Head Shepherd

We are currently busily recording season 8 of the podcast.  While we do that we thought we would share with you one of the podcasts from the private podcast we run within The Hub - Head Shepherd Radio.  Ferg has been recording a breeding series and this week we are sharing one of those with you.   We are sharing the reproduction episode from the breeding series this week and Ferg goes through the various traits to look at when buying rams this year.  The Hub is a great virtual home for livestock producers, with great content added frequently and a great place to interact with like-minded livestock farmers.   The Hub membership costs just $56/month or $575 for the year.  If you sign up during Sheepvention you will get 20% off your annual subscription.
Check it out at thehub.nextgenagri.com or sign up here www.nextgenagri.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 is our season finale of Season 7 of the Head Shepherd podcast. As ever, we asked our listeners if they had any questions for Mark Ferguson to answer.

Mark covers questions such as:

 "Are the commercial farmers still planning to invest similar this up coming ram selling season in Australia, at the same level they have in previous years?  Is there any uncertainty in higher interest rates and FMD on the horizon?"
 
to
 
"Can high temperatures during joining affect the quality of the foetus? Is it possible to get more abortions or reabsorption if semen and/or egg quality is affected by extreme heat?"

 Mark also runs through the recent footrot work he is involved with in New Zealand and Australia.

This weekend Mark and the Australian half of the team will be at  Sheepvention, either on stand 219 or roaming the show-grounds. Towards90 also launches at Sheepvention next weekend. Take a look at towards90.com to find out more.

Have you looked at our upcoming events? We have our neXtgen Muster next month and we'd love to see you there. 
Find out more about the neXtgen Muster here

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 podcast we have Sophie Barnes- sheep fan and producer of the Head Shepherd Podcast.

Sophie isn't from a farming background but is now one of the biggest fans of sheep you could find. Sophie came across farming when she was 18 and has been hooked ever since. Sophie moved to New Zealand seven years ago for a "two year trip".  Sophie runs through her time here in New Zealand and the jobs she's held- a from gorse spraying shepherd to production manager of the youngstock at a sheep dairy.

Mark and Sophie discuss her introduction to farming and what she is doing today. Sophie lives on her partners family farm in the King Country, NZ. Farming 1,200 Polled Dorsets, Facial Eczema is an issue Sophie and her partner deal with on their farm. Mark and Sophie discuss FE and the implications of it in arriving in the South Island.

They briefly cover rearing lambs as this is something Sophie is very passionate about after her time working at the dairy.

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 have Sally Murfet of Inspire Ag. 

Sally is a farmer's daughter born and raised in northwest Tasmania on a farm producing beef cattle and seed potatoes.

Sally established Inspire Ag after seeing a gap in the support system for the agriculture industry. There was no one helping farmers increase business performance through human capital.

'If you have a disengaged employee, it will cost you 30-200% of their wage to reemploy that staff member. Focusing on employee engagement lessens the need to try and attract people into your business in the first place.' 

A lot of the work Sally does is around succession planning, performance management, leadership and team development.

Mark and Sally go through the components of a good team. Culture, Sally says, is one of the most undervalued factors in running a successful business.

There's research out there that says that leaders can have up to 70% variance on team engagement, positive or negative. So the way you show up every day is exactly what you're going to see reflected in your team.

When you work out these performance issues in monetary terms, it can become a significant amount. Leadership and culture are not 'fluffy things' but actual areas for production gain.

This is a great podcast that every farmer needs to listen to understand the true scale of what leadership and showing up properly for your team can do to the bottom line of your business.

To find out more about InspireAg, visit their website:
www.inspire-ag.com.au/.

Check out The Hub
thehub.nextgenagri.com
The neXtgen Agri Hub is our online community where members can connect and 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

In this episode we are providing a recording of Associate Professor Andrew Thompson from Murdoch University.  Thommo, as he is better known, presented this talk at workshops in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.  There are loads of tips in here and I'm sure you are going to enjoy the depth of knowledge that this man has.
The workshops were for an MLA funded project that involves developing a decision support tool for those considering or currently mating ewe lambs and are keen to understand the economics of various strategies.
For more information or to ask questions about the project, check out:

https://thehub.nextgenagri.com/c/calculated-ewe-lamb-joining/

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

We started this podcast with three episodes of Ferg sharing his perspective about genetics. We thought it was time to hear more of his thoughts, a couple of years on. 

Whether you breed sheep, cattle or goats, this episode provides you with guidance and tips on setting a breeding objective (or genetic plan) and then implementing strategies to put the plan into action.

It refers to a genetic planning document that Ferg has written, 'Your Genetic Plan'.  If you would like a copy of this helpful template, either email the team at [email protected] or download the booklet for free from the neXtgen Agri website: https://www.nextgenagri.com/resources. 

