October 7, 2025 • 21 mins
In episode four of a podcast series brought to you by Beef and Lamb New Zealand and powered by The Country, join Hamish McKay along with Chair of Beef and Lamb New Zealand Kate Acland, and her husband David, from their Mt Somers farm in Canterbury, to discuss the new Beef + Lamb New Zealand AI tool called Bella.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Exploring ideas and innovation shaping the future of farming with
Beef and Lamb New Zealand powered by the Country.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hello and welcome to the fourth episode in a podcast
series that explores some of the innovations and ideas that
are shaping the future of farming, brought to you by
Beef and Lamb.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
New Zealand and powered by the Country.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I'm your host Tamers Mackay, and today I'm joined by
Kate Ackler.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
The chair of Beef and Lamb New.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Zealand had a husband, David Ackland, who run a sheep
and beef farm located at the beautiful Mount Summer's Area
in at Canterbury. Today's episode is focused on a new
tool available on the Beef and Lamb website. You may
have heard us talk about this previously, as we've covered
(00:53):
off a number of other topics Bella, which is a
new answer tool that is powered by AI.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Whole world of AI exciting times.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
So we're going to get into this and have a
bit of a general chit chat. I'm sitting in a
studio in Auckland often and I'm sitting in a studio
in Palmerston North or christ Church around the country, and
I think Kate and David, we're heading to your your lounge.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Is that right? You're together in the lounge at home?
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Hi? Hi, we are We were we were outside this morning,
but the southerly hits so it's not a bad excuse
to be sitting inside recording this.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Yeah. No, fair enough, fair enough? Right? Bella? Where where? Where?
Where has Bella come from? You know?
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Bella an answer tool powered by AI that works only
on the Beef and Lamb's knowledge hub info. And you know,
the descriptions are she is both focused and trustworthy, drawing
on all the information that exists in that knowledge hub.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
That is that? Is that a fair summation.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
Look, that's a pretty good, pretty good explanation of what
Bala does. So Bala is the Beef and Lamb assistant.
So a bit of a cheesy name there, but essentially
where it came about from is often, as you know,
I'm around the sit around the board table at Beef
and Lamb and we talk about the amazing resources that
we have on the website, and then we're talking millions
(02:27):
and millions of dollars worth of science has gone into
creating these resources over decades and it's so hard to
get them out of the website sometimes, you know how
it is. You'll go and you'll put a search in
and you'll end up with thirty seven different pages for
you to read or recommendations. And so the staff or
the team came to the board one day and said, hey, look,
(02:48):
we think we can use AI to do a really
cool thing for not much money and create a tool
that reads all of the resources on the Beef and
Land website and actually just answers your question using AI.
And you know, I think it was only about six
months ago they came to us with this suggestion and
they've created this amazing what we're calling Bella Virtual Assistant.
(03:10):
This is Bella Mark one. I understand there's a Mark
two will be even better.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
I like the name Beller. I think it just I
don't know whatever.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
It has a certain has a certain ring about it,
and I think it'll catch on. I think it'll be
just one of those things around around the traps where
we go ask Bella but getting answers. As you say,
there's this myriad and mountains of information available. But this
is very different from a search engine that locates the
(03:39):
information for you and then you've got to decipher it.
It actually gets in there and gets to the nitty
gritty and can give you an answer in a very
palatable form.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
Oh look, it's quite amazing. I mean there's four thy
six hundred separate resources on the Beef and Land website.
And you know, the other day we had a new
staff member starting and I'm trying to get better at
the HR tools. So I put into bellor create me
an induction checklist for a new shepherd, and you know,
it digested it, thought about it, and then produced me
(04:14):
it almost perfect checklist for our farm, using from seven
different sources. I think I put in an induction checklist
for a shepherd on a sheep and beef farm in Canterbury.
So it covered all of the HR things, you know
that the basic details you need from their tax numbers.
(04:35):
It covered a whole lot of health and safety checkpoints
that covered vehicle training licenses. Like honestly, if I'd sat
down and spent two hours writing it myself, I couldn't
have done a better job. So for me, you know,
I had thought it was just going to be all
around growing grass and feeding sheep, but actually there's a
whole lot of HR and health and safety tools as well.
