This week on the podcast, we introduce our newest team member at neXtgen Agri, Phoebe Eckermann. Phoebe's journey into agriculture is anything but ordinary, from a city slicker in Adelaide to being captivated by livestock shows, to owning her first cattle, it's been non-stop.
Her deep love for animals led her to carve her niche in the beef industry and embark on an adventure with a herd of Limousin cattle. Phoebe's unique pathway into agriculture shows that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to entering this industry.
From her responsibilities within the company, to her plans for the future, Phoebe shares her story with enthusiasm and passion. Phoebe shares what her role will be within neXtgen Agri and how she will be helping our clients on the ground.
She has a deep understanding of the livestock industry and a commitment to quality; we look forward to having her on our team.
NEWS: Have you ever seen a fainting lamb? Have a look at the link below and see if you can help solve some answers for the ag industry!
https://www.sheepmetrix.com.au/blog/myotonia-congenita-fainting-lamb
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 introduce our newest team member at neXtgen Agri, Phoebe Eckermann. Phoebe's journey into agriculture is anything but ordinary, from a city slicker in Adelaide to being captivated by livestock shows, to owning her first cattle, it's been non-stop.
Her deep love for animals led her to carve her niche in the beef industry and embark on an adventure with a herd of Limousin cattle. Phoebe's unique pathway into agriculture shows that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to entering this industry.
From her responsibilities within the company, to her plans for the future, Phoebe shares her story with enthusiasm and passion. Phoebe shares what her role will be within neXtgen Agri and how she will be helping our clients on the ground.
She has a deep understanding of the livestock industry and a commitment to quality; we look forward to having her on our team.
NEWS: Have you ever seen a fainting lamb? Have a look at the link below and see if you can help solve some answers for the ag industry!
https://www.sheepmetrix.com.au/blog/myotonia-congenita-fainting-lamb
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
Welcome to the Head Shepherd podcast. I'm your host, mark Ferguson, ceo at Next Gen Agri International, where we help livestock managers to get the best out of their stock. I want to take this opportunity to thank our friends at MSD Animal Health in Orflex for sponsoring Head Shepherd again this season, and I'm also excited to introduce our mates at Heinegger as brand new sponsors of the show. Msd in Orflex, or perhaps better known as Cooper's Animal Health in Australia, offer one of New Zealand, australia's, largest livestock product portfolios, with a comprehensive suite of animal health and management products connected through identification, traceability and monitoring solutions. Like us, they see how the wealth and breadth of information born out of this podcast can help their men and their farming clients achieve their mission of the science of healthier animals. Heinegger will need a little introduction to our audience. A market leader and one-stop shop for wool harvesting and animal fibre removal, together with an expanding range of agricultural products and inputs, the Heinegger name is synonymous with quality, reliability and precision. The Heinegger team have a deep understanding of livestock agriculture, backed by Swiss engineering and a family business dedicated to manufacturing the best. It's fantastic to have both of these sponsors supporting us and bringing Head Shepherd to you each week and now it's time to get on with this week's episode.
Speaker 1:Welcome back to Head Shepherd. This week we're fortunate to have Phoebe Ekerman joining us. Phoebe is actually excitingly just joining the team. As most people will know, james Lyons has left the team to head home to the farm and we've conducted a search of mainly South Australia to find his replacement in a big shoes to fill. But we're really excited to have Phoebe Ekerman joining our team. As you'll hear in this podcast, phoebe came to Ag. She was a city girl in Adelaide, came to Ag through a heifer show, fell in love with Cattle and All Things Ag and has grown a career from there. You'll hear about that story when we welcome Phoebe on. So before we get underway, what's happening out there in the big world this week?
