Head Shepherd

Ever wondered what's actually happening inside an overgrown hoof? And can you fix it once the damage is done?

Our guest this week looked into just that. Dr Laura Deeming did her PhD with Massey University and AgResearch on dairy goat hoof health. Many dairy goats are not hoof trimmed until their first lactation, which, at that point, feet can already be very overgrown.

One of her key questions was whether starting trimming earlier wo...

Willy McSkimming is modernising the shearing industry with a new app and an improved focus on wool classing and quality. After 23 years running a major contracting operation with his wife Tess, he's now doing things differently. Not happy with being left behind in comparison to other industries, and considering theres an "app for everything", Willy decided to develop an app for the shearing industry whilst healing from a knee repla...

How do you actually pick which heifers to keep? For many, selecting the top ones is easy, but it's those middle ones that are hard to choose between. 

For this week's guest, Geoff Hayes, the answer is genomics. Geoff and his wife Belinda started their Angus stud just 5 years ago, but began their genomic journey early, not wanting to pick bulls on looks alone from the very beginning. 

"I was hesitant just to go and pick them...

Pete Fennessy has spent more than fifty years involved in science, genetics and livestock production, helping shape many of the ideas that transformed New Zealand’s sheep and deer industries. 

Pete spent two decades at Invermay before becoming General Manager of AgResearch’s Sheep, Deer and Equine Division, later founding AbacusBio alongside a group of colleagues and helping build it into an internationally recognis...

This week on the podcast we have Joshua Barton chatting to Mark about the benefits of precision sheep management and the results it can get you. 

Josh is currently stockman at Hillcroft Farms and recently shared some great scanning results with us as the outcome of well-planned precision lambing. Josh shares these results as well as discussing how Hillcroft’s ultra-white breeding program has evolved.

Josh and Mark ...

How do Australian and New Zealand farmers stay competitive when the rest of the world is changing faster than ever?

For our guest this week, Richard Green, it starts by accepting that yesterday's thinking will not solve tomorrow's problems.

"It frustrates the hell out of me when I hear us talk about 'We're the best farmers in the world.'" explains Richard. "And we may have been, but that's a moment in time. There's so much change, pr...

Long before performance recording became mainstream, George Fell's grandfather was building a sheep breeding programme around growth, efficiency and measured performance on pasture. Unable to find the genetics he wanted, he created them himself.

Today, that same mindset runs through everything at Fell's Yorkshire farming business. Alongside the Meatlinc sheep breeding programme, the family operates a diverse farming enterprise that ...

What does a cow actually cost to run?

At Kerin Ag, every kilogram of utilisable feed has a value attached to it. That allows Joe Kerin and the team to measure whether an animal is genuinely paying its way.

In this episode, Joe joins Mark to discuss how putting a dollar value on each kilogram of grass they grow led them to choose Wagyu over Angus. As any Kerin would, Joe has done the numbers and compared Wagyu cows with larger recipie...

Few people have had a front-row seat to the genetic improvement of New Zealand sheep quite like our guest this week, Simon Buckley.

After growing up in Whangārei and starting his farming career at Castlepoint Station, Simon joined Wairere Romneys and has never left. Four decades later, he has helped one of New Zealand's most influential sheep breeding programmes through the transition from visual selection and paper records to EID, ...

Most sheep producers assume their drenches are working. Chloe Frank's job is finding out whether they actually are.

After discovering how few producers in her region were monitoring worm burdens, Chloe launched Central Stock Health while still at university. She now travels from farm to farm delivering on-site worm egg counts and helping producers make better management decisions.

In this episode, Chloe joins Mark to ...

This week on the podcast, Ferg introduces James Trowbridge, the newest consultant to join the neXtgen Agri team.

James grew up in South Australia working alongside his parents, Margie and Bill Trowbridge, in both Merinos and the family artificial breeding business. After working across a range of farming and agribusiness roles around Australia, James now joins the neXtgen Agri team, bringing with him a strong practical background in...

What does it take to build the data systems that sit behind your genetic evaluations?

This week on the podcast, Ferg catches up with Dan Garrick from Helical. Dan grew up on a sheep, beef and venison farm in the Manawatu before moving to the US at 13, where he went on to complete a PhD in aerospace engineering at Iowa State University. He's the son of Professor Dorian Garrick, one of New Zealand's most respected animal breeding gene...

Jane Kellock joins Mark to talk through the production and business decisions that have shaped their Merino operation in South Australia’s Mid North. From running a non-mulesed flock for more than 20 years to building a breeding programme focused on lamb survival, Jane explains how genetics, condition scoring and lessons learned from attending previous LambEx conferences have helped their business through some brutal seasons.

...

Matt Hood on farm succession, agribusiness banking, and building better farm businesses.

Based in Marlborough, Matt has worked across sheep and beef, dairy, and viticulture businesses in both New Zealand and Australia, with a focus on succession planning, equity partnerships, and helping farm businesses make better decisions around people, capital, and structure.

Matt explains where he sees the gap between being good on the tools and...

You'd never ignore your interest rate, so why aren't you tracking your genetic gain? 

This week, Ferg catches up with Chad Taylor for an update on what has been happening at Mumblebone and the recent work around footrot and feet structure they have been involved with as part of the 'Genetics of foot health in Merinos' project.

Ferg and Chad also discuss genetic gain at Mumblebone and how it is being pushed in practical terms. Fo...

This week, Mark catches up with Will Barton from Gundagai Meat Processors (GMP) to chat about what has changed since his last appearance on the podcast and where things are heading next for Gundagai.

Gundagai has built a reputation for doing things differently, with a clear focus on eating quality and how that is measured and paid for. 

Will explains how a focus on eating quality, particularly intramuscular fat, has shap...

This week on the podcast, Mark chats with Carol Mudford to talk about her unconventional path into the shearing sheds and the work she is now doing to help improve mental health across the industry.

Carol grew up around sheep but never planned to pick up a handpiece, starting her working life in nursing before COVID and family circumstances brought her back to the farm. When she was ready to return to nursing, Carol moved into menta...

Bea Litchfield is Managing Director of Hazeldean, a sixth-generation family seedstock business running both Merino and Angus studs alongside commercial operations. 

Hazeldean is a large-scale seedstock business, and they produce around 600 Angus bulls and 400 Merino rams each year for clients across all kinds of environments. Their tough environment allows their stock to be put to the test and their rigorous focus on fe...

Join Mark and our guest this week, Dr Shane Thomson, to discuss some key points around reproductive performance in cattle. 

Shane is a veterinarian and partner at Holbrook Vet Centre in southern New South Wales, leading a team of 10 vets across a practice that's roughly 90% beef production.

Cattle reproduction work is at the core of what Shane does daily, and in this episode, he and Mark cover pretty much everything. Including b...