In this episode of Head Shepherd, we're thrilled to introduce Dr Emma Pettigrew, our new North Island consultant at nextGen Agri. Emma brings a wealth of experience and passion for the sheep and livestock industry, having grown up on a stud sheep and beef farm in the Manawatu and earning her PhD in animal science. This episode is packed with practical knowledge and forward-thinking ideas for farmers wanting to stay ahead in a rapidly changing world. Tune in to hear how Emma plans to make an impa...
Dec 15, 2024•22 min•Season 2024Ep. 212
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 ho...
Dec 08, 2024•51 min•Season 2024Ep. 211
Looking to level up your pasture and crop management? This week’s guest is Cam Nicholson of Nicon Rural, an agronomist with four decades of experience. He breaks down the essentials of soil fertility, grazing management and the big impact of getting these right. Cam and Ferg chat about the benefits of grazing cereals, managing animal weight on stubble and the real cost of picture-perfect pastures. Tune in for practical tips on balancing perennials and annuals, matching species to the environment...
Dec 01, 2024•43 min•Season 2024Ep. 210
We’re talking feet on this week's podcast! Guests Jim Walsh, Veterinary Technical Advisor at MSD Animal Health Australia, and Kim Kelly, Veterinary Technical Advisor at MSD Animal Health New Zealand,join Mark in a fantastic discussion about effective solutions for improving foot health in sheep. They dig into the issues of footrot and foot abscesses, covering effective diagnosis, management strategies, information on the Footvax® vaccine and the impactful role of genetics in strengthening sheep ...
Nov 24, 2024•54 min•Season 2024Ep. 209
What is actually occurring within a sheep with worm resistance? This week on the podcast we have a fascinating discussion with Dr Kelsey Bentley who has spent her career so far looking into the immune mechanisms of Katahdin sheep in the US. Kelsey runs us through what happens biologically within the sheep to make it ‘resistant’. She has also researched the importance of the role of colostrum in lamb immunity. Kelsey explains how it provides essential immunological benefits - particularly through...
Nov 17, 2024•38 min•Season 2024Ep. 208
Sophie and Ferg catch up about Ferg’s recent trip to Ontario, Canada, where he visited 14 different sheep farming enterprises on his 10-day trip with Ontario Sheep Farmers. Highlights: - The differences in production systems, compared with New Zealand and Australia - Feeding strategies - Lambing systems - Health challenges - Market dynamics - The potential for genetic improvements in sheep breeding Head Shepherd is brought to you by neXtgen Agri International Limited . We help livestock farmers ...
Nov 10, 2024•39 min•Season 2024Ep. 207
John Francis, director of Agrista , an agricultural consultancy, discusses benchmarking, understanding optimum stocking rates, maximising pasture utilisation, feed efficiency and much more. Maximise pasture use and adjust stocking rates seasonally to boost profitability. Measure to manage. Profit varies by livestock system, so choose one that suits your resources. Benchmarking offers insights but avoid relying solely on past data. Stay flexible and adaptable to respond to market shifts effective...
Nov 03, 2024•49 min•Season 2024Ep. 206
Bec Malseed, who manages AWI & RIST’s Lifetime Ewe Management course, in her spare time is a female central/field umpire in her local country footy regional league. It’s fair to say that she is trailblazing a path for other women and girls to follow - in 2023, she became the first female field/central umpire in senior mens football in the Mininera & District Football League. Her conversation with Ferg puts a spotlight on her experiences breaking into this traditionally male-dominated spa...
Oct 27, 2024•28 min•Season 2024Ep. 205
Ben Simpson from OGA Creative Agency shares his passion for the varied landscape of Australian agriculture - focusing on storytelling, ethics, and innovation. He discusses with Ferg how effective communication, AI and visual storytelling are shaping the future of livestock marketing. Ben highlights the importance of ethical practices, brand values and initiatives like Meat and Livestock Australia's ‘Australian Good Meat’ program in enhancing Australia’s global standing. Agriculture storytelling ...