So it was a bit of a light bulb moment
(04:56):
for me actually about how good this was.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Let's talk to the the full time farmer in the house, David.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Where do you see the advantages? What?
Speaker 2 (05:04):
How do you see yourself tapping into to balla? What
have you got a couple of questions off the top
of your head that on a sort of might pop
up in a weekly basis on the farm.
Speaker 5 (05:14):
Well, I really just I topped typed in and what's
the optimal time for planting looser in Foothills cannery? And
and you know that as Kate said, digested and then
put out, okay, you need to be thinking about it
now as into September, October and these and then it
gave me a step by step sort of programmed through
(05:36):
until till planting time. So that was a really simple question.
And then we've used it for you know, just reaffirming
sort of thought processes around Hoggitt lambing and just asking
questions around that and and and set stocking numbers and
that sort of thing. So no, it is, it is,
And you're just you're confident in the data and the
information because you know and that most of the and
(05:57):
all the data has been checked off that there those
documents that are held within the source material.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
And it didn't come out and say what you haven't
started already?
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Yeah you was a.
Speaker 5 (06:10):
Sort of sound to weave it, like I don't have
to admit that you know, you need you need to
stop procrastinating and get on with it. Yeah, no, it's
it's really good. And then we mentioned and I think
for for staff and young people got cadets on on
Farm and and it's a great resource for those those
people doing doing their doing their training and doing their
(06:30):
written written training work that they have to do through
their cadets ship as well, so that it takes over
from what we when I was at Lincoln, we had
the Farm Technical Manual and the Farm Budget manuals sort
of go to resources to wade through to get information
out of. And now you can do it and in
a matter of minutes.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yeah, okay, Well, what's a typical in your younger days
kind of question or information that you say you had
to find by wading through all sorts of the information.
What might a youngster today go need to find out?
You know, somebody is in the early days, even their
early years of on the farm and their training, what
(07:09):
what sort of questions might just pop to mind and answer.
Speaker 5 (07:14):
It could be as simple as what's the optimal making
weight for a you and for mating hobbits? Or what
are the optimal condition scores to target condition scores for
you over the year, and it would give you I
haven't done that question into it, but you'll get good
(07:34):
information out of it. It's that is sort of and
we've we've used it for we were looking at the
opportunities around leasing property the other day, and so we
use it for creating some of the base material the
resource that we then used for pulling that analysis together.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
Or another one we were having a conversation about whether
we grow a summer summer race a summer Breaska for
finishing lands or growing hobbits out on because it's not
than we've done before, and so you put the question
in there around what's the transition time, and it gave
a really good summary at the top around the transition time,
the optimal or minimum days you'd want to feed, the
(08:12):
growth rates you'd expect to achieve under optimal conditions for
those lands. So a really nice four bullet point summary
and then it went underneath into all the details of
how to grow it, how to transition onto that crop,
how to feed it, and what animal health issues to
look out for. So, you know, really good you could
be bouncing ideas around and then just really quickly and
(08:33):
easily get some good answers that are relevant for your farm.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Yeah, So if I've got a northern manor or two
farm with reasonably good growing degrees days to use the
old parlance, and I've got the local potato boys coming
to me desperate to take forty hectares or and and
I'm thinking, well, you know.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
What's that? You know, that's that's that's cash flow.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
It's giving the land a break in some sense, but
also sucking a lot out of it another sense.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
What's it look like?
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Can I ask beller and say, you know, how long
will that paddic be out of the loop?
Speaker 3 (09:03):
When will I be able to.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Get back to to top production with my with my
traditional beef and lamp beef and lamb beef and sheep unit?
Speaker 3 (09:12):
You know, does it? Can it sort of give me
that sort of guide on what to how to consider
those options?
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Look, I think it'll give you a good a good
lot of that information. I haven't actually asked it about
potatoes myself, but I guess the other point is that,
as I said earlier, this is Bella mark one, so
we're really looking for feedback from farmers to say, you know,
what's it missing, what's what's getting right, what's going wrong.
(09:39):
I know that befa name has a lot of financial
analysis through its economic service, and there's none of that
through financial data in Bella. But there is the opportunity
in the future to be incorporating you know, sort of
average performance and growth margins and that sort of information
into Bella so that farmers could actually start using it
to get pinch marks against average performance for certain farm classes.
