Head Shepherd

This week on the Head Shepherd podcast we have our newest recruit at neXtgen Agri, Georgia Pugh.

Georgia comes from a background of farming in Western Australia on a mixed family farm farming around 4,500 Ha.  Georgia went on to study Ag Science with commerce at UWA. With honours in Meat Science.

Georgia started out as a recent graduate wanting to be a farm consultant but she felt she needed to develop her "business muscle" when she graduated.  So she headed to a graduate role at PwC, and dug into the advisory role with focus in research and development consulting.

"You've just got to do everything, and learn, and build life skills. That diversity will make you a more well rounded human. So I really focused on in that on the early part of my career."

Georgia found herself ready to apply her skills directly to farming business, helping individual farmers rather than the industry as a whole. And so, she applied for a role here at neXtgen Agri. 

Mark asks Georgia what her predictions are for the next 10 years in the industry.
"I'm really passionate about helping, not just those that have their head in the tech/cutting edge aspect of agriculture, but bringing on the "lagards" in the industry."

She uses her family farm as an example. They use paper based systems and she's helping them move towards a tech based system with individual data management.

"It's to get to that baseline point so we can be ready for when robots and facial recognition technology, and all of the other exciting tech coming in farming"

Georgia makes a great point. "When it becomes paramount to have data from farm to table... When consumers are wanting that, then we as an industry will be ready to go- once we've done that baseline of data collection"

Mark agrees, saying "Technology isn't going to come in take us from 0 to 100, those that are already at 70- it'll lift them that last bit".

Georgia is a great addition to the team and we're very excited for her to be a part of the team over in WA.

Designer Genes
Later this month neXtgen Agri will be on the road in the North and South Island to bring our "Designer Genes" workshop to you.
https://www.nextgenagri.com/events

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/

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, Heiniger Australia and New Zealand, and ProWay Livestock Equipment. Please consider them when making product choices, as they are instrumental in enabling us to bring you this podcast each week.

Check out the MSD range HERE

Check out Allflex products HERE

Check out Heiniger's product range HERE

Check out ProWay's product range HERE

This week, we have another in our 'Ferg's thoughts' series. Dr Mark Ferguson talks us through the benefits of using EID and how it can help you make better decisions when selecting replacement ewes for your flock.  

Weaning weight, condition scores, wool traits, reproductive performance, birth litter size ... The list of things you can record to an EID is endless.

To help reduce environmental 'noise', Mark recommends separating twins from singles when making replacement selections, so you're not judging twins against singles. This requires lambing twins and singles separately, and keeping them that way until marking/docking, so that you can identify them with tags (ideally EID).

There are plenty of other benefits of having EID, such as being able to mix up mobs and separate them again easily at any point. 'You don't have to worry about a dot on their back fading or being shorn off. Once it's on the EID, it's there forever.'

Mark also discusses Genesmith, technology we have been developing to match lamb to dam at a commercial scale, without the need for expensive DNA or collars. 

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, Heiniger Australia and New Zealand, and ProWay Livestock Equipment. Please consider them when making product choices, as they are instrumental in enabling us to bring you this podcast each week.

Check out the MSD range HERE

Check out Allflex products HERE

Check out Heiniger's product range HERE

Check out ProWay's product range HERE

 This week on the Head Shepherd podcast we have Neville Brady of Browsup Consulting, a consultancy company "...providing management support for groups, organisations and corporate businesses seeking to develop and implement structures that improve Leadership, Management, Staff Engagement, Continuous Improvement and Operational Excellence. "

After having the opportunity to hear Neville speak recently, Mark thought he'd be a great guest for the Head Shepherd podcast- and he wasn't wrong! 

Nevilles background is in the advertisement industry with studies in marketing. "I was always interested in buyer behaviour. As an adult student I also did some study in psychology." He says. "I was really interested in a theory proposed by Professor Higgings called 'Self Discrepancy Theory". It's as follows

• Actual - This is what I'm actually doing.
• Ought- This is what I ought to be doing.
• Ideally- This is what I could do.

The team of three at Browsup Consulting have been applying that to businesses across Australia "to move them from 'actual' through to 'ideal', so that they can achieve operational excellence."

Mark and Neville go on to discuss conflict. Something Neville says we should embrace. "If we as an organism didn't suffer from conflict, we wouldn't be here. Conflict's fun"

"Wherever you have people living, working, socialising or playing sports together, there is always conflict. Usually we're called into businesses because of the AVOIDANCE of the conflict, rather than the conflict itself."

