Head Shepherd

Do you want to develop your understanding of estimated breeding values (EBVs) in cattle? This week's podcast guest, Tom Gubbins, and our host Mark Ferguson chat about breeding values and Te Mania Angus, giving us a great insight into the role of genetics in a farm business.

Te Mania started in New Zealand in 1928 with the closing of the Angus herd book. They have been involved in genetics from the very start, to which Tom credits some of Te Mania's success to. "We've watched, over a long time now, the targets and objectives being reached."

From 23 cows in the 1980s, Te Mania now has 900 cows joined, 690 heifers and a 500 cow embryo herd. The top 10% of cows are now producing 500 calves per year through that embryo transfer program allowing for some amazing genetic gain.

Mark and Tom then run through various data that Te Mania is recording.

"We've been involved in structural EBVs for quite a while [and] been collecting structural data since the validation project in the 80's."

Structure and temperament are what Mark refers to as "stockman's traits" and people wonder why we need EBVs for them, but Tom says their buyers are selecting on them.

"The structural EBVs have been really good at explaining to people the genotypic vs phenotypic effect of structure. Because you can see an animal standing there in front of you with perfectly good feet, but it doesn't have perfectly good EBVs", explains Tom.

"If the animal's going off [to somewhere] that's a bit wet and the feet are prone to growing out badly, then the animal phenotypically standing there with good feet, well the genotypic information from the EBVs are saying that the progeny isn't going to be nearly as good as the father".

"And people are making decisions on that... whereas they might be sceptical on the 600 day weight EBV." And the same goes for temperament. So why is there more reluctance to trust other EBVs?

Tom runs through all of the phenotypic information they have been collecting at Te Mania and how that turns into breeding values, giving us a great insight into what data builds an EBV.

The commitment of Te Mania to the future of the Angus breed is very impressive. From feed efficiency, to IMF, to growth and structure, their level of recording is huge. 

Te Mania have their 2023 2 Year Bull Sale on Tuesday 8th August at 11:30am. Click for full details - 

https://www.temaniaangus.com/sales-events/event/2023-northern-spring-angus-bull-sale-walgett-nsw-and-on-auctionsplus

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 - info@nextgenagri.com.

Thanks to our sponsors at MSD Animal Health and Allflex, and Heiniger Australia and New Zealand.

These companies are leaders in their respective fields and it is a privilege to have them supporting the Head Shepherd Podcast. 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

In this podcast, we sit down with Rick, a seasoned farmer whose parents moved to his family farm in the 70s as a child,  as part of the family's succession plan. Rick now runs a self-replacing composite flock, focusing on early maturity, fat, muscle, and health traits such as worm resistance. Rick also sheds light on his involvement in the Farm Owners Academy as an accountability coach and how he's creating a legacy that his daughter can carry on in the future.


Rick lives on his family farm which he moved to as a young boy in the 70's when his father took it on as part of the family succession plan.  "From then on it's been a really mixed operation. Dad ran it with the approach of having many enterprises and spreading risk. We were doing the same based on that conditioning for quite a while... and soon worked out we weren't doing anything really well. [We were] just working ourselves into the ground basically."


So, things had to change. "l knew what i enjoyed doing, which is the most important thing in my opinion." After attending a production day and coming across breeding values for the first time, he was blown away. "You can dial up what you want, and you can just go for it. And they work." Rick decided that was the route to take. They now have a self replacing composite flock selling store lambs and surplus ewe lambs as breeders.


Genetically they focus on  early maturity, fat, muscle and health traits such as worm resistance.


Their challenges now are doing a better job of triplets and hoggets, with Rick saying they're 0.25 of a CS below where they'd like to be.


Farming in 575mm rainfall area, footrot COULD also be a big challenge, and is why Rick farms composites. And, of course, Mark poses the question if they could have a footrot free Merino, would they?


You'll have to listen to hear that answer.


Rick is heavily involved in the Farm Owners Academy as an accountability coach. Something he really enjoys. 


Rick also covers the great efforts of volunteers after the Kangaroo Island fires. And it wasn't just the recovery effort that was a positive from the fire. 


"Our daughter came home and spent two years with us." Rick says he's proud of himself for not 'putting her off' during that two year period. "I worked really hard in terms of getting the right mindset and I'm proud to say that [my daughter] is on a path that will more than likely see her come home to the farm" 


Rick's changes in mindset, outlook and farm practices is what allows a farming family going through a successful succession, not only from Rick taking over from his father, but also creating a place his daughter wants, and can, return to.