(10:03):
So you know, it is the potential for this sort
of tool, I think is infinite, and it must.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Be across like staffing and HR issues where you know
you're going into a four to six week block where
the reality is the farm requires every team member to
work every possible hour.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
And then you go, well, how do I then.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Kind of relieve that pressure at the back end when
things aren't quite as busy. So every so the balance exists.
I mean, I guess that's the sort of because there'll
be people asking themselves, what am I doing the right
thing here? Do I do I send staff away on
extra leave or do I pay them you know, over
time or how to work it? You know, it must
because that must be create lots of dilemmas because of
(10:51):
the I guess, the fluctuation and the variation in times
when you're flat out on the farm and sometimes when
you're not.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
Yeah, as long as that resources within the beef and
land around the HR side of things, it does it
will bring out those And that's what Kate sort of
alluded to early was the induction document that it created
for us, and you know, that was a very very
good document around you know, ours worked and that sorte
of things to outline that and then and then the
(11:22):
provision of leave and that sort of thing. So it
does give you a really simple one pager just to go, okay, now,
I do need to actually think about this in those
busy you know, those busy periods where you are flat
out and it is important to try and give people
a bit of time out and then also be compliant
(11:43):
within the law as well, so that it is exactly
that sort of resource that's really and it is really
really simple. Years and then you can ask it a
follow up question to dig down into into your thought
process a little bit further so that you can you know,
refine your angered questioning or the information you want to
(12:03):
try and get out of Bellor as well.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Balla Mark one sounds incredibly competent and yet it's exciting,
as you say, Kate, that the input and the future.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
I mean, it seems like.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
The world is Bella's oyster in terms of what could
possibly be happening down the track now. In terms of
having input into Bella Mark one, I guess giving it
a crack and seeing what you get and then passing
on that information will be very helpful.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
Look, absolutely so, we want as many people as possible
to be trying all sorts of different questions on Bella.
There are so many resources, as you said, not just
on the practical farming, but on the health and safety
and the people at that side of things. There's so
many resources within Beefer land that are just not tapped
into enough by farmers. So you know, it's a trusted source.
(12:59):
What we wanted people to have a go and then
give us the feedback on what's gone well, what hasn't,
and how do we make Bella mark to even more useful.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Yeah, because this is this is information that Beef and
lamb Man's Head has been gathering and collating on farming
on farmers for generations.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
I mean, what are we looking at? One hundred million.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Dollars worth of past research being made available in its
initial form with Bella.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
I mean that's a hell of a lot. I doesn't know.
I mean there's lifetimes is you know, it's just quite.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
Remarkable, absolutely, And you know, there's no value in this research,
in the research as it's not actually getting into farm
of hands in an easy and simple way. So you know,
for me this.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Is the key.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
It unlocks so much value in a really simple and
news effect use a friendly way.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Yeah, I mean innovation is at the heart of what
Beef and lamb EN's does, especially how people learn and
improve their farms, the monitor farms, the action groups, online
learning modules, and now Balla's just the nice cream on
the top and you can make that cream and the
(14:16):
ice cream on the top and as as sweet as you.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Like, because the upside still it's still huge, isn't it. Well.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
I think what really excites me is, you know, this
was a reasonably simple project today. I mean, it's easy
for me to start with simple. The team works pretty
hard on it, and they've been incredibly credibly successful in
delivering it as quickly as they have. But the potential
for AI and what AI can unlock for us as
farmers in terms of utilizing the data that's available, now,
(14:46):
I'm really excited about that. So not just from the
Balla Mark two and subsequent releases, but actually what else
can AI do for us on farms?
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Yeah, I mean again, the scope must be absolutely massive.
What about how do you sort of engage? So the
answers can be read back? And Bella appears to be
fluent in quite a few languages, so and then answers
I guess can be copied and pasted into documents. How
(15:16):
do you sort of take advantage of what you're being
fed back?
Speaker 4 (15:20):
Bella will read an answer to you. You can talk
into Bella or you can type. Apparently she speaks every
language in the world. I only speak English, so I
can't testly such for that. But look, apparently she's fluent
in every language. So a whole lot of ways to engage.