The root cause of conflict is always one of, or multiple of the following reasons:

• Structure,
• Resources
• Competency
• Commitment

First, Browsup review business structures and resources before they go blaming anyone’s competency or commitment.  "Following this process, we have a farm business input audit that clearly measures their starting point, their actuals... leadership, staff engagement, succession and so on."

Once they've established the root cause of the conflict, they can aim towards being in their "Ideal", rather than their "Actual".

Mark and Neville also discuss emotional maturity and management. Mark asks "How do you get people self aware enough to be aware that they're part of the problem/solution to conflict?"

Neville says, "If you had snot on your nose, wouldn't you like someone to tell you?" It might not be an easy conversation to have. "One of the first steps is to confront the truth."..."and look... It's never come as a surprise, when people rate someone poorly for emotional maturity"

"If you talk about it, it takes some of the heat out of it" says Neville. This allows a plan to be made to solve the issue.

To finish off the podcast Mark and Neville discuss Mens Mental Health, a topic very dear to Nevilles heart. "The suicide rate in male farmers in Australia is 400% greater than females. So get into the conflict early," Neville says. "Conflict isn't like a bottle of red wine, it doesn't get better with age."
 
And a final note from Neville.

"Please go to the doctors once every 12 months guys. You service your tractors, you service your vehicle. Go to the doctors for a check up every year.

Thanks Neville for a fantastic podcast.

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, Heiniger Australia and New Zealand, and ProWay Livestock Equipment. Please consider them when making product choices, as they are instrumental in enabling us to bring you this podcast each week.

Check out the MSD range HERE

Check out Allflex products HERE

Check out Heiniger's product range HERE

Check out ProWay's product range HERE

This week on the Head Shepherd podcast we have Pat Maher, CEO of Atkins Ranch.

Atkins Ranch supplies premium New Zealand Lamb to Whole Foods in North America and Canada, supplying 95% of their lamb, plus they supply a handful of other traders such as Trader Joes and Costco from time to time.

Mark and Pat discuss the starts of Atkins Ranch, which has great story behind it. Started in 1989 by two farming families frustrated at the returns from the meat works at the time, they came up with the concept of Atkins Ranch. Then they tossed a coin over who would move over to America to start selling their premium product.

33 years later, there are now hundreds of suppliers to Atkins Ranch.

A key selling point of Atkins Ranch is supplying grass fed lamb 52 weeks of the year, because New Zealand grows grass year round.

Atkins Ranch looks to be ahead of the trends. They were doing antibiotic free 20 years ago before it became a thing. They moved onto "non GMO products", then GAP (Global Animal Partnership) which is an higher animal welfare standards audit, and Atkins Ranch was the first meat company in the world to get that accreditation.

"Now we're really looking at regenerative farming very very closely. We've aligned ourselves with an accreditation system called "Land to market verification"... we see that as being the next big thing."

Genetics wise, Pat says they like more intramuscular fat because it means theres more chance of the consumer cooking it well. How much IMF? Well, "If the consumer can't see it (IMF), they wont pay a premium for it. So it needs to be visual." Pat says. Atkins Ranch also look for heaver carcasses, around the 25kg range as opposed to the 18kg standard in New Zealand.

The whole ethos of the business is to get the market premiums that they generate though their customers, back in into the pockets of the farmers.

There tends to be a waitlist to become an Atkins Ranch supplier with processing labour limitations. "There is a definite desire to grow, though, because of how successful the business model is." Pat says.

If you would like to learn more about Atkins Ranch, visit their website below:
www.atkinsranch.com/

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, Heiniger Australia and New Zealand, and ProWay Livestock Equipment. Please consider them when making product choices, as they are instrumental in enabling us to bring you this podcast each week.

Check out the MSD range HERE

Check out Allflex products HERE

Check out Heiniger's product range HERE

Check out ProWay's product range HERE

This week on the Head Shepherd podcast we have Harry Lawson of Lawson Angus.

Harry goes through the progression of the Lawson Angus business, a pioneering family for performance recording cattle. His parents started performance recording in the late 60s and they recently held their 50th Bull Sale. They currently farm in 4 states of Australia.

When Harry and his brother returned to the family farm in 1994, they were running 300 cows. Over the next 10 years, Harry and his brother upped that to 2,500. They went from selling 50 bulls a year to 1000.