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 - info@nextgenagri.com.

Thanks to our sponsors at MSD Animal Health and Allflex, and Heiniger Australia and New Zealand.

These companies are leaders in their respective fields and it is a privilege to have them supporting the Head Shepherd Podcast. 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

This week, our guest is Ben Todhunter from Cleardale Station in Canterbury NZ. 
Ben's grandfather purchased Cleardale in 1943 and is named after its geographical "snow shelter" attributes. Cleardale is only 4 km from Mount Hutt as the crow flies. 

Stud breeding is in Ben's genetics, with his great grandfather founding the Blackford stud in 1924. In Ben's time, they had a traditional first cross English Leicester/Merino flock. But, since Ferg has been around they've been doing things a "bit different".

One of those things is breeding the Cleardale SX Fine Wool. A 21-24 micron sheep with crossbred performance.

"We'd been getting similar results in production traits from the SX fine wools.. finer micron, similar reproduction and growth rates." Ben explains.  "We've made the choice to go that way, and go quite fast that way. Given the way we're going with disease resistant traits its giving us confidence to go fast that way too" 

Cleardale has been involved with the Footrot breeding value since the start of the programme. And because of that, Cleardale has not only one of the most linked flocks on the footrot trait. putting them in the top 5% of the breed. 

Alongside the sheep, Cleardale run an Angus stud producing cattle for a high country environment. "Functional and efficient cows that have progeny that provide a first class eating experience" is the aim of their breeding plan says Ben, 

Ben recently visited the US to have a look at the genetics there and also their market chain for beef. Ben says it's hard to compare genetics as it's mainly grain/feedlot based systems. However they are bringing a 3-5 back to the country to give them a try. 

What impressed Ben in the US was the Certified Angus Beef Headquarters, a programme where they have a value chain trying to line up products to consumers and then the profits returned back to producers. 

Ben says this has led to an increased demand for the product in a country which already has the highest consumption of beef per capita in the world. 

One thing that's never too far from Ben's mind is value chains; working out which consumer sets are going to be doing what. Mark asks what Ben sees playing out in the future. 

"Breeding for the consumer." is very much the focus at Cleardale. But as ever with genetics, it's not as easy as it sounds. 

"You've got to predict what the consumer wants before they want it." Explains Mark. "Because if you want to put a lot more IMF in your beef you have to start now, because it's going to take time."

Mark and Ben discuss the importance of writing those bets down. "It's awesome when you pull the document up from 8 or 10 years ago and you can tick off those boxes, that there's an objective that's been met".

Cleardale is a great example of where commitment and enthusiasm can take a breeding plan in a short time. 

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 - info@nextgenagri.com.

Thanks to our sponsors at MSD Animal Health and Allflex, and Heiniger Australia and New Zealand.

These companies are leaders in their respective fields and it is a privilege to have them supporting the Head Shepherd Podcast. 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

Join us today for a chat through Richard Rains's career of 40 years of selling meat around the world. "It became a great passion and I still pinch myself every day at the success a little kid from the bush was able to achieve." 

Richard grew up in central NSW and was the youngest of four kids. When it was his turn to return to the farm, his father said to him, "Things aren't great. If you come home, it just means we've just got to split the meagre returns another way." explains Richard. "He did say, give it a go, if it works we'll all be better off. If it doesn't, you can just come home". With that safety net behind him, Richard started into his career in the meat industry. 
 
In the early seventies, Richard was head-hunted to go to a meat trading firm, Sanger. With Sanger, Richard sold the first beef to Korea that was ever imported there via government tender. He spent a lot of time there. "Thirteen times in one year. Quite a thing for a young kid from the bush," he says. 

After a year in the London offices, Richard was sent back to Australia as the business was struggling. Richard then joined the newly formed Sanger Australia in 1976 and retired 10 years ago, leaving behind a $500 million legacy.

Mark and Richard talk through how they built that business so successfully,  from hiring and training staff in the right way and also having a fantastic relationship with
Richard and Mark then discuss the future of the industry from the view of a meat trader. 

"Food is an experience, and how lucky are we to have these experiences," says Richard. "There was absolutely no doubt in my time, the more tags you could put on an animal the greater value you could get for it. Whether it was Wagyu, Organic, Natural, Grain fed or Grass fed." And the same still stands today. 