But I mean I had my teenager on it the
(15:40):
other day and he was just a voice to text
into the tool. So you know, it's very I suppose,
adaptive and available for all different kinds of learners.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Yeah, yeah, fantastic, And it doesn't sound over complicated at all.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
It says, I like this.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Line where I've got in front of me, where Bella
is a digital heading dog, if information is digital sheep,
and it lets users decide how that info is mobbed
up or moved or shed it off or separated. The
power very much in the user's hands as to how
they want to tap into everything that.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
Is available from beef and lamb.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Sounds fantastic when I look at it like that, and
in a nice simple description like that.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
Yeah. Absolutely, I didn't come up with that description, but
ye're right. Bella is a great name. It's a good
name for a heading dog. I was quite keen on
Barbie myself, but I got out voted on that one.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Yeah, David, did you have any ideas for names for it?
Did you go with Were you Bella or were you
camp Barbie?
Speaker 3 (16:41):
Well, no, I wasn't.
Speaker 5 (16:42):
It wasn't proven to the naming naming choices around around Bella.
But you know, it is an incredibly simple toll to
you it's far simpler than you know, the old web
searchers where you ended up with a whole other pages
then to go look through to try and work out
what was what was true and what is not true? Know,
putting a question into bally, you get that one page
(17:04):
or a couple of pages of information back out to
you and it's you know where it's come from, and
it's very simple. Did you just and then move on
to your next question with I.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Know Kate will be around the table, so to speak,
with discussions about this. But David, what are you you know,
and I don't know, on the side of a footy
field or you know, at a social function somewhere.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Is it something that people are sort of.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Talked about you you're trying belly yet what if you
asked Bella, is that sort of getting some getting some
traction with.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
Our staff on farm? You have five young staff. We've
definitely had the conversation around that space. Haven't really hit
the conversation with had a few conversations for mates about it.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
Headership's landing time, so he actually hasn't left the farm
for a few weeks.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Yes, okay, now know fair enough? Fair enough? Yeah, you're
part of the world.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
You guess you're are you right in the middle of
landing a bit later to compared to some parts.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
I guess you know, we're just we're just kicking into it.
So we have been. Yes, it's probably busy, busy phase
from middle August through to crush at shows phases. Really
the the flat out phase for us right now with
some time critical tasks.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
Were dairy farming, so we go from carving to lemming
to be scarling.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Well you don't stop then your sackers for punishment, but
mind you now ballas come along. That should help help
a lot of things. And the young staff you talk
about the five you have on deck, are they are
they sort of profess to how much they like it
and how they're using it.
Speaker 5 (18:36):
Not really and but it's one of those ones where
they can just you can use it in the field,
jump on your phone and just ask ask Bella a question.
And the cadets, I know, they have tasks every every
week that they had to fill out for their politic
course and it's ideal for helping them with that side
of things. They can I know Scott, who looks my
(18:58):
farm manager, who works with some you know, instead of
coming to him, he can go right, you search up
Bell and then come with me with the thought process
and we can sort of talk about it rather than
coming and quizzing us all the time about it. They
can you know, it's really easy for them to jump
on and there's no excuse about having not been able
to type or spell. You can speak into it, which
(19:21):
is ideal for those of us that better with the
old spelling side of things, and you get great information
back out.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Well, Katon David, it's actually I find this has been
a fascinating conversation and these are early days yet, and
I think that it is going to grow exponentially. I
think Bell is going to become part of daily, daily discussion,
daily rhetoric, and no doubt there'll be a humorous side
to it, which is good, I think because that sort
of that sort of promotes the overall use as people
(19:51):
become more and more comfortable and tap into it. And
of course Bella gave you a good excuse to get
out of the Mount summers southerly today too, so.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Advantages all round.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
So thank you very much for your time, much appreciated,
and we will, without a doubt, I am sure be
talking about Bella Mark one and Bella going forward for
a long time to come and I just can't see
it in anything other than an incredibly positive light. So
thank you for your time.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Great last yet, thank you very much much. Cheers to
find Bella and see what this tool.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Can do to help you find the information you need
quickly that can help you on farm. Head to dub
dub dub Askbella dot co, dot inz it or have
the look on Beef and Lamb in z it on
social media.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Just get stuck into it. What a fabulous tool, Bella.
