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.

Tackling Ewe Wastage with Anne Ridler

Head Shepherd

04/14/24 • 41 min

Replacement rates in your sheep flock are determined by your ewe losses and your culling decisions. For every ewe lamb you choose to keep, that’s one less to sell.

In this week's podcast, our guest, Associate Professor Anne Ridler, discusses the findings from her recent study on ewe wastage in New Zealand sheep farming. Anne’s research found that, on average, 28 to 30 per cent of ewes leave the flock annually in New Zealand. The study aimed to understand when and why ewes exit the flock and how to reduce that wastage.

Let's break those numbers down ... say you have 1,000 ewes at mating time:

At scanning time, of those 1,000, 33 will leave the flock because they’re dry.
Before set stocking, another 18 ewes will go due to non-reproductive reasons such as low BCS and 17 will die in this time. So, of your original 1,000, you have 932 left by the start of lambing.
Lambing is the highest risk period, with two-thirds of your losses occurring during this period. The average is 3.7 per cent. So, that’s another 37 ewes leaving the flock up until mid-lactation/docking, leaving you with 895 ewes.
If you decide to cull wet-dries at weaning, the average is 3.8 per cent, meaning another 38 ewes leave the flock, reducing your number to 874. In addition, another 33 ewes exit the flock between docking/tailing and breeding in year two, some of which will be wet-dries (on average, across all the farms), some will be culled for other reasons and some will die.
Then, post-weaning, based on udder issues, age, teeth or other decisions, farmers choose to cull, on average, 15.4%. That leaves you with 708 ewes. So, 292 replacements need to enter the flock to get back to 1,000 ewes for breeding.

Whilst these numbers might seem a bit confronting, they give a great insight into how you can reduce the number of replacements you require.

With most losses occurring during lambing, Anne suggests this could be an area to focus on. Feeding ewes well during pregnancy (to avoid metabolic issues) is a big part of keeping your ewes alive. But there are other things you can do, such as paddock audits and cast beats.

Mark and Anne also discuss other options such as keeping wet-dries and putting them to a terminal ram.

We would be interested to hear what you base your culling decisions on. Is it age? Do you give your wet-dries a second chance? Let us know.

The study from which this information was derived was funded by the Massey-Lincoln and Agricultural Trust and done in collaboration with Lincoln University.

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

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

The Abundant Farmer: Mindset and Money in Agriculture with Hayley Grosser

Head Shepherd

12/08/24 • 51 min

Hayley Grosser is a farmer and business coach based in Victoria, Australia, who helps farmers change their relationship with money so they can create more abundance in their lives. Hayley and her partner both grew up on a farm, and they started their own farm when they got married. They encountered financial difficulties early on and struggled for years to break through a financial ceiling. Through research, mentors, and coaches, Grosser realised that it was their mindset about money that was holding them back, and as they learned to think about money differently, their financial situation dramatically improved. Now, Grosser teaches other farmers how to retune their mindsets to wealth and abundance, so they can experience the same kind of transformation.

Shifting to an abundant mindset can unlock financial success. When you believe in the infinite nature of money, you are more likely to see opportunities that can lead to positive financial outcomes.
An important aspect of achieving an abundant mindset is changing your language about money. When you reframe negative money beliefs into more positive affirmations, your mind is more likely to look for evidence that supports abundance, leading to new opportunities.
Viewing your time and money as investments can help you prioritise activities that yield the greatest return. Recognising that working harder isn't always the answer can lead to more efficient and profitable operations.
Surrounding yourself with like-minded people and seeking mentorship can be invaluable. Learning from individuals who have successfully implemented abundant mindsets in their own lives can accelerate your progress and provide support.