Richard believes we should be doing more brand marketing. But, not at an individual producer level. His advice is... "Rather than producing what Grandad did and hoping for the best, I strongly recommend producers to get a relationship with their producer and find out which one is going to work for them. They should supply into that processors brand."

Mark and Richard round the podcast off by talking about the Zanda McDonald award. "It is changing lives, and at my stage in life there's not much that gives me greater pleasure than being able to change the lives of young people in Agriculture."

Find out more here:
https://www.zandamcdonaldaward.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 - info@nextgenagri.com.

Thanks to our sponsors at MSD Animal Health and Allflex, and Heiniger Australia and New Zealand.

These companies are leaders in their respective fields and it is a privilege to have them supporting the Head Shepherd Podcast. 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

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. 

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 - info@nextgenagri.com.

Thanks to our sponsors at MSD Animal Health and Allflex, and Heiniger Australia and New Zealand.

These companies are leaders in their respective fields and it is a privilege to have them supporting the Head Shepherd Podcast. 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

Integrated pest management for blowfly, worms and lice is the topic of todays podcast, with our guest Alison Colvin. 

Alison has published work on practices on farm and has also been involved in a lot of survey work. You can find more here

Alison runs us through the surveys, which had some interesting results about incidences of flystrike, treatment trends and the effects of drought on lice, fly and worm problems and much more.

You can read the results for yourself here:
The Australian Sheep Parasite Survey

Mark and Alison then run through Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for lice, worms and flies.

Starting with a hot topic at the moment, lice. The results of the survey confirmed what they have known for a while, that the prevalence of lice on Australian flocks is around 20% but it is decreasing slightly.

"Introduction through purchased and stray sheep was the most ranked reason for recurring lice infestations. The second was not completing the whole flock at the same time and incomplete mustering. So there are still areas for improvement on our on farm lice control." says Alison

"Rotation of lice products is theoretically good, you should be able to get rid of all of the lice and not have any surviving lice building up resistance. BUT that relies on us using the products properly for lice prevention. Dose rates...all sheep treated, shearing equipment is changed between sheds etc."

So, if the lice treatment is effective, and you have good boundary fences and biosecurity regimes then you might not have to deal with lice for a good period of time. It's just making sure you're paying attention to detail with lice.

Mark makes a great point. "Flies and worms turn up anyway, whereas lice you can win the battle and remove them from your property. "

Mark and Alison also run through the key parts of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) that are important for worms and flies too. 

Alison highly recommends the website paraboss.com.au for information and tools for IPM. Although this is an Australian website, our listeners worldwide will definitely find something worthwhile on there.
 
There really is no avoiding these pests when sheep farming so this is a good podcast for anyone involved in your farming business. 

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 - info@nextgenagri.com.

Thanks to our sponsors at MSD Animal Health and Allflex, and Heiniger Australia and New Zealand.

These companies are leaders in their respective fields and it is a privilege to have them supporting the Head Shepherd Podcast. 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

One of the main topics of today’s podcast is the financial modelling of transitioning to a shedding flock from a Romney our guest, Prof. Paul Kenyon of Massey University, has been involved with.
Mark asks what instigated the work and what does the modelling show?

"In reality, coarse wool is costing more to get it off. Many farmers spend their whole summer shearing, crutching, dagging, dipping... controlling fly. As we move forward in the modern society it's harder and harder to get labour in remote areas." Says Paul. "Many don't want to work on a sheep farm when in summer, they're doing those four jobs over and over again."

Paul and his team modelled what it would look like financially to transition from a Romney to a Wiltshire.

"As you went through the transition and post transition, you're better off to move to a Wiltshire because of reduced costs."

"It also showed us, to be [financially] status-quo with a shedding animal, the price of wool had to be up around $5... and it hasn't been around that in a long time."

Because the only data available for the modelling was from the 80's and 90's, they are now working on updating it so it is more accurate to today's Wiltshires in New Zealand.

"That's a slightly different genotype than what's in the industry now."

"We've started a field study. We have a farm where they've agreed to leave half of the flock as straight Romneys and the other half have been bred to the Wiltshires," explains Paul. "We have our Romney control and as the respective generations are born, the Wiltshire crosses are crossing back over the Wiltshire."

They are now at the point where they have hoggets that are 7/8ths Wiltshire meaning they are one generation away from what most breed societies would accept as a full Wiltshire.  They are also collecting a huge amount of data during the trial.

