The Sheep Geeks

Nerys and Liz talk with Bryce MacKellar, a sheep and arable farmer from Staffordshire. Bryce has Lleyn ewes and talks through his breeding plans and culling approaches, and how he is already planning the succession for the next generation. 

He is one of the three farmers that Mark Ferguson will be visiting as part of the activity around the Sheep Breeders Round Table (20-22nd November 2026). 

Links mentioned:

More details on Sheep Breeders Round Table -

Professor Jennifer Duncan's survey on watery mouth 

Dr Liz Genever is a farmer, consultant and co-founder of Carbon Calling CIC. 

Dr Nerys Wright is a sheep consultant and technical lead for SCOPS.

Podcast Disclaimer:
The views and information shared in this podcast are for general guidance only and do not constitute professional advice. The Sheep Geeks make no guarantees about the accuracy or completeness of the content. Always consult your own vet or advisor before making changes to your animal health or farm management practices. Any reliance on the information is at your own risk. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Sheep Geeks.

Nerys and Liz catch up with Amy about how this year in farming has challenged a lot of farmers' mental health and approaches to use to check in with people and ourselves. It is a bit sweary, so please don't listen with sensitive ears nearby. 

Links mentioned:

Farm Succession, Conflict & Family Mediation | EmpowerAg

 Future Farmers offers GRIP training to help you take control

 Podcasts available on all usual channels: ‘Think Outside the Fence’ and ‘Out of the Rut’

 Some courses coming up with Amy later this year https://www.tickettailor.com/events/empowerag

 Books:

 The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity―and Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race : Lieberman, Daniel Z., Long, Michael E.: Amazon.co.uk: Books

 Don't Believe Everything You Think: Why Your Thinking Is The Beginning & End Of Suffering (Beyond Suffering): Amazon.co.uk: Nguyen, Joseph: 9798427063852: Books

 The Chimp Paradox: The Mind Management Programme to Help You Achieve Success, Confidence and Happiness – The Million-Copy Bestseller: Amazon.co.uk: Professor Steve Peters: 9780091935580: Books

Dr Liz Genever is a farmer, consultant and co-founder of Carbon Calling CIC. 

Dr Nerys Wright is a sheep consultant and technical lead for SCOPS.

Podcast Disclaimer:
The views and information shared in this podcast are for general guidance only and do not constitute professional advice. The Sheep Geeks make no guarantees about the accuracy or completeness of the content. Always consult your own vet or advisor before making changes to your animal health or farm management practices. Any reliance on the information is at your own risk. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Sheep Geeks.

Nerys and Liz talks to Jonathan who is a vet working in the Bluetongue outbreak in Devon. He shares his experiences and provide background to the virus. We also talk about next steps for farmers this autumn as we try and prevent it affecting next year's lamb crop.

Links mentioned:

Bluetongue: latest situation - GOV.UK

 North Park Veterinary Farm | North Tawton | Facebook

 Bluetongue virus | Virus | The Pirbright Institute

 Membership explained - Sheep Veterinary Society

Dr Liz Genever is a farmer, consultant and co-founder of Carbon Calling CIC. 

Dr Nerys Wright is a sheep consultant and technical lead for SCOPS.

Podcast Disclaimer:
The views and information shared in this podcast are for general guidance only and do not constitute professional advice. The Sheep Geeks make no guarantees about the accuracy or completeness of the content. Always consult your own vet or advisor before making changes to your animal health or farm management practices. Any reliance on the information is at your own risk. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Sheep Geeks.

Matt Colston is a vet and works for Elanco. He is heavily involved with Sheep Veterinary Society and Moredun Foundation. He was previously in practice in Scotland and Cumbria. 

He talks us through the issues around ticks and how our thinking around control needs to change as the hills alters with more vegetation and different stock being grazed. Let alone the changing weather patterns!

Links mentioned:

Questing ticks: Tick Questing

 Moredun louping ill Donate to Bring a New Louping Ill Vaccine to Market | Moredun

A2K - https://my.elanco.com/en_gb/cpd/ruminant/a2k

Be The Change event on 9th July - https://www.carboncalling.farm/liz-event

Downland events - https://www.downland.co.uk/news/join-us-for-our-upcoming-shaping-future-flocks-roadshow

Dr Liz Genever is a farmer, consultant and co-founder of Carbon Calling CIC. 

Dr Nerys Wright is a sheep consultant and technical lead for SCOPS.

Podcast Disclaimer:
The views and information shared in this podcast are for general guidance only and do not constitute professional advice. The Sheep Geeks make no guarantees about the accuracy or completeness of the content. Always consult your own vet or advisor before making changes to your animal health or farm management practices. Any reliance on the information is at your own risk. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Sheep Geeks.

Nerys finally gets her dream to talk about parasites for an entire episode. We answered submitted questions and talk through some of our client work. 

Links mentioned:

Support the New Louping Ill Vaccine – Moredun Research Institute

 Survey on PhD with Moredun https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/moredungroup/pasture-management-and-grazing-strategies-on-uk-farms

 FAMACHA course Sustainable control of Haemonchosis in UK livestock grazing systems (FAMACHA card training) | Short Courses | University of Edinburgh

 Be The Change | Carbon Calling Booking link for 18th June event https://www.carboncalling.farm/about-5-1  

Join us for our upcoming Shaping Future Flocks Roadshow | Downland - Partners in Farming Health

 Podcasts | SCOPS

Dr Liz Genever is a farmer, consultant and co-founder of Carbon Calling CIC. 

Dr Nerys Wright is a sheep consultant and technical lead for SCOPS.