Check out The Hub
thehub.nextgenagri.com
The Hub is our online community, where members have the opportunity to connect with other producers and livestock enthusiasts while keeping up to date with everything we are working on at neXtgen Agri.

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 have Ross Richards of Romani Farms, Taumarunui, New Zealand.

Ross farms in a fairly challenging environment. With warm muggy summers and paddocks surrounded by native bush it is hard to produce good wool even on the best of years. Facial eczema has always been around but with the warmer winters we've had recently the spore counts are getting worse.

Ross has spent the last 16  years breeding what he terms a "biologically efficient" sheep to counteract these challenges. Ross has reduced chemical and labour inputs by not dipping or drenching his adult ewes, or treating for facial eczema. He aims to breed to animals that are fit for the environment they are farmed in. Ones that don’t need constant propping up with chemicals or management inputs. 

Like many forward thinking ram breeders, once Ross realised his clients were going elsewhere for shedding sheep, Ross began to breed some of his own. Currently they're no match for the efficiency of Ross's Coopworths, but they're well on their way. Ross's initial plan was to breed a terminal that complemented the Coopworth. Ross has some. first cross sheep that are performing exceptionally well, but hybrid vigour is at play there. 

Ross says "Why go through the effort of growing wool just to shed it?" and is approaching the hair sheep route, rather than shedding. 

Ross is also looking at tail length and dag score. "What's the point in making their tail shorter if you still have to dag it?" Reducing both chemical and labour input is important to Ross and he's aware that come sale time his rams may not be the biggest or shiniest. But the time and effort has gone in to test these animals to the absolute limit to really find the top performers. 

Ross is a firm believer in "asking the silly questions," and says it's often younger or external eyes on his business, asking "but why do you do it this way?" which brings in change. This year he has employed a new full time shepherd which he says has made a significant difference to their business.

Ross and Mark run through the once bred heifer system Ross implements on his six different lease blocks. The benefits of using dairy heifers gives him the extra finishing stock he needs without having to over winter too many breeding cows or buy in store stock. This improves his control over the animals (and genetics) but also farm biosecurity which is especially important in these times of M. Bovis. 

Ross and Marks passions both align in breeding a sheep with high welfare traits that are both easy and productive to farm. It is a great insight into the mind of a sheep breeder.

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 Monica Ebert.

Monica has been involved with sheep her entire life. She grew up on a stud farm in North East Kansas, USA breeding and showing British Downs Breeds. 

The passion for wool came a little later after Monica studied Fashion Design and Marketing at University. This is where she started to see the link between fashion and fibre. She decided she wanted to focus on wool as it goes into apparel. Monica interned in Texas at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research centre. 

Monica returned to Texas AgriLife Research to complete her masters degree focusing on wool supply chains. There she focused on a genetic study crossing Australian Merino genetics to try and fine up the Rambouillet (Merino) in the US. 

From there she went to Montana State University to manage the Wool Research Lab for a year, focusing on working with local wool growers in the state of Montana. 

Mark and Monica worked together at the NZ Merino company and both left at similar times. Mark to start neXtgen Agri and Monica to South Africa. Monica is working for South Africa's (SA) biggest wool broker, BKB, managing a brand named Core Merino. Monica has been there for the past four years and she's been focusing on the environmental impact on fibre growing and what that means globally to both the producer and the consumer. 

Core merino is a wool athleisure brand started in 2012. Monica came on board in 2018 and gave the whole brand a revamp. 

"South Africa is a beautiful country, people enjoy being outdoors and being active"
The perfect market for a merino athleisure brand but at the time they were only marketing it towards farmers. Monica increased the Core Merino online presence and the orders started adding up.

Monica also gives Mark a run down of the farming systems in SA. Sheep are a massive part of the economy but as are crops and Angora goats- with South Africa having the largest agoria goat population in the world. 

“The farmers here are incredibly resilient.” It’s not an easy place to farm with the weather, natural predators and animal health issues like Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) disrupting supply chains. With no first stage processing in SA, and Chinese borders closed to South African raw wool due to a FMD outbreak, it is getting increasingly harder for wool brokers to shift wool. 

This is the second time in the four years that Monica has lived in SA that a FMD outbreak has resulted in China closing their borders.
“It has made the industry wake up and realise maybe we’re too reliant on others. They are now looking at what they can do, but it won’t be an overnight fix. "We could fine-up the wool and target the European market or process wool ourselves.” Monica says.
After four years in SA, Monica is now back off to the US. She’ll be working with the Woolmark company in North America working with multiple active outdoor brands.

“I think we can see the need to collaborate as a wider industry to make sure consumers know that wool is the clean green fibre it is”.

Monica has been championing wool her entire career so we imagine her upcoming role will be no different. 