Paul says "We're collecting everything from mating performance, puberty onset in hoggets, scanning percentage, NLB, NLW, weaning weights, wool traits.." and much much more.

"We're collecting the wool traits because in the 1/2, 3/4 and 7/8's, you're going to have to shear them to get the 'mohawk' off them. So we're collecting that out of curiosity. "

Mark asks about the value of the wool on a Wiltshire.
"At a 35+ micron there's not really much more of a hit you can take."

Because shedding doesn't take place biologically until late spring after a winter, Paul explains they're looking into how early they can pick replacements based on a "shedding score" and also how that first shedding score relates to their score as a 2th or 4th. Some interesting research!

You can read the full article modelling the transition here:
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/11/2066

This is only a fraction of what is a fascinating podcast with Paul. Listen in to hear about more great research. 

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 - info@nextgenagri.com.

Thanks to our sponsors at MSD Animal Health and Allflex, and Heiniger Australia and New Zealand.

These companies are leaders in their respective fields and it is a privilege to have them supporting the Head Shepherd Podcast. 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

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."

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 - info@nextgenagri.com.

Thanks to our sponsors at MSD Animal Health and Allflex, and Heiniger Australia and New Zealand.

These companies are leaders in their respective fields and it is a privilege to have them supporting the Head Shepherd Podcast. 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

Every day, we make hundreds of decisions. These decisions affect you, your business and those around you. This week we have Kate Burke on the podcast talking about how to make the right decisions.

With 26 years of experience behind her, Kate has a huge range of expertise in the Agriculture industry. Kates principles come from her experience in the industry as an agronomist, an educator, researcher, writer and also growing up as part of a multigenerational farming business.

"My mantra at Think Agri is about good, sophisticated thinking in agriculture and bringing together the best of both worlds; that intuitive multigenerational farm thinking and some of the discipline that comes out of corporate agriculture."

"My philosophy is about joining the dots and connecting the people, the technical and the business all together."

Today Kate walks us through eight points of 'wethering the storm', something we need to constantly keep in mind in such a changeable industry as agriculture.

1. Managing thought.
The simple concept of drafting your thoughts like sheep through the race.

2. Be aware of self and others
Self awareness is about being in tune where you are at, and reading the play around you.

3. Maintain resilience
This is resilience in terms of staying productive and staying well- something we've done poorly as a farming industry.


Listen to the podcast to hear more of Kates fantastic tips to connect science, people and money.

Here is Kates website:
https://www.thinkagri.com.au/

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 - info@nextgenagri.com.

Thanks to our sponsors at MSD Animal Health and Allflex, and Heiniger Australia and New Zealand.

These companies are leaders in their respective fields and it is a privilege to have them supporting the Head Shepherd Podcast. 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

This week we have an old supervisor of Marks, Graham Gardener as our guest. Graham has been involved in a huge multi species project (ALMTECH) focusing on measuring lean meat yield and eating quality for the past 7 years. You can find out more about it here:
https://www.almtechau.com/

Mark and Graham start off with the work ALMTECH have been doing on live animal measurements in terms of lean meat yield.   

"In beef, the most advanced one we started with was a 3D imaging system. The cameras would acquire images and predict things like weight, eye muscle area and fat depth. We also had a muscle scoring system. Also we could predict the whole carcass composition in terms of bone muscle and fat ratio."

Another piece of new technology Graham covers is a handheld microwave device where you can predict the fat depth in cattle. The tech has been developed from a technology applied to humans to do brain scanning, so it's very safe for humans.

Mark and Graham then go onto DEXA (Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry).

"We've done preliminary work and it looks quite good and far more accurate than any of those other systems I've just described" But the scale and cost of the machine isn't always ideal. "About half of all lambs slaughtered in Australia are measured on the DEXA scale. But, not everyone wants a DEXA system so we've been working on the handheld devices." Says Graham.

Some of these devices are being developed to be used in both live and carcass measurements. "The same microwave device, we're having a crack at that in the abattoir as well. The accuracy is promising and it might be able to meet accreditation standards." Graham explains. 

When it comes to scoring sheep, it isn't as easy as beef what with the wool distorting imaging. "Simple surface imaging cameras don't work." says Graham. "The microwave does a pretty good job at predicting fat depth, and we've had a crack at correlating it with a medical DEXA scans of live animals."

"So, lean meat yield was one half of the story, eating quality was the other half." says Graham. "There are things that measure eating quality in lamb but we cant measure them at chain speed yet."