Breeding Brahmans with Alf Collins of ALC Brahmans

Head Shepherd

06/23/24 • 44 min

Ever wondered what it takes to breed top-quality Brahmans? This week on the podcast we have Alf Collins, of ALC Brahmans, sharing how he and the team do just that with a disciplined approach to breeding and selection. Alf discusses the evolution of the ALC herd, the business today and the stringent criteria they apply when selecting their Brahmans.
ALC started with Alf's grandfather when he introduced Brahman genetics into his British herds back in the 1950s. This move was met with scepticism by many, who considered Brahman cattle more suitable for a zoo than a farm. However, the benefits quickly became apparent, leading to a legacy that Alf and his family continue to build upon.
Today, ALC operates over 70,000 acres in Queensland, with roughly 1,700 seed stock females and 1,200 commercial females.
Mark and Alf discuss the selection criteria employed at ALC and their use of EBVs to breed a Brahman that excels in reproduction, survivability and temperament, is well-muscled, and is highly efficient at grazing.
Alf explains how they have optimised fertility by not moving their mating date based on weather conditions. Instead, they stick to the 1st of October, regardless of conditions. “We don't change our production year because of the rain, because the reliability is not there. The wet season can start in October. It may start in March. And we don't know. So we've taken an approach that we'll select cattle that work regardless and only keep those that work,” explains Alf. “What we're selecting for is what we call a dry season mating most years. So, a cow in the herd that says, ‘I'll put my hand up and work whether you rain on me or not. And if you do rain on me, I'll go even harder’.”
It is not just fertility that ALC focuses on. The Collinses have been breeding for natural resistance to ticks and parasites for many years. He explains that they didn’t like the idea of using such severe chemicals, for the sake of both the cows and the humans.
It also made good business sense to breed for resistance. “It came back to trying to run a profitable cattle business and the fact that we didn't want to spend money on tickicides,” says Alf. “We just had to be disciplined in the fact that we weren't going to do it. They have to get worms and they have to get ticks. We have to let that happen and remove the ones that can't handle it. And we continue to do it today, and we'll go back and analyse that by sires. If there's linkage here, we'll get rid of the sires too.”
Mark and Alf also discuss temperament, muscling and efficiency, along with much, much more.
Alf has a clear passion for breeding Brahmans and his enthusiasm is infectious. The success of ALC shows that with a clear goal and strategy, a commitment to science and sustainable practices, and a rigorous approach to culling, huge progress can be made towards improving livestock to meet the criteria of the environment and production system.

Unlocking the Secrets of Farm Optimisation with John Young

Head Shepherd

05/07/23 • 39 min

Are you optimising your farm's production? Today we have John Young, aka Youngy, on the podcast. There are so many ways to optimise your farming business and sometimes that can be overwhelming. John, however, makes it all sound very understandable and achievable.
John's background is in farming but he now runs a systems analysis service. Farm Systems Analysis Service has been involved in the development of AFO (Australian Farm Optimisation model). John gives us a rundown of what AFO is.
"AFO is a bio-economic model aimed at how best to allocate your resources to achieve your objective. What that actually means, when you apply it to a farm is trying to improve your on-farm decisions. So how you allocate your time, feed, and paddocks to try and achieve your goals."
The strength of the models is that they have an economic focus and a management focus. The weakness of the model, or the "challenges" as John thinks of them, is the challenge of how to represent biology well. And this has been the focus of John's career.
"The other sort of weakness," John says, "Is that it only represents one type of year. My son, Michael has just about finished his PhD and one of the things he has incorporated is seasonal variation- or 'Weather-Year' variation as he calls it- to differentiate the variation from summer to winter, from this year to last year to next year. That addressed one of the major weaknesses in the model."
You can find out more about Michael's research here https://youngsfarmanalysis.com.au/research/
Mark and John run through the outcomes of some of the analysis John has been involved with. From fibre diameter and improving weaning percentages to the value of saving a single lamb or the economic value of ASBVS based on an individual business's current status.
Currently industry indexes mostly assume that a farm system is a multiplication of an individual animal's performance. It also mostly assumes each trait has an economic value on a linear scale. John explains how that isn't always the case.
"The value of increasing litter size is much higher if your current litter size is 1.2 vs someone whose current litter size is 1.8. One is adding a few more twins, the other is adding more triplets." He explains. "So we know that the relative economic values vary. If we can make allowances for that, we can work within the bounds of what's required to make a good index."
"Coming up with the relative economic values is not a simple task, it's a little bit like the value of an extra lamb. There's a simple answer that's quite often wrong and then there's the more complicated answer."
Mark describes John as "The smartest person I know" and after listening to this podcast, you'll probably agree.
We'd love to know what you think of this podcast, and how it has you thinking about optimising your farm and how you approach industry indexes going forwards.

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 235 episodes available.

What topics does Head Shepherd cover?

The podcast is about Genetics, 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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