Mark and Harry compare the change in genetics and traits Lawson Angus have been chasing over their 50 years of recording. They started with recording maternal ability and growth.
It wasn't until mid-80's when the US bulls came into Australia, that they focused on birth weights.
They also started ultra-sounding in the late 80s as they wanted to start selecting on carcass and marbling. They then focused in on mature weight as they got bigger growth.

Harry says that not enough people are paying attention to their mature cow size.

"No seedstock herds are weighing their cows even though it drives so many things. Fertility, ability to handle socking rate/seasonal fluctuations and postpartum anoestrus intervals."

"If you're big, lean and high milking in our system, you're gone" Harry says. "Milk is a very misunderstood trait. We're getting more and more milk and we don't need more and more milk. It's a massive energy drag. You're not pumping out four calves, you're pumping out one"

Mark and Harry discuss other traits like marbling, fat and feed conversion and how they effect the maternal cow and essentially the bottom line of the business.

A great podcast between two genetics enthusiasts. It's also great to hear the history behind such a successful operation.

If you'd like to find out more about Lawson Angus you can visit their website below:
www.lawsonsangus.com.au/

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/

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, Heiniger Australia and New Zealand, and ProWay Livestock Equipment. Please consider them when making product choices, as they are instrumental in enabling us to bring you this podcast each week.

Check out the MSD range HERE

Check out Allflex products HERE

Check out Heiniger's product range HERE

Check out ProWay's product range HERE

This week on the Head Shepherd podcast we are discussing employment in the Ag sector. Mark chats with John Boote, CEO of Drover Ag, specialists in Ag recruitment.

John has been involved in Agriculture his entire life working his way up through senior management roles. He'd always seen recruitment as a major issues in the Agricultural Industry.  To solve that problem, three years ago, he started Drover Ag. They now has over 1000 clients Australia-wide.

"Putting the right people in the right jobs is what keeps us going"

"Personality matching is the most important thing" John says. Sometimes it's not always about their qualifications or experience "We'll promote exceptional characters to roles where they may not have the desired skill set" Skills can be taught, a personality is hard to change.

Mark and John go through what makes a good employer AND a good employee.

John says that there's so many choices for employees now that employers have to make sure they're offering something above the usual. "Everyone in your neighbouring community are looking for the same person as you, to fill the same role."

"It's about inclusion, support and furthering skills" Not necessarily offering an extra $30k

John also says "It's your challenge as a business owner to accomodate an employee as they progress in their career... if the ladder stops within your operation you can't blame them if they want to keep climbing"

Mark and John also discuss what it takes to be a great employee and how to get the job of your dreams. Cover letters, research into businesses and prompt communication can go a long way.

If you would like to know more about Drover Ag you can visit their website below

www.droverag.com.au/

If you'd like to find out more about working for neXtgen Agri, visit the link below
thehub.nextgenagri.com/c/careers/

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, Heiniger Australia and New Zealand, and ProWay Livestock Equipment. Please consider them when making product choices, as they are instrumental in enabling us to bring you this podcast each week.

Check out the MSD range HERE

Check out Allflex products HERE

Check out Heiniger's product range HERE

Check out ProWay's product range HERE

This week on the podcast we have Nathan Scott.

With a background in Prime Lamb production, Nathan started his own consultancy firm, Achieve Ag Solutions, eight years ago.   

"We work with a range of producers, looking for the low hanging fruit within their business and applying the latest science and technology, in a practical way that means something to their business"

Nathan is passionate about knowledge transfer in the Agricultural industry.

"Coca-Cola didn't come out with just one advertisement, they came out with a campaign to appeal to a range of different audiences" and there's no reason why knowledge transfer from experts, to farmers, should be any different. 

Nathan says if we keep providing "Fact sheets" and hoping something will change, nothing will.
 
"Times wont always be as good as this", Nathan says. He says we should be using these good times to set ourselves up for when times are harder.

Nathan says for a lot of people it's not always about making more money, but simplifying their system to make it easier on the people and animals.

"There isn't enough critical reviewing of farm business practices. And it doesn't need to involve a third party" Nathan says. "I think having an argument with yourself about why you're doing something is a damn good place to start"

Why are you lambing on that day? Why are you using those genetics? Ask yourself that. If you can come up with a justified reason, then move on.

A great podcast to get you thinking about what, why and how you do things on the farm.

If you'd like to find out more about Nathan's training or Achieve Ag Solutions, click the link below:
https://www.achieveag.com.au/about

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. 