Mark asks about any other tools in the belt for selecting for eating quality.

"There are tools that we can use for those other traits like shear force, and thats genetics." Says Graham. "It's only the really switched on breeders that are bothering to optimise their eating quality traits within their selection indices."

Mark finally delves into the cellular level of meat quality which is an absolutely fascinating conversation for those sheep nerds out there.

Have a look at the Scott Automation processing video Mark and Graham mention here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aim65529e4E

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 - info@nextgenagri.com.

Thanks to our sponsors at MSD Animal Health and Allflex, and Heiniger Australia and New Zealand.

These companies are leaders in their respective fields and it is a privilege to have them supporting the Head Shepherd Podcast. 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

Bio shearing, wool harvesting practices and Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) research is the topic of this week's podcast.

We have Jock Laurie, chair of AWI chatting with Mark today. Jock currently farms wool, lamb, beef and grain on properties in New South Wales. In 2021 Jock became chair of AWI.

Jock runs us through what AWI does, and what they're currently looking into it.

AWI, for those that don't know, is responsible for research and development for the Wool Industry in Australia. They're involved in many aspects from working on marketing the wool product and creating demand,  innovation in the shearing process, pasture varieties,  developing new uses for wool and working with wool growers to help maximise profitability and identifying areas of concern. Recently, Jock says their role has been heavily in "defending the fibre [wool] in the environmental sustainability debate."

Mark and Jock dive into the recent work AWI has been involved with.

"The first thing we have to do is get the product off the sheep's back." Jock says. There's the traditional changes we could make in the industry, and which we should be doing actively.  Changing shed design, knowing where the stressors are in shearing and changing the shed design to improve that. But AWI is also looking into something else.

"We're also looking with Adelaide University around a "bio-shearing" Jock explains

"It is essentially putting a break in the clip and then removing it." Something they have achieved already. The next step is working on a way to get the wool harvested.

"Ideally you run them through a machine that takes the wool off as you already have the break, you could use air to take the wool off." But that is all in the research stage currently.

Jock says that Covid highlighted the shearers shortage in Australia and thus the importance of finding alternative ways of harvesting wool.

"We know there are labour shortages across all industries, but industries that have physical demands that shearing does... we need to recognise that and focus on alternative ways of removing the wool. and without COVID we may not have seen that."

You can find out more here.

Mark and Jock cover a multitude of topics in this podcast, showing just how much AWI are involved with. It is a great, inspiring listen about the future of the industry. 

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 - info@nextgenagri.com.

Thanks to our sponsors at MSD Animal Health and Allflex, and Heiniger Australia and New Zealand.

These companies are leaders in their respective fields and it is a privilege to have them supporting the Head Shepherd Podcast. 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

Today on the podcast we have a different kind of guest! We have the incredible Dr. Roswitha Baumung who currently works at the Division for Animal Production and Health of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).

Roswitha has always had a passion for animals. She studied Agriculture and completing her pHD on Animal breeding and genetics.  "I was especially interested in the genetics of small populations".  After a scientific career at University, she began a helping farmers in her home country, Austria, set up breeding programmes for rare breeds. 

Now she works for the FAO, working with all of the breeds around the world. Roswitha works in a team of three and is responsible for looking at the diversity of our livestock breeds.

In her role she supports countries by implementing breeding plans to preserve the genetic diversity of the population amongst many other things.

Mark and Roswitha discuss the importance of maintaining a native population to deal with shifting climate conditions. She says in some developing countries, she has seen a shift in species that specialise in harder conditions, aka going from sheep farming to camel farming!

"We need animals that are resilient, that recover fast after a [weather] event." And it's not just an environmental shift, it's also a consumer shift.

Mark asks is there is a secret gene bank full of the worlds animal genetics, like there is with seeds, but alas there is not. Roswitha does mention "cryoconservation" though, which you can read more about here

This podcast is a fantastic insight of the bigger picture thinking when it comes to the future of livestock breeding. 

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 - info@nextgenagri.com.

Thanks to our sponsors at MSD Animal Health and Allflex, and Heiniger Australia and New Zealand.

These companies are leaders in their respective fields and it is a privilege to have them supporting the Head Shepherd Podcast. 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

It is always interesting to compare different farming systems across this world. This week on the podcast we have Dr Tim Keady speaking about farming in Ireland. Having recently returned from a trip to New Zealand, Tim has a great insight at how the different systems compare.