Speaker 2:Yes, we've got some interesting news to talk about. We have come across an article about something called Myotonia congenital, which is Fainting Lamb Syndrome. Sheet Matrix is actually looking to see if anyone has come across it before They've got a video, we'll put it up on the hub for you to have a look at. They're keen to hear from anyone who's experienced it in their flock. All information will remain confidential and they'd like to be able to DNA sample these lambs, but we'll put the video on the hub. Basically, the lambs are almost like the fainting goats thing they just seem to pass out and they're not quite sure what's causing it. So, yeah, if you've ever come across that during docking, leave us a message and yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I've watched the video and I obviously under a bit of stress. The muscles lock up as they do on a fainting goat and then they'll get up and walk away from that. So, sheet Matrix, sally Martin, there, if you will put the link in the show notes to find Sheet Matrix. Yeah, an interesting little phenomenon. I've never actually seen it live that I know of. But yeah, no, neither.
Speaker 2:I think this is why, like modern technology in the modern days, we can get all these people that have experienced one or two cases to try and figure out a mystery Exactly right, I will get underway with Phoebe's interview.
Speaker 1:Welcome, phoebe Eggerman, to Hedgeheverd.
Speaker 3:Thank you, so excited to be here.
Speaker 1:Excellent. So, phoebe, we're very pleased to have you joining the team in, well, the back few weeks of 2023, but 2024 being the first real year for you, which is awesome. Have you joined us in South Australia, obviously feeling those significant size boots from from Lindsay, but we're confident you're up to it. But, yeah, we might start with your backstory. I suppose how you ended up, sort of for Adelaide Kee to ended up in in agriculture.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yep, so that's right. I grew up in the suburbs of Adelaide. Always was an outdoorsy kid, liked being in nature, really liked animals, loved when the Royal Adelaide show would roll around each year and just love the livestock side of that would just go and watch, judging, have no idea what was going on, but just really loving everything that was going on there. Then when I was 13 I went along to the South Australian junior heifer expo and that's really where I found my passion for the beef industry. Yeah, just a city kid, and on the first day there I was handed a short horn heifer and they're like go leave this around the ring. And yeah, just gave me a lot of confidence and yeah, just loved the whole experience of Having that really about the animal at the start, just loving animals and being getting into the industry there and found a really good community of people there that supported me to enter the beef industry.
Speaker 3:And yeah, then each year went back and Just yeah, continued to develop my passion and Buried heifers from from people over the years and and eventually was, I think I just asked my parents oh, it'd be really cool to have my own heifer to take to the show. And yeah, they were like, oh okay, really interested there and At the time I was Connected with people in the limbers and breed, so that was the obvious choice of breed for me. I went along to a dispersal and came home with two cows and a calf at foot which I took to the heifer show the next year. So, yeah, that's where my Start, a room, alimors, and began and, yeah, good about me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, excellent. So, yeah, obviously, yeah, propious, surprise parents end up being cowboys, it's. But since then you've continued to develop a small start and obviously develop that passion and really, I guess, seen, I think, as we're chatting Before about how some of those early decisions you made around the cows report or whatever, might not have been. Now you know a bit more, you might have made different decisions, or I guess, yeah, as your knowledge is increased through through both uni and and just exposure to the industry, it's, I'm sure there's, I'm sure there's lots of things that you're continuing to learn.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, that's right. I went to the University of Adelaide and did a Bachelor of agricultural science and, yeah, that really opened my eyes to the science behind breeding and yeah, being able to use that to make better decisions. And yeah, it was had really supported parents as well, which was very helpful for getting into it. And yeah, just yeah, the passion really just continued to grow and yeah yes, and the.