Oct 20, 2024•35 min•Season 2024Ep. 204
This week we have David Thompson of Moojepin Foods on the podcast. David talks about his career breeding trait-leading Merinos, how he is addressing salinity issues in Western Australia with the exploration of saltbush and halophyte agriculture, along with his latest idea: saltbush beer! David has to be one of the most innovative and enthusiastic people in Agriculture. Tune in for an absolutely fantastic episode. - The evolution of Merino sheep breeding - Challenges and innovations in mutton pro...
Oct 13, 2024•41 min•Season 2024Ep. 203
Angus Gidley-Baird, Senior Analyst - Animal Proteins at Rabobank, joins us this week to share his expertise on the sheep and beef industries across Australia and New Zealand. Angus helps us understand market dynamics, global demand and the impact of seasonal conditions on the market. In this episode we cover the: Current state of the Australian and New Zealand sheep and beef markets Impact of drought and seasonal conditions on supply Global demand for lamb and beef, particularly from China and t...
Oct 06, 2024•41 min•Season 2024Ep. 202
This week on the podcast, we’re chatting all things livestock breeding with Robert Peacock from Orari Gorge Station. Robert discusses how and why they’ve been breeding for worm resistance. They have also been one of the first to measure feed efficiency and methane emissions, demonstrating the role of genetics in addressing these farming challenges. Tune in to discover how Orari Gorge is setting the standard for sustainable farming. Farming sheep, beef and deer in South Canterbury. How to begin t...
Sep 29, 2024•41 min•Season 2024Ep. 202
Our guest this week is veterinarian Enoch Bergman. Originally from the USA, Enoch arrived in Australia in 2003. He fell in love with the people, the landscape and the agricultural innovation of Esperance, Western Australia and has been there ever since. Enoch is passionate about improving the performance of heifers and the use of fixed-time artificial insemination (AI) in commercial breeding programmes, and shares that passion with us today. He explains the process of synchronising heifers and t...
Sep 22, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Season 2024Ep. 201
This week on the podcast we’re celebrating 200 episodes! We thought we’d make a special occasion of it so we recorded our podcast live at Lambex 2024 and who better to have on as a guest than Lambex founder, Dawson Bradford. Mark and Dawson discuss the origins of Lambex. Dawson came up with the idea to “ … bring producers together with the processors and retailers, and get an understanding through the whole industry.” It’s safe to say Dawson accomplished that with 1,500 delegates attending in 20...
Sep 15, 2024•20 min•Season 2024Ep. 200
If you farm Merinos in Australia, it’s more than likely you will have heard of Merinotech. And if you’ve heard of Merinotech, it's likely that you know our fantastic guest this week, Bill Webb. For those that don’t know, Merinotech is an intensively recorded ram breeding nucleus founded in 1988 by a group of WA Merino breeders who wanted to breed a ram that thrived in their environment, backed up by a breeding plan and strategy that fully embraced the latest developments in breeding and genetics...
Sep 08, 2024•30 min
As you may have heard in the media recently, triple drench resistance in cattle is quickly becoming an issue for New Zealand farmers. This week on the podcast, we are joined by Dave Leathwick and Christian Sauerman from AgResearch. They share how they came across the issue, why it has occurred and what producers can do to mitigate the risks of developing triple drench resistance. Dave and Christian are both ‘accidental parasitologists’, with Dave initially studying entomology, while Christian wa...
Sep 01, 2024•32 min
Our guest on the podcast this week is Barbara Webster, co-founder of inMR. Barbara shares with Mark how inMR's Marbl™ technology uses nuclear magnetic resonance to measure intramuscular fat quickly, accurately and non-invasively, delivering a new standard to the industry. In the last few years, the technology has been successfully implemented in lamb-carcass grading. inMR are in the process of adapting it to other applications, such as beef carcasses and live animals. While MRI technology has be...