"We went to see the use of different technologies on-farm, with the intention of reducing labour and improving efficiency. So, we decided to go to New Zealand" says Tim. "... to look at the systems of sheep reproduction... but also to look at the types and levels of technologies that are used on farm, particularly to improve labour efficiency."

Dr Tim Keady is principal sheep research scientist in the Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Teagasc Athenry and has a wealth of knowlege on the Irish sheep industry. 

Mark and Tim compare the different genetics, grassland management, hogget breeding and markets which are surprisingly similar in many ways. 

Firstly, in the last number of years in pedigree breeding genotyping is becoming more and more important in Ireland. Tim says "It's looking like there's a new scheme thats been launched this year that one of the requirements is that you have to buy a genotyped ram." A concept that has yet to reach our shores. 

Tim runs Mark through the Irish sheep meat markets. Much like New Zealand, Ireland exports most of it's lamb, with 70% going overseas, making it the largest net sheep meat exporter in Europe. With 2.5 million ewes, that's no mean feat. 

 Mark and Tim discuss the breed profile of these sheep to fit both the Irish seasons but also the export market requirements.

Thank you Tim for sharing your time with us. 

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 - info@nextgenagri.com.

Thanks to our sponsors at MSD Animal Health and Allflex, and Heiniger Australia and New Zealand.

These companies are leaders in their respective fields and it is a privilege to have them supporting the Head Shepherd Podcast. 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

If you can optimise your stocking rate for your season, there's no reason you can't make profit in livestock. However, accessing capital for trading and breeding stock, isn't always easy and can hold a producer back. 

That's where Richard Brimblecombe and Legacy Livestock come in. Richard is a "Queenslander through and through" who always had a hankering for numbers. After a career in banking, Richard became one of the founding CEOs of stockco's Australian business. In 2019 he joined the North Australia Pastural Company. 

Richard says, "It was a very interesting roll, but having to the taste for livestock finance and what it can do for the Australian Ag Industry, and for individual producers, I was very keen to do something different in that space again; so we kicked off Legacy Livestock."

"The role [of Legacy Livestock] is to come in and provide the piece of capital to allow a producer to run his property at his full stocking rate and therefore at its full potential.

The best way to get in touch is to visit the website: www.legacylivestock.com.au

Richard says "Give us a call, have a look around on the website. You can ring the number and you will talk directly to a relationship manager, and sometimes you might even get me!''

Richard and Mark also cover what it is to be a good producer, how optimum stocking rate can do wonders, and Richards insights into market trends.
 

https://www.legacylivestock.com.au/

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 - info@nextgenagri.com.

Thanks to our sponsors at MSD Animal Health and Allflex, and Heiniger Australia and New Zealand.

These companies are leaders in their respective fields and it is a privilege to have them supporting the Head Shepherd Podcast. 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

Want to know more about sheep parasites? This week we have Ginny Dodunski on the podcast chatting about everything from drenches and capsules, to resistance and refugia. This podcast is full of handy, helpful tips, which will hopefully make you take a step back and look at your worm management programme on farm.

In the last 12 months, Ginny has been the Wormwise programme manager but, prior to that, Ginny was (and still is) a practising large animal vet. 

Wormwise was launched as an initiative to help farmers manage drench resistance.  Ginny says that resistance to anthelmintics was always going to happen.  "Parasites were always going to develop a resistance to drugs. The more days in the year your worm population is exposed to drugs, the more opportunities they have to breed and get around it."

Mark and Ginny spend the podcast discussing what you can do if you do have drench resistance and how you can clean your farm up practically.

From different methods of refugia, cattle grazing and careful management of drench usage, Ginny says there are solutions to the problem. Mark points out that, "Well-monitored is the only way to be, you can't do any of this shooting blind." Ginny explains that, for the first few years, technical management can be overwhelming, but once you "get your eye in", she says it can be a lot less formal.

Mark and Ginny discuss the genetics behind it, and how it's not always about doing faecal egg counts and watching drenches. "It's about really focusing on feed and condition and minimising larval challenge."

If you'd like to keep up to date with Ginny and Wormwise, you can find them on Facebook 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 - info@nextgenagri.com.

Thanks to our sponsors at MSD Animal Health and Allflex, and Heiniger Australia and New Zealand.

These companies are leaders in their respective fields and it is a privilege to have them supporting the Head Shepherd Podcast. 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

This week we are discussing markets and were lucky to secure some time with Matt Dalgleish to talk through the current markets and current trends.  Matt has a wealth of experience in livestock markets.