Speaker 1:It's interesting when we were chatting all day and Adelaide the how keen your dad is on it on it these days. Obviously he's Wasn't wasn't the first thing he's he's done, but he's obviously 100% bored into into the gig now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, that's right. He actually did show Berkshire pigs with his dad when they were growing up. Now we've come sort of yeah, we were in. I was definitely inspired by that and Feel connected to my heritage and, yeah, just really have loved having data part of it too. And yeah, he's definitely full into the genetics and limbers and breed as well and it's great to be able to share it with him. Yeah, have someone to bounce ideas off of.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you were fortunate to get a trip to the US, I think, or US and Canada maybe, but the what was that about? And I guess, what did you see over there? What's it's a. That's the US is where beef gets, gets real, so he would have been a fantastic experience.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I was lucky enough to Win the SA junior have for expo herdsman prize and, yeah, that took me on a scholarship to the US and Canada. Got to see a lot of limousines over there, which was, yeah, my dream. Lots of big shows across the states, which was just a crazy. Whole different industry there they're showing industry and you, yeah, just really seeing how big their operations are in a lot of these operations, how they used genetics to make decisions was really inspiring and also how they really thought they told their story a lot better than I think we do in Australia of the rancher sort of thing and people really getting behind that. And yeah, it was just really eye-opening trip to see beef industry on such a large scale.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so somewhere in that few years you've sort of developed a bit of a passion for, I guess, encouraging others into the livestock industry. But I guess the beef industry has been your focus until we were going to get you over the dark zone working in shape. Yeah, but you've been running a beef central. We sort of are running a bit of a diary there and are looking to bring together stories of young people that have entered the industry and have them in released at Beef next year.
Speaker 3:Yeah, really excited to be Graham Acton-Menty this year and my project there is going to focus is focusing on attracting people to the beef industry and I think, going forward, we're going to have challenges that we need lots of different minds to help us overcome. So being able to attract a wide range of young people and just people in general to the beef industry is really what I'm aiming to do with that. And, yeah, if young people can't see it, they can't be it, and I think we can do a really good job of telling some great stories in the beef industry and particularly the pathways of how to get into these careers. So, yeah, I'm really excited to be showcasing the stories of people in a magazine that's going to launch at Beef Week in 2024 in May. So, yeah, it's really exciting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so tell us a little bit about that mentor program and what that looks like and sort of what it's role is.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's really about connecting young people in the beef industry with, expanding their network and developing leadership skills to be able to take them on in their careers in the beef industry. So we've been paired up with a mentor. So I've got Sam Noon from Gondwindi Each week. Each month we've had some check-in sessions with the whole group of mentees and then just having someone to talk to at any time has been really helpful for me and just to bounce ideas off of this project and just get advice on careers. I think some of the points that I've really taken away as well from the leadership aspects have just been really been learning about myself and our personalities, how you get along with the team and different communication styles and how knowing that can just help you understand others. Yeah, it's just been a really great program so far. I'm excited for the next few months and seeing my project really come to life.
Speaker 1:Excellent. So 2024 will bring some change to life with joining our crew. So obviously a bit of a baptism of fire into expanding into shape, but also looking to how to do it, obviously with your BAFE knowledge, to do a bit of work in South Australia with commercial stud-hurst. Hang on how that works out. But you've spent a couple of days with Londie and already got some boots on the ground and looking forward to catching up with the clients there in South Australia.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm really excited to be able to become a livestock consultant and really go into the learn and serve the sheep clients and just really excited about this opportunity and to be working in the southeast of South Australia, which is really the livestock hub of SA, and just be able to develop relationships down there. I'm really excited about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, cool, it's going to be great to have you on board. Yeah, looking forward to also get you over here to the other side of the pond at some stage and get you exposed to what's going on here as well. So, yeah, that's going to be a good year. We might wrap it up there. Is there anything else that we haven't covered?
Speaker 3:No, I think that's really that's the story and, yeah, really excited about this year ahead.
Speaker 1:Excellent, I hope people can find you at Phoebe at nextgenagrycom, phoebe being P-H-O-E-B-E, or you'll be on James' phone number as well, but yeah, you can find us through anywhere on next gen. But yeah, thanks very much for coming on this morning and looking forward to having you start next week.
Speaker 3:Thank you, we'll be forward to it too.
Speaker 1:Thanks again to our mates at Heinegaard, who are proud world leaders in the manufacturing and supply professional sheep shearing and clipping equipment. They understand that their customers rely on the quality and performance of their products each and every day. Also, thanks to our friends at MSD Animal Health in Orflix, they offer an extensive livestock portfolio focused on animal health and management, all backed up by exceptional service. Both of these companies are wonderful supporters of the Australian and New Zealand livestock industries and we thank them for sponsoring the HIPAA podcast.