Podcast Disclaimer:
The views and information shared in this podcast are for general guidance only and do not constitute professional advice. The Sheep Geeks make no guarantees about the accuracy or completeness of the content. Always consult your own vet or advisor before making changes to your animal health or farm management practices. Any reliance on the information is at your own risk. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Sheep Geeks.

Tom Bird farms with his dad in south Derbyshire. They run sheep and also have combinable crops. He is the current Farmers Weekly Sheep Farmer of the Year and also involved in the OptiEwe programme with Liz and Nerys.

He talks through his system of indoor lambing mule ewes and the use of creep to get the lambs away as soon as possible to balance labour requirements on the mixed farm. 

Links mentioned:

To enter or nominate people for the award, go to https://www.fwi.co.uk/sp/events/farmers-weekly-awards

Dr Liz Genever is a farmer, consultant and co-founder of Carbon Calling CIC. 

Dr Nerys Wright is a sheep consultant and technical lead for SCOPS.

Podcast Disclaimer:
The views and information shared in this podcast are for general guidance only and do not constitute professional advice. The Sheep Geeks make no guarantees about the accuracy or completeness of the content. Always consult your own vet or advisor before making changes to your animal health or farm management practices. Any reliance on the information is at your own risk. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Sheep Geeks.

Jennifer Duncan is a Professor of Sheep Health and Welfare at University of Liverpool. She has been involved with a recent project exploring joint ill in young lambs in more details, and this podcast covers the main findings of that project. We also touch on her interests on Schmallenberg virus and contagious ovine digital dermatitis. 

She teaches vet students animal welfare and sheep veterinary medicine. Her research focuses on sheep lameness, neonatal lamb diseases and sheep welfare. She co-ordinates post-graduate veterinary modules in sheep medicine as part of the Certificate in Advanced Veterinary Practice courses at Liverpool https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/vets/cpd/certavp/production-animal/sheep/

Links mentioned:

Paper link - https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3189525/ 

AHDB link - https://ahdb.org.uk/knowledge-library/joint-ill-in-lambs

Liverpool's work on CODD - https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/infection-veterinary-and-ecological-sciences/research/groups/codd/

Dr Liz Genever is a farmer, consultant and co-founder of Carbon Calling CIC. 

Dr Nerys Wright is a sheep consultant and technical lead for SCOPS.

Podcast Disclaimer:
The views and information shared in this podcast are for general guidance only and do not constitute professional advice. The Sheep Geeks make no guarantees about the accuracy or completeness of the content. Always consult your own vet or advisor before making changes to your animal health or farm management practices. Any reliance on the information is at your own risk. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Sheep Geeks.

Anna and Ian Wilson are mixed farmers (sheep and combinable crops) from North Yorkshire, and Anna also works for the National Sheep Association. They talk about their experience of using No Bacz Navel as part of the trial we spoke to Fiona Lovatt about on episode 4. They also use it when tagging newborn lambs.

We also catch up on the work as part of the AHDB-funded Challenge Sheep project and how they are using data to help them make better decisions. 

This episode has been sponsored by No Bacz. 

Links mentioned:

Paper link - https://bvajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/BCHIBBZG8IRWQU3RHERB?target=10.1002/vetr.70169

Product page link - https://nobacz.com/product/nobacz-navel/

More details on Challenge Sheep project - https://ahdb.org.uk/challenge-sheep

Dr Liz Genever is a farmer, consultant and co-founder of Carbon Calling CIC. 

Dr Nerys Wright is a sheep consultant and technical lead for SCOPS.

Podcast Disclaimer:
The views and information shared in this podcast are for general guidance only and do not constitute professional advice. The Sheep Geeks make no guarantees about the accuracy or completeness of the content. Always consult your own vet or advisor before making changes to your animal health or farm management practices. Any reliance on the information is at your own risk. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Sheep Geeks.

Kate Phillips is an independent sheep consultant. She previously worked at ADAS for 30 years. She continues to be heavily involved in research within the sheep sector. She is renowned for her pragmatic approach. 

We talk through various projects (see links below) and also the role that Kate played in developing both Liz and Nerys' knowledge and skills. 

Links mentioned:

Sheep Breeding UK | Low Carbon Lamb | Low Methane Sheep

 https://businesswales.gov.wales/farmingconnect/reducing-mastitis-commercial-sheep-flocks-final-report

https://ahdb.org.uk/knowledge-library/understanding-mastitis-in-sheep 

https://ahdb.org.uk/mastitis-in-ewes-phase-ii

Biotin and lameness in ewes | AHDB

 Event mentioned Grazing for growth: sheep and arable working together | AHDB

Dr Liz Genever is a farmer, consultant and co-founder of Carbon Calling CIC. 

Dr Nerys Wright is a sheep consultant and technical lead for SCOPS.

Podcast Disclaimer:
The views and information shared in this podcast are for general guidance only and do not constitute professional advice. The Sheep Geeks make no guarantees about the accuracy or completeness of the content. Always consult your own vet or advisor before making changes to your animal health or farm management practices. Any reliance on the information is at your own risk. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Sheep Geeks.

This special episode features an experimental recording at the East of England Agricultural Society's Scholars Day. Both Liz and Nerys are scholars and were invited to join the training day. The recording features other scholars, and was done on a roaming mic in the bar, so forgive the slightly interesting audio. 

See here for more information on the Scholars Programme. The next application deadline is the 22nd of February 2026 and is available to people living in Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire, plus parts of Lincolnshire, Rutland and Leicestershire.

Nerys and Liz are extremely grateful to the EEAS for their support. Nerys' recent visit to the International Sheep Veterinary Congress was supported by them, and their contributed towards Liz's attendance on the CREATE Althorp course.