Matt works with Andrew Whitelaw and together they have founded Episode 3 to provide market analytics.  You can find out more about their work at Episode 3 

They began working together in commodity market analysis in 2016 at an agriculture analysis firm owned and operated by Ruralco, a listed Australian company. In 2019, Ruralco was acquired by Agrium Australia (formerly known as Landmark), a wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian agribusiness, Nutrien.  

In 2020 Andrew and Matt decided to leave Nutrien to form a new food and agriculture analysis business known as Thomas Elder Markets (TEM), with the support of Elders Rural Services, a listed Australian company. 

In 2022, Andrew and Matt took over the ownership of TEM, rebranding the business and relaunching as Episode 3 (EP3).

Matt and his business partner produce the Ag Watchers Podcast - here is the link to follow their work:  https://agwatchers.podbean.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 - info@nextgenagri.com.

Thanks to our sponsors at MSD Animal Health and Allflex, and Heiniger Australia and New Zealand.

These companies are leaders in their respective fields and it is a privilege to have them supporting the Head Shepherd Podcast. 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

This week we bring you Ferg's thoughts on innovation and particularly the role Artificial Intelligence will play in livestock farming in the future.   The uptake of innovations in livestock breeding in the last 20 years is about to go into over drive and we are on the cusp of big changes in how sheep breeding happens across the industry.  There will be two options for those breeders out there - adapt or be disrupted.

Some of the concepts in this podcast are borrowed from Christian Kromme, we highly recommend you read or listen to his book and follow him on social as well as subscribing to his news letter. 
A link to his book is here - https://christiankromme.com/the-book-eng/

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 - info@nextgenagri.com.

Thanks to our sponsors at MSD Animal Health and Allflex, and Heiniger Australia and New Zealand.

These companies are leaders in their respective fields and it is a privilege to have them supporting the Head Shepherd Podcast. 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

Mark Wragg transitioned from Romney ewes to a finer wool cross three years ago. Today he chats to Mark Ferguson about that process and also about the introduction of a White Suffolk stud to their business.

After attending a NZM workshop a few years ago Cheviot, which Mark Ferguson spoke at, Mark Wragg decided to make the jump into transitioning to finer wool genotype.

"A long time ago they tried merinos but the feet just fell apart.  We have heavy clay downs and it stays wet all winter. It's pretty hard on feet." But after hearing about the work done in footrot breeding values in Merinos, Mark decided to give it another go. "Certainly that workshop opened our eyes to the potential and what was possible."

Mark introduced the Southern Cross genotype into his Romney flock three years ago. The southern cross is a fine wool sheep that focuses very heavily on footrot breeding values, dag breeding values and WEC breeding values...

"...and all the things you need to entice a Romney farmer to take on a fine wool genotype. " says Ferg

Ferg and Mark run through the highs and lows of transitioning into a new genotype.

The main issue is uneven lines of lambs. But as Mark explains, "It's just transitioning and its's part of it and you've got to grin and bare it until you get through it."

But the highlights?

"We had the opportunity to shear about 4000 first cross lambs and even in that first cross they went from $2.50 for Romney lambs wool to getting almost $10 a kilo for that first cross wool"

"Certainly helped with paying the shearers." says Mark.

Along with the first cross hoggets averaging 26 micron, weaning weights being up 2kg on last year and there not being a sign of footrot on the place, you could say Mark is convinced. 

Mark also discusses the introduction of the White Suffolks into New Zealand from Australia.  "The thing I really like about the White Suffolk is that it has a really nice shape for lambing ease nice, low birth weights but very rapid growth, which is what kiwis needs as seasons are short and variable."

Ferg also has a love for the breed. "It would be hard to argue there is a more performance driven terminal breed in the world than the White Suffolk."

This podcast is a great insight into what it looks like to transition from a Romney to a finer wool genotype without sacrificing any of the production traits that traditionally came with a finer wool type. 

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 - info@nextgenagri.com.

Thanks to our sponsors at MSD Animal Health and Allflex, and Heiniger Australia and New Zealand.

These companies are leaders in their respective fields and it is a privilege to have them supporting the Head Shepherd Podcast. 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

 This week on the Head Shepherd podcast we have another senior scientist of AgResearch, Tricia Johnson.

Following on from our podcast with Dr Suzanne Rowe on "Genetic selection for lower methane in ruminants", we invited Tricia on to focus on her research in one of Marks favourite topics, feed efficiency and body composition.

