Head Shepherd
Mark Ferguson from neXtgen Agri brings you the latest in livestock, genetics, innovation and technology. We focus on sheep and beef farming in Australia and New Zealand and the people doing great things in those industries.
Episodes
204 episodes
Sheep, Salt and Beer with David Thompson of Moojepin Foods
This week we have David Thompson of Moojepin Foods on the podcast. David talks about his career breeding trait-leading Merinos, how he is addressing salinity issues in Western Australia with the exploration of saltbush and halophyte agriculture...
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Season 2024
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Episode 203
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40:37
Future Trends in Lamb and Beef Markets: Expert Insights with Angus Gidley-Baird
Angus Gidley-Baird, Senior Analyst - Animal Proteins at Rabobank, joins us this week to share his expertise on the sheep and beef industries across Australia and New Zealand. Angus helps us understand market dynamics, global demand and the impa...
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Season 2024
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Episode 202
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41:02
How Genetic Strategies Can Solve Farming Problems with Robert Peacock
This week on the podcast, we’re chatting all things livestock breeding with Robert Peacock from Orari Gorge Station. Robert discusses how and why they’ve been breeding for worm resistance. They have also been one of the first to measure feed ef...
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Season 2024
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Episode 202
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41:11
Boosting Heifer Performance with Enoch Bergman’s AI Insights
Our guest this week is veterinarian Enoch Bergman. Originally from the USA, Enoch arrived in Australia in 2003. He fell in love with the people, the landscape and the agricultural innovation of Esperance, Western Australia and has been there ev...
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Season 2024
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Episode 201
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1:04:23
Our 200th Episode: Live from Lambex with Dawson Bradford
This week on the podcast we’re celebrating 200 episodes! We thought we’d make a special occasion of it so we recorded our podcast live at Lambex 2024 and who better to have on as a guest than Lambex founder, Dawson Bradford. Mark a...
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Season 2024
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Episode 200
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19:31
Navigating Change in Farming with Bill Webb of Merinotech
If you farm Merinos in Australia, it’s more than likely you will have heard of Merinotech. And if you’ve heard of Merinotech, it's likely that you know our fantastic guest this week, Bill Webb. For those that don’t know, Merinotech...
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29:36
Managing Triple Drench Resistance in Cattle
As you may have heard in the media recently, triple drench resistance in cattle is quickly becoming an issue for New Zealand farmers. This week on the podcast, we are joined by Dave Leathwick and Christian Sauerman from AgResearch....
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31:57
The Future of Meat Grading with Barbara Webster
Our guest on the podcast this week is Barbara Webster, co-founder of inMR. Barbara shares with Mark how inMR's Marbl™ technology uses nuclear magnetic resonance to measure intramuscular fat quickly, accurately and non-invasively, delivering a n...
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Season 2024
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33:40
Heat Stress: Impacts on Sheep Reproductive Performance with Dr William van Wettere
This week on the podcast we’re discussing heat stress during mating and pregnancy with Dr William van Wettere.Heat stress is classed as anything over 32°C, which can disrupt fertility in ewes, semen quality in rams and embryonic develop...
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Season 2024
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27:28
Resilience and Building a Sustainable Farm Business with Danielle England
Building resilience and achieving success in agriculture is an unpredictable challenge that involves continuous learning, upskilling, mentorship and adoption of innovative practices. In this episode, Mark chats with Danielle England, both a con...
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Season 2024
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38:23
Detecting Pregnancy in Cows at Day 16 with Agscent
How would you manage your cattle differently (or your sheep for that matter) if you could diagnose pregnancy at day 16? This week on the podcast, Mark chats with Bronwyn Darlington, a trailblazer in the field of disruptive innovati...
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Season 2024
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30:42
Real-Time Livestock Monitoring with Bill Mitchell of Optiweigh
This week on the podcast we have Bill Mitchell, co-founder of Optiweigh, discussing the Optiweigh system and its unexpected impacts on the farm businesses that are already using the technology. Optiweigh was founded 10 years ago by Bill...