I think you're going to be wonderful.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
This has been this latest podcast with Beef and Lamb
in z powered by the Country
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Exploring ideas and innovation shaping the future of farming with
Heath and Lamb New Zealand powered by the countrym
Exploring ideas and innovation shaping the future of farming with
Beef and Lamb New Zealand powered by the Country.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hello and welcome to the fourth episode in a podcast
series that explores some of the innovations and ideas that
are shaping the future of farming, brought to you by
Beef and Lamb.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
New Zealand and powered by the Country.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I'm your host Tamers Mackay, and today I'm joined by
Kate Ackler.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
The chair of Beef and Lamb New.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Zealand had a husband, David Ackland, who run a sheep
and beef farm located at the beautiful Mount Summer's Area
in at Canterbury. Today's episode is focused on a new
tool available on the Beef and Lamb website. You may
have heard us talk about this previously, as we've covered
(00:53):
off a number of other topics Bella, which is a
new answer tool that is powered by AI.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Whole world of AI exciting times.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
So we're going to get into this and have a
bit of a general chit chat. I'm sitting in a
studio in Auckland often and I'm sitting in a studio
in Palmerston North or christ Church around the country, and
I think Kate and David, we're heading to your your lounge.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Is that right? You're together in the lounge at home?
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Hi? Hi, we are We were we were outside this morning,
but the southerly hits so it's not a bad excuse
to be sitting inside recording this.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Yeah. No, fair enough, fair enough? Right? Bella? Where where? Where?
Where has Bella come from? You know?
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Bella an answer tool powered by AI that works only
on the Beef and Lamb's knowledge hub info. And you know,
the descriptions are she is both focused and trustworthy, drawing
on all the information that exists in that knowledge hub.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
That is that? Is that a fair summation.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
Look, that's a pretty good, pretty good explanation of what
Bala does. So Bala is the Beef and Lamb assistant.
So a bit of a cheesy name there, but essentially
where it came about from is often, as you know,
I'm around the sit around the board table at Beef
and Lamb and we talk about the amazing resources that
we have on the website, and then we're talking millions
(02:27):
and millions of dollars worth of science has gone into
creating these resources over decades and it's so hard to
get them out of the website sometimes, you know how
it is. You'll go and you'll put a search in
and you'll end up with thirty seven different pages for
you to read or recommendations. And so the staff or
the team came to the board one day and said, hey, look,
(02:48):
we think we can use AI to do a really
cool thing for not much money and create a tool
that reads all of the resources on the Beef and
Land website and actually just answers your question using AI.
And you know, I think it was only about six
months ago they came to us with this suggestion and
they've created this amazing what we're calling Bella Virtual Assistant.
(03:10):
This is Bella Mark one. I understand there's a Mark
two will be even better.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
I like the name Beller. I think it just I
don't know whatever.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
It has a certain has a certain ring about it,
and I think it'll catch on. I think it'll be
just one of those things around around the traps where
we go ask Bella but getting answers. As you say,
there's this myriad and mountains of information available. But this
is very different from a search engine that locates the
(03:39):
information for you and then you've got to decipher it.
It actually gets in there and gets to the nitty
gritty and can give you an answer in a very
palatable form.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
Oh look, it's quite amazing. I mean there's four thy
six hundred separate resources on the Beef and Land website.
And you know, the other day we had a new
staff member starting and I'm trying to get better at
the HR tools. So I put into bellor create me
an induction checklist for a new shepherd, and you know,
it digested it, thought about it, and then produced me
(04:14):
it almost perfect checklist for our farm, using from seven
different sources. I think I put in an induction checklist
for a shepherd on a sheep and beef farm in Canterbury.
So it covered all of the HR things, you know
that the basic details you need from their tax numbers.
(04:35):
It covered a whole lot of health and safety checkpoints
that covered vehicle training licenses. Like honestly, if I'd sat
down and spent two hours writing it myself, I couldn't
have done a better job. So for me, you know,
I had thought it was just going to be all
around growing grass and feeding sheep, but actually there's a
whole lot of HR and health and safety tools as well.
So it was a bit of a light bulb moment
(04:56):
for me actually about how good this was.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Let's talk to the the full time farmer in the house, David.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Where do you see the advantages? What?