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, Heiniger Australia and New Zealand, and ProWay Livestock Equipment. Please consider them when making product choices, as they are instrumental in enabling us to bring you this podcast each week.

Check out the MSD range HERE

Check out Allflex products HERE

Check out Heiniger's product range HERE

Check out ProWay's product range HERE

This week on the Head Shepherd podcast we have a guest from our recent event, the neXtgen Agri Muster. Tom Fraser is a scientist at AgResearch. 

Tom spoke at the Muster about pasture allocation and making the most of your genetics. It was such a great talk, we decided to get Tom on the podcast to share the knowledge with our podcast listeners. 

Tom underlines the importance of body condition scoring, 'your hand is the cheapest tool you have,' and Mark agrees that, 'it's the most profitable thing you can do on a sheep farm.'

They run through pasture quality throughout the year, with summer and early autumn being the time to consider the ME of the pasture, once they've started losing quality. 'We only have to worry about the quality of our pastures for about three months of the year' [in New Zealand], says Tom. 

The biggest driver of profit on a sheep farm is kilograms of weaned lamb per hectare. 'Whether that's done by high scanning or high lactation growth rates, it's the way to make money,' says Tom.

Mark and Tom emphasise the opportunities for younger people in the industry to learn from other farmers, "There are some unbelievably capable, exceptional farmers out there that are doing a magnificent job, and luckily, almost without exception, they want to share their knowledge,' says Tom.

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, Heiniger Australia and New Zealand, and ProWay Livestock Equipment. Please consider them when making product choices, as they are instrumental in enabling us to bring you this podcast each week.

Check out the MSD range HERE

Check out Allflex products HERE

Check out Heiniger's product range HERE

Check out ProWay's product range HERE

This week on the Head Shepherd podcast we have Rob Bell, co-founder and CTO at ProAgni and CEO and Principal Consultant at Formula Ag. In this episode, we're focusing on weaning, a process not too far away in parts of Australia.

Rob initially started off as an agronomist in the cotton industry but the droughts soon led to a change of career. One thing that really struck him was that, regardless of what happened, even in the worst droughts, livestock farmers still had a product. Whereas, in the cropping game, if you put a seed in the ground, and it didn't germinate, you had nothing.

So, for the past 16 years, Rob has been finding his feet as a consultant in the mixed farming game. Rob says it was really a case of taking the lessons learned within the cotton industry and implementing them into a livestock business.

Six years ago, ProAgni was born after a lucky meeting with a ruminant microbiologist in Queensland led to an opportunity to create something pretty outstanding in terms of antibiotic resistance and removing those challenges from the livestock industry. The past six years have been an interesting journey of turning relatively complex science into a commercial reality.

Mark and Rob discuss the process of weaning and how it shouldn't be an event, but rather a process.

Rob breaks weaning down into three parts:

1. The physical process of weaning - what processes can we put in place to minimise stress on animals and management?

2. Pasture management - we reduce 40% of our energy requirements on the farm at weaning, which means we can build a feed reserve.

3. Economic - what do those three or four extra weeks of growth and grass banking mean at the other end of the business?

Rob speaks about the benefits of getting young lambs well-educated to high quality feed prior to weaning to reduce shock post-weaning. Understanding the physical AND mental transitions the lambs are going through means it's less stressful for everyone.

The conversation then leads to discussing a ruminant's gut biome and how sheep should be thought of as small fermentation chambers rather than grass digesters. This is important to know, because when you wean lambs, you are essentially changing them from a monogastric to a ruminant. This process requires good management and an understanding of the internal processes within a lamb.

This podcast is full of facts and information about weaning and the biology behind the animals you farm.

If you'd like to get in touch with Rob, or find out more about ProAgni
https://proagni.com/products/sheep/prowean/.

[email protected]

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, Heiniger Australia and New Zealand, and ProWay Livestock Equipment. Please consider them when making product choices, as they are instrumental in enabling us to bring you this podcast each week.

Check out the MSD range HERE

Check out Allflex products HERE

Check out Heiniger's product range HERE

Check out ProWay's product range HERE

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, Heiniger Australia and New Zealand, and ProWay Livestock Equipment. Please consider them when making product choices, as they are instrumental in enabling us to bring you this podcast each week.

Check out the MSD range HERE

Check out Allflex products HERE

Check out Heiniger's product range HERE

Check out ProWay's product range HERE