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Season 2024
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31:24
The Benefits of EID in Commercial Sheep Farming with Richard Subtil
This week on the podcast we have Richard Subtil, from Omarama Station, a 12,000-hectare property in New Zealand's South Island. Over the last 26 years, Richard and his wife Annabelle have made incredible progress on the station, creating a sust...
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Season 2024
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38:55
The Science of Food with Dr Anneline Padayachee
As food producers, should we know more about the nutrition of the products we produce? This week on the podcast we have Dr Anneline Padayachee, a food and nutrition scientist. We dive into the fascinating world of carbs, proteins, micronutrient...
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Season 2024
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58:55
From Merinos to Marketplace Mogul with Dwain Duxson
What happens when a Merino sheep farmer turns into a digital marketplace mogul? Our guest this week, Dwain Duxson, founder of Farm Tender and The Farmers Club, shares how and why he switched career paths. While Dwain enjoyed his tim...
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Season 2024
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29:59
Mastering the Trifecta: Sheep, Beef and Dairy Management with Matt Iremonger
Join us this week and find out how Matt Iremonger manages multiple dairy, sheep and beef operations across 6,500 hectares in Canterbury, New Zealand. Matt shares the challenges and opportunities in such a diverse farming enterprise, as well as ...
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Season 2024
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39:24
Breeding Brahmans with Alf Collins of ALC Brahmans
Ever wondered what it takes to breed top-quality Brahmans? This week on the podcast we have Alf Collins, of ALC Brahmans, sharing how he and the team do just that with a disciplined approach to breeding and selection. Alf discusses the evolutio...
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Season 2024
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44:22
Reducing Drench Usage in Sheep with Nick Cotter
From direct organic lamb sales to a firewood business and developing algorithms for drench recommendations, the Cotter family pretty much do it all. This week we have Nick Cotter of Cotter Agritech on the podcast to chat about their far...
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Season 2024
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51:23
Building Futures in Agriculture with Nancy Crawshaw
This week on the podcast we have Nancy Crawshaw, Extension Manager for Angus Australia and winner of the New Zealand Zanda McDonald Award 2024.The conversation kicks off with Nancy’s reflections on the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle in her ...
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Season 2024
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36:17
The power of staying curious with Nigel Kerin
Nigel Kerin returns to the podcast this week to discuss profit drivers, decision rules, staying curious and the importance of science and technology in farming.Nigel has a great way of thinking about the business of farming and no decis...
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Season 2024
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1:02:05
The Future of Sheep: Preview of Lambex 2024 with Jason Schulz
Are you heading to Lambex this year? If you’re not already going, you’ll want to be there after listening to this week's podcast! Our guest this week is Jason Schulz, chair of Lambex. After a six-year break, Lambex is back and better than ever....
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Season 2024
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26:06
Irrigation Insights with Tessa Chartres
This week on the podcast we have one of the fantastic winners of the 2024 Zanda McDonald Award, Tessa Chartres, to discuss her career, how she manages her work-life balance and much more.Tessa grew up on a farm in Bathurst. She became a...
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Season 2024
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27:24
What is an estimated breeding value?
Breeding values are something we discuss a lot here at neXtgen Agri. We decided to do a podcast episode explaining exactly what they are and how they are ‘built’.Today, Daniel Brown, Principal Scientist at Animal Genetics and Breeding U...
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Season 2024
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32:40
How the Rumen Works with Rob Bell
Understanding the rumen is a key part of being a top-performing producer. While we might think of them as herbivores, Rob explains it’s a little more complex than that.“They're more what we'd call a ‘fermentivore’. What they actually di...
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Season 2024
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31:08
‘Animal science Down Under’ with Alan Bell
This week on the podcast we have Professor Emeritus of Animal Science at Cornell University, Alan Bell, discussing his recent paper ‘Animal science Down Under: a history of research, development and extension in support of Australia’s livestock...
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Season 2024
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32:53