Speaker 2 (05:04):
How do you see yourself tapping into to balla? What
have you got a couple of questions off the top
of your head that on a sort of might pop
up in a weekly basis on the farm.
Speaker 5 (05:14):
Well, I really just I topped typed in and what's
the optimal time for planting looser in Foothills cannery? And
and you know that as Kate said, digested and then
put out, okay, you need to be thinking about it
now as into September, October and these and then it
gave me a step by step sort of programmed through
(05:36):
until till planting time. So that was a really simple question.
And then we've used it for you know, just reaffirming
sort of thought processes around Hoggitt lambing and just asking
questions around that and and and set stocking numbers and
that sort of thing. So no, it is, it is,
And you're just you're confident in the data and the
information because you know and that most of the and
(05:57):
all the data has been checked off that there those
documents that are held within the source material.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
And it didn't come out and say what you haven't
started already?
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Yeah you was a.
Speaker 5 (06:10):
Sort of sound to weave it, like I don't have
to admit that you know, you need you need to
stop procrastinating and get on with it. Yeah, no, it's
it's really good. And then we mentioned and I think
for for staff and young people got cadets on on
Farm and and it's a great resource for those those
people doing doing their doing their training and doing their
(06:30):
written written training work that they have to do through
their cadets ship as well, so that it takes over
from what we when I was at Lincoln, we had
the Farm Technical Manual and the Farm Budget manuals sort
of go to resources to wade through to get information
out of. And now you can do it and in
a matter of minutes.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yeah, okay, Well, what's a typical in your younger days
kind of question or information that you say you had
to find by wading through all sorts of the information.
What might a youngster today go need to find out?
You know, somebody is in the early days, even their
early years of on the farm and their training, what
(07:09):
what sort of questions might just pop to mind and answer.
Speaker 5 (07:14):
It could be as simple as what's the optimal making
weight for a you and for mating hobbits? Or what
are the optimal condition scores to target condition scores for
you over the year, and it would give you I
haven't done that question into it, but you'll get good
(07:34):
information out of it. It's that is sort of and
we've we've used it for we were looking at the
opportunities around leasing property the other day, and so we
use it for creating some of the base material the
resource that we then used for pulling that analysis together.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
Or another one we were having a conversation about whether
we grow a summer summer race a summer Breaska for
finishing lands or growing hobbits out on because it's not
than we've done before, and so you put the question
in there around what's the transition time, and it gave
a really good summary at the top around the transition time,
the optimal or minimum days you'd want to feed, the
(08:12):
growth rates you'd expect to achieve under optimal conditions for
those lands. So a really nice four bullet point summary
and then it went underneath into all the details of
how to grow it, how to transition onto that crop,
how to feed it, and what animal health issues to
look out for. So, you know, really good you could
be bouncing ideas around and then just really quickly and
(08:33):
easily get some good answers that are relevant for your farm.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Yeah, So if I've got a northern manor or two
farm with reasonably good growing degrees days to use the
old parlance, and I've got the local potato boys coming
to me desperate to take forty hectares or and and
I'm thinking, well, you know.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
What's that? You know, that's that's that's cash flow.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
It's giving the land a break in some sense, but
also sucking a lot out of it another sense.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
What's it look like?
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Can I ask beller and say, you know, how long
will that paddic be out of the loop?
Speaker 3 (09:03):
When will I be able to.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Get back to to top production with my with my
traditional beef and lamp beef and lamb beef and sheep unit?
Speaker 3 (09:12):
You know, does it? Can it sort of give me
that sort of guide on what to how to consider
those options?
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Look, I think it'll give you a good a good
lot of that information. I haven't actually asked it about
potatoes myself, but I guess the other point is that,
as I said earlier, this is Bella mark one, so
we're really looking for feedback from farmers to say, you know,
what's it missing, what's what's getting right, what's going wrong.
(09:39):
I know that befa name has a lot of financial
analysis through its economic service, and there's none of that
through financial data in Bella. But there is the opportunity
in the future to be incorporating you know, sort of
average performance and growth margins and that sort of information
into Bella so that farmers could actually start using it
to get pinch marks against average performance for certain farm classes.