Aug 25, 2024•34 min
This week on the podcast we’re discussing heat stress during mating and pregnancy with Dr William van Wettere. Heat stress is classed as anything over 32°C, which can disrupt fertility in ewes, semen quality in rams and embryonic development in lambs, so it has an overarching effect on all aspects of reproduction. Mark and Will start by discussing the effects of heat stress on ewes. Trials show that heat stress affects ewes most in the five days leading up to ovulation and the first five days af...
Aug 18, 2024•27 min
Building resilience and achieving success in agriculture is an unpredictable challenge that involves continuous learning, upskilling, mentorship and adoption of innovative practices. In this episode, Mark chats with Danielle England, both a consultant and farmer, about resilience in the agricultural industry. Danielle currently farms merino sheep with her husband and his family in Keilira, South Australia. However, she has spent most of her career going back and forth across Australia in a varie...
Aug 11, 2024•38 min
How would you manage your cattle differently (or your sheep for that matter) if you could diagnose pregnancy at day 16? This week on the podcast, Mark chats with Bronwyn Darlington, a trailblazer in the field of disruptive innovation and sustainable agriculture. Bronwyn shares her journey through various ventures and projects, one of which is AgScent. “My area of expertise is looking at the complex systems that interact as far as technology is concerned - to come together to create serious disru...
Aug 04, 2024•31 min
This week on the podcast we have Bill Mitchell, co-founder of Optiweigh, discussing the Optiweigh system and its unexpected impacts on the farm businesses that are already using the technology. Optiweigh was founded 10 years ago by Bill and Jacqui Mitchell after they decided there must be a better way to closely monitor cattle weights, rather than running them into the yards every week. “There was a walk-over weighing system that I saw first in sheep. And it was just like, how on earth do I make...
Jul 28, 2024•31 min
This week on the podcast we have Richard Subtil, from Omarama Station, a 12,000-hectare property in New Zealand's South Island. Over the last 26 years, Richard and his wife Annabelle have made incredible progress on the station, creating a sustainable and efficient operation for their children to take over. There is a vast range of environments found across Omarama Station, from tussock at 1,550 metres to 4,000 hectares of irrigated flats at 450 metres and “... everything else in between,” says ...
Jul 21, 2024•39 min
As food producers, should we know more about the nutrition of the products we produce? This week on the podcast we have Dr Anneline Padayachee, a food and nutrition scientist. We dive into the fascinating world of carbs, proteins, micronutrients and more, hopefully leaving you with a better understanding of the food we produce and eat. Anneline provides a brief history of nutrition science. This relatively new field emerged in the late 1800s, after the discovery of the elements of the periodic t...
Jul 14, 2024•59 min
What happens when a Merino sheep farmer turns into a digital marketplace mogul? Our guest this week, Dwain Duxson, founder of Farm Tender and The Farmers Club, shares how and why he switched career paths. While Dwain enjoyed his time farming and breeding Merino rams, in 2011 he decided a change of gear was in order. “For me, [selling rams] was pretty restrictive in how many customers you could serve. I wanted to serve a lot more customers. I had a bit of an idea of what I wanted to do when the i...
Jul 07, 2024•30 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 ownersh...
Jun 30, 2024•39 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...
Jun 23, 2024•44 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 Cotte...
Jun 16, 2024•51 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 poin...
Jun 09, 2024•36 min
Nigel Kerin returns to the podcast this week to discuss profit drivers, decision rules, staying curious and the importance of science and technology in farming. Nigel has a great way of thinking about the business of farming and no decision is made without analysing it first. Nigel uses a triangular model to help him make these hard decisions. “Down one side of the triangle, you've got business growth. Down the bottom, you've got cash flow. And up the other side of the triangle, you've got peopl...
Jun 02, 2024•1 hr 2 min
Are you heading to Lambex this year? If you’re not already going, you’ll want to be there after listening to this week's podcast! Our guest this week is Jason Schulz, chair of Lambex. After a six-year break, Lambex is back and better than ever. For those not familiar with the event, Lambex is a three-day event that celebrates and promotes Australia’s sheep and lamb industry, with more than 1,200 people attending. Speakers range from the likes Dr Tim Elliott talking about drench resistance, to St...
May 26, 2024•26 min