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 Robin Smith, a Product Design Engineer and creator of Numnuts. Numnuts is a device that simultaneously castrates or tails a lamb whilst also administering pain relief. Robin is originally from a family of sheep vets: "You end up back in the flock as you get older," and the Numnuts story began when Robin's father developed a vaccine for barber's pole. 

Robin's company, 4c Design, developed the machine that produced the vaccine. That brought Robin over to Australia, where he had a chance meeting with Meat & Livestock Australia. Here he came across the need for a pain relief administering device during lamb marking.

Research had suggested that local anaesthetics were the best option to provide relief during the castration and tailing process but there hadn't been a way to make that process repeatable, reliable and accessible to farmers. And so, Numnuts was born.

Robin says the interesting thing about this challenge, was that the drug, the anaesthetic, was already readily available but the method of administrating it in a time-effective method wasn't.
 
The initial concept was born 12 years ago and the device has gone through many different stages. The first prototype involved a form of a lasso and a chainsaw priming bulb. Numnuts was an international collaboration between welfare scientists at CSRIO and Moredun in combination with product design engineers at 4c Design.

Numnuts has been refined over the years to castrate and give local anaesthetic to the exact, correct point, down to a millimetre, meaning the most effective pain relief possible. You can watch it in use here. There are currently around 1,500 farms across the world using the Numnuts device which is "not bad going".

Robin hopes there will be more wool and meat schemes that reward the producer for higher welfare practices in the future, meaning more uptake of Numnuts. Robin says their market driver is first and foremost welfare, secondly increasing profitability for the farmer via the high-welfare wool schemes, but there is also increased survivability in the paddock post tailing and castrating.

As always with anything at neXtgen Agri, Mark briefly touches on genetics. Robin discusses "high/low responders" when it comes to pain. There is a gene related to pain response so, in the future, could we select animals that are resilient to the necessary procedures?

If you would like to find out more about Numnuts, you can visit their website: https://numnuts.store/. 

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 Dayanne Almeida aka The Sheep Nutter.

Dayanne isn't from a farming background, but through her Animal Science degree in her home country Brazil, she fell in love with sheep. Once she'd finished her degree she began to work for sheep breeders associations in her home country then one day, Dayannes friend suggested she travel to New Zealand to learn more about sheep farming. To which she laughed!

Dayanne didn't know English at the time. But, she didn't let this stop her and with her friends help she sent out over 800 emails to farms, studs and breed associations in New Zealand asking if they would share their wisdom with her.

She finally received a reply from a farmer in Gisborne, NZ and after a few conversations, she booked her flights to NZ in 2009.

Dayanne worked there for the next five years learning all there was to New Zealand Sheep and Beef farming. That short trip she planned never ended and now she has citizenship here in New Zealand.

After five years, Dayanne moved to Wairere in the Wairarapa where she got more involved with the stud work. She began sharing her work day on Facebook to friends and family back home in Brazil.

When Facebook allowed Dayanne to go live whilst in the yards, her social media profile grew exponentially. Scanning, drafting, shearing- she shared it all live.

"Maybe this will motivate them," Dayanee says. The idea of sharing knowledge with the people back in her home country really excites her.

That happiness was infectious and people shared her story all over social media. This lead to her getting invites to lots of workshops Brazil. In 2016 she re-scheduled a few things and managed to do 22 presentations in three and a half weeks. This even snowballed into Dayanne being on Brazilian TV!

Dayanne returned to Brazil every year for her "Marathons" until Covid hit. She is currently lining up her agenda for her return in May next year where she already has 12 talks planned.

When asked what the secret of successful farming is,  Dayanne explains "It's nothing to do with the breed or the stuff we use on the farm, that is just a consequence of the mindset The point of difference is the kiwi, the person... the farmer".  "Kiwis could be farming snakes (...) whatever they choose, they're going to be good at it"

Dayanne and her partner now Paul run their own Romney stud, she shares the behind the scenes into what it takes to run a farm. Bills and expenses included! She wants transparency and for people to know what it's really like to run a farm in New Zealand.

When it came to farming, Dayanne knew she wanted more than just a commercial sheep and beef farm. She loved the data and recording that came with running a stud. She says she needs SOMETHING other than day to day farm jobs.

They are focusing on Health Traits in their stud. They do not currently have facial eczema on their lease block, but they know it's coming. "What we breed today, has been set up for you five years ago (...) we have to look to the future". 

Dayanne is also North Island Area Manager and Technical Lead (Sheep) for Zoetis. In this role she deals with breeders that test with Zoetis in the UK, USA and Canada helping anyone who uses Zoetis for DNA and parentage testing in sheep.

Watch Dayanne on Country Calendar here

You can visit Dayannes Facebook page here

Thanks to our Sponsors

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