(10:03):
So you know, it is the potential for this sort
of tool, I think is infinite, and it must.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Be across like staffing and HR issues where you know
you're going into a four to six week block where
the reality is the farm requires every team member to
work every possible hour.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
And then you go, well, how do I then.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Kind of relieve that pressure at the back end when
things aren't quite as busy. So every so the balance exists.
I mean, I guess that's the sort of because there'll
be people asking themselves, what am I doing the right
thing here? Do I do I send staff away on
extra leave or do I pay them you know, over
time or how to work it? You know, it must
because that must be create lots of dilemmas because of
(10:51):
the I guess, the fluctuation and the variation in times
when you're flat out on the farm and sometimes when
you're not.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
Yeah, as long as that resources within the beef and
land around the HR side of things, it does it
will bring out those And that's what Kate sort of
alluded to early was the induction document that it created
for us, and you know, that was a very very
good document around you know, ours worked and that sorte
of things to outline that and then and then the
(11:22):
provision of leave and that sort of thing. So it
does give you a really simple one pager just to go, okay, now,
I do need to actually think about this in those
busy you know, those busy periods where you are flat
out and it is important to try and give people
a bit of time out and then also be compliant
(11:43):
within the law as well, so that it is exactly
that sort of resource that's really and it is really
really simple. Years and then you can ask it a
follow up question to dig down into into your thought
process a little bit further so that you can you know,
refine your angered questioning or the information you want to
(12:03):
try and get out of Bellor as well.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Balla Mark one sounds incredibly competent and yet it's exciting,
as you say, Kate, that the input and the future.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
I mean, it seems like.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
The world is Bella's oyster in terms of what could
possibly be happening down the track now. In terms of
having input into Bella Mark one, I guess giving it
a crack and seeing what you get and then passing
on that information will be very helpful.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
Look, absolutely so, we want as many people as possible
to be trying all sorts of different questions on Bella.
There are so many resources, as you said, not just
on the practical farming, but on the health and safety
and the people at that side of things. There's so
many resources within Beefer land that are just not tapped
into enough by farmers. So you know, it's a trusted source.
(12:59):
What we wanted people to have a go and then
give us the feedback on what's gone well, what hasn't,
and how do we make Bella mark to even more useful.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Yeah, because this is this is information that Beef and
lamb Man's Head has been gathering and collating on farming
on farmers for generations.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
I mean, what are we looking at? One hundred million.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Dollars worth of past research being made available in its
initial form with Bella.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
I mean that's a hell of a lot. I doesn't know.
I mean there's lifetimes is you know, it's just quite.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
Remarkable, absolutely, And you know, there's no value in this research,
in the research as it's not actually getting into farm
of hands in an easy and simple way. So you know,
for me this.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Is the key.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
It unlocks so much value in a really simple and
news effect use a friendly way.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Yeah, I mean innovation is at the heart of what
Beef and lamb EN's does, especially how people learn and
improve their farms, the monitor farms, the action groups, online
learning modules, and now Balla's just the nice cream on
the top and you can make that cream and the
(14:16):
ice cream on the top and as as sweet as you.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Like, because the upside still it's still huge, isn't it. Well.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
I think what really excites me is, you know, this
was a reasonably simple project today. I mean, it's easy
for me to start with simple. The team works pretty
hard on it, and they've been incredibly credibly successful in
delivering it as quickly as they have. But the potential
for AI and what AI can unlock for us as
farmers in terms of utilizing the data that's available, now,
(14:46):
I'm really excited about that. So not just from the
Balla Mark two and subsequent releases, but actually what else
can AI do for us on farms?
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Yeah, I mean again, the scope must be absolutely massive.
What about how do you sort of engage? So the
answers can be read back? And Bella appears to be
fluent in quite a few languages, so and then answers
I guess can be copied and pasted into documents. How
(15:16):
do you sort of take advantage of what you're being
fed back?
Speaker 4 (15:20):
Bella will read an answer to you. You can talk
into Bella or you can type. Apparently she speaks every
language in the world. I only speak English, so I
can't testly such for that. But look, apparently she's fluent
in every language. So a whole lot of ways to engage.
