocks favourite part of his role is connecting with farmers and finding out how they can make the software work for them. Mark and Jock agree that it's not always about making money, sometimes it's about efficiency and saving time. With clients across Australia and New Zealand, Jock gets to connect with a wide range of clients who all have different ideas and inputs.
Mark and Jock discuss the future of Agtech and where application connectivity will take farming in the future- a pretty exciting place!
If you would like to find out more about Mobble, you can visit their website below.
https://www.mobble.io/
Check out The Hub
thehub.nextgenagri.com
Our community where our members have the opportunity to keep up to date with everything we are working on.
Thanks to our Sponsors
Allflex Livestock Intelligence is the leader in the design, development, manufacturing, and delivery of animal monitoring, identification, and traceability solutions. Their data-driven solutions are used by farmers to manage animals. By putting intelligent, actionable information into farmers’ hands, their solutions empower them to act in a timely manner for optimal outcomes.
A big thank you to our sponsors, Allflex Livestock Intelligence and MSD Animal Health Intelligence
www.allflex.global/nz/

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FAQ

How many episodes does Head Shepherd have?

Head Shepherd currently has 204 episodes available.

What topics does Head Shepherd cover?

The podcast is about Genetics, Cattle, Podcasts, Technology, Science, Agriculture, Farming, Business and Livestock.

What is the most popular episode on Head Shepherd?

The episode title 'The benefits of supply chain security with Jason Strong' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Head Shepherd?

The average episode length on Head Shepherd is 35 minutes.

How often are episodes of Head Shepherd released?

Episodes of Head Shepherd are typically released every 7 days.

When was the first episode of Head Shepherd?

The first episode of Head Shepherd was released on May 23, 2020.

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Head Shepherd

Mark Ferguson

Top 10 Head Shepherd Episodes

FAQ

How many episodes does Head Shepherd have?

What topics does Head Shepherd cover?

What is the most popular episode on Head Shepherd?

What is the average episode length on Head Shepherd?

How often are episodes of Head Shepherd released?

When was the first episode of Head Shepherd?

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