Tricia has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to sheep phenotypes and genetics; from muscling and meat quality traits to Facial Eczema .

Mark starts off this epic podcast with the Myomax gene.

"Early 2000's when Texel's were gaining prominence in New Zealand [...] We identified a region of the myostatin gene which was associated with increased muscling in the Texels."

Tricia dives into more about muscling and fat, which then leads to the topic of feed use efficiency.

"We've known for a long time that feed use efficiency is a really important economic trait in terms of feed cost, but also in terms of animals being able to be a little more resilient in the face of variable feed amounts" She explains.

Tricia walks us through the trial that began back in 2015. "We have 6 weeks where we have daily feed intake recording.  Any time an animal goes into a feeder we see the timestamp of when she goes in, how long she's there for and how much feed she eats for that feeding event." This gives a fantastic profile of feeding events over the trial period.

"We also take live weights twice a week ... we have a really nice profile of her growth and her feed intake at the time and a whole lot of behavioural traits of how she's eating that feed"

Mark asks about those behavioural traits and if they discovered anything interesing.

Tricia tells us about a fascinating finding when they ran the BLNZG Low Input Sheep Progeny Test animals through the intake facility. 

"One of the really interesting things, in terms of looking it some of these behaviour traits, happened in the first cohort of these [low input] girls."

After their Farm manager at the time noticed a "bunch" of them were refusing to transition into the facility, something highly unusual after over 2,000 sheep had previously done so sucessfully. 

So, Tricia wondered if they were all from the same low input sire? And they were. He was also a leading ram in a certain trait, can you guess which one? 

Tricias knowledge in feeding efficiency and behaviour, the genetics behind them and the resulting factors of those behavioural patterns is just incredible. You'll want to listen to this podcast a few times! 

Thank you Tricia for sharing your time with us and our listeners. 

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 - info@nextgenagri.com.

Thanks to our sponsors at MSD Animal Health and Allflex, and Heiniger Australia and New Zealand.

These companies are leaders in their respective fields and it is a privilege to have them supporting the Head Shepherd Podcast. 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

This week on the podcast we have the wonderful Prue Bondfield.

Prue didn't have a traditional pathway into agriculture. "In terms of the beef industry my association there started when I got married to my husband who owned a Charolais stud. I was a lawyer in Brisbane, Queensland." Says Prue. "It was really city meets country in the best way".

From the time David and Prue purchased 50 cows from her Father in law, the stud went from strength to strength.  "We ran the Palgrove seedstock herd for 35 years and in summary exited that business early this year".

Mark asks, now that Prue and David have built and exited a successful business, with the power of hindsight would they do anything differently now?

"You learn by trying. If it hadn't been invented, we'd try and develop or pioneer something. We found that over our life we had to find different ways of breeding our cattle or different breed standards for us.. they're not things you'd do differently but they certainly make character."

"When you do things half right, you never feel great about it." Says Prue. "It feels better if you're doing things really really well, to the best you can do it and producing quality at the other end."

Prue credits the key factors to their businesses success to a few things. First was leasing land whilst they increased their numbers. "We had a factory operating before we bought the factory floor [...] So we had productive animals ready to move onto any new land that we bought."

"Once embryo transplants started to become part of the norm in the business, that really jumped our numbers up. There was this never-ending game of chase behind the production. And then that gets to the certain point where you become a big supplier."

Prue says they never intended to be a large business, they wanted quality over quantity but they were obviously onto a winning formula!

"We started to think about how we raise some capital, to raise some to find a partner who will very much be part of this growth story." "We started to look for a partner. We did look all over the world." One essential for success was that Prue made sure he business was ready for investment. Prue says "You have to be operating as a corporate entity in a family business which is what we really gave a lot of time into getting that right prior to looking for capital".

Prue now sits on a range of boards and governance structures and still has connections throughout the industry. Mark asks Prue's thoughts on the health of industry and what innovations are required to take it to the next step.

Prue chats about some of the companies of boards she's on  "One of them is an AgriTech company called Black Box Co. It's fantastic, it gives me a really good insight on what farmers are asking for in terms of practical, good technology" 

"There is that sense now, that I haven

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 - info@nextgenagri.com.

Thanks to our sponsors at MSD Animal Health and Allflex, and Heiniger Australia and New Zealand.

These companies are leaders in their respective fields and it is a privilege to have them supporting the Head Shepherd Podcast. 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