But I mean I had my teenager on it the
(15:40):
other day and he was just a voice to text
into the tool. So you know, it's very I suppose,
adaptive and available for all different kinds of learners.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Yeah, yeah, fantastic, And it doesn't sound over complicated at all.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
It says, I like this.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Line where I've got in front of me, where Bella
is a digital heading dog, if information is digital sheep,
and it lets users decide how that info is mobbed
up or moved or shed it off or separated. The
power very much in the user's hands as to how
they want to tap into everything that.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
Is available from beef and lamb.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Sounds fantastic when I look at it like that, and
in a nice simple description like that.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
Yeah. Absolutely, I didn't come up with that description, but
ye're right. Bella is a great name. It's a good
name for a heading dog. I was quite keen on
Barbie myself, but I got out voted on that one.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Yeah, David, did you have any ideas for names for it?
Did you go with Were you Bella or were you
camp Barbie?
Speaker 3 (16:41):
Well, no, I wasn't.
Speaker 5 (16:42):
It wasn't proven to the naming naming choices around around Bella.
But you know, it is an incredibly simple toll to
you it's far simpler than you know, the old web
searchers where you ended up with a whole other pages
then to go look through to try and work out
what was what was true and what is not true? Know,
putting a question into bally, you get that one page
(17:04):
or a couple of pages of information back out to
you and it's you know where it's come from, and
it's very simple. Did you just and then move on
to your next question with I.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Know Kate will be around the table, so to speak,
with discussions about this. But David, what are you you know,
and I don't know, on the side of a footy
field or you know, at a social function somewhere.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Is it something that people are sort of.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Talked about you you're trying belly yet what if you
asked Bella, is that sort of getting some getting some
traction with.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
Our staff on farm? You have five young staff. We've
definitely had the conversation around that space. Haven't really hit
the conversation with had a few conversations for mates about it.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
Headership's landing time, so he actually hasn't left the farm
for a few weeks.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Yes, okay, now know fair enough? Fair enough? Yeah, you're
part of the world.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
You guess you're are you right in the middle of
landing a bit later to compared to some parts.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
I guess you know, we're just we're just kicking into it.
So we have been. Yes, it's probably busy, busy phase
from middle August through to crush at shows phases. Really
the the flat out phase for us right now with
some time critical tasks.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
Were dairy farming, so we go from carving to lemming
to be scarling.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Well you don't stop then your sackers for punishment, but
mind you now ballas come along. That should help help
a lot of things. And the young staff you talk
about the five you have on deck, are they are
they sort of profess to how much they like it
and how they're using it.
Speaker 5 (18:36):
Not really and but it's one of those ones where
they can just you can use it in the field,
jump on your phone and just ask ask Bella a question.
And the cadets, I know, they have tasks every every
week that they had to fill out for their politic
course and it's ideal for helping them with that side
of things. They can I know Scott, who looks my
(18:58):
farm manager, who works with some you know, instead of
coming to him, he can go right, you search up
Bell and then come with me with the thought process
and we can sort of talk about it rather than
coming and quizzing us all the time about it. They
can you know, it's really easy for them to jump
on and there's no excuse about having not been able
to type or spell. You can speak into it, which
(19:21):
is ideal for those of us that better with the
old spelling side of things, and you get great information
back out.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Well, Katon David, it's actually I find this has been
a fascinating conversation and these are early days yet, and
I think that it is going to grow exponentially. I
think Bell is going to become part of daily, daily discussion,
daily rhetoric, and no doubt there'll be a humorous side
to it, which is good, I think because that sort
of that sort of promotes the overall use as people
(19:51):
become more and more comfortable and tap into it. And
of course Bella gave you a good excuse to get
out of the Mount summers southerly today too, so.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Advantages all round.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
So thank you very much for your time, much appreciated,
and we will, without a doubt, I am sure be
talking about Bella Mark one and Bella going forward for
a long time to come and I just can't see
it in anything other than an incredibly positive light. So
thank you for your time.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Great last yet, thank you very much much. Cheers to
find Bella and see what this tool.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Can do to help you find the information you need
quickly that can help you on farm. Head to dub
dub dub Askbella dot co, dot inz it or have
the look on Beef and Lamb in z it on
social media.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Just get stuck into it. What a fabulous tool, Bella.
I think you're going to be wonderful.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
This has been this latest podcast with Beef and Lamb
in z powered by the Country
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Exploring ideas and innovation shaping the future of farming with
Heath and Lamb New Zealand powered by the countrym
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