Head Shepherd

Looking to change your Merino genetics? What actually happens when you switch types? For our guest this week, Dom Hallam, it started with his parents.
Coming from a traditional fine wool background, they began looking for something different, eventually bringing sheep from New England into their flock. The change was rapid, and before long the sheep looked very different.
His parents' willingness to try something different eventually led them into breeding their own rams and establishing the Cooee Merino stud. Then, a few years ago, Dom came across a "type" of Merino that caught his attention when "browsing sheep on the internet", as one does.
Those sheep were Konsortium Merinos. Originally from South Africa, they have been bred in Australia to become a very fertile, wrinkle-free merino with great meat attributes. Dom travelled to see the sheep and decided he was bringing some home with him. Tune in to see how they've performed and how he's planning to cross them with his original flock. 
Before he returned to the family farm, Dom spent time in the US studying horse dentistry. What he learnt about skull structure and dentition has stayed with him, and he now considers those same principles when breeding sheep. He has some unique insights into issues such as undershot jaws. 
For Dom, the interesting part of breeding is that there is always another question to ask and another change to make. The best advice he learnt from his parents? "You can't change unless you change."
Ferg is out and about on the road over the coming weeks. Catch him at the following events: 
28 August – Precision, productivity and profit (workshop)
8 September – Pooginook Poll Merino open day
9 September – Mumblebone open day
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, Heiniger Australia and New Zealand, and ProWay Livestock Equipment. Please consider them when making product choices, as they are instrumental in enabling us to bring you this podcast each week.

Check out the MSD range HERE
Check out Allflex products HERE
Check out Heiniger's product range HERE
Check out ProWay's product range HERE

What is a trait actually worth to a farming business?
Ferg has spent much of his career talking about the value of genetics, but it hasn't always been easy to put that value into real dollar terms that apply to individual farming businesses.
In this episode, Ferg explains how we plan to work out the dollar value of genetic performance with the use of our new tool, neXtProfit. 
Ferg explains that it's not as simple as putting a price on an extra lamb or another kilogram of wool, because each change has a whole range of small on-farm impacts. For example, the extra feed and pasture consumed by that additional animal, and the flow-on effects on labour and farm management; or the extra chemical and labour required to manage a daggier animal. 
Tune in to hear how we're planning on helping farmers put a dollar value on genetic change. 
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, Heiniger Australia and New Zealand, and ProWay Livestock Equipment. Please consider them when making product choices, as they are instrumental in enabling us to bring you this podcast each week.

Check out the MSD range HERE
Check out Allflex products HERE
Check out Heiniger's product range HERE
Check out ProWay's product range HERE

What's the difference between a sheep that looks "right" and a sheep that breeds "right"? Jonno Hicks from Hannaton Poll Merinos and White Suffolks, reckons he's finally found the answer.
In this week's episode, Jonno talks through his shift from visual assessment to genomics and data-driven breeding, and why the first years weren't the easiest- despite employing a "guy in New Zealand he heard on a podcast". 
At Hannaton, they now record fleece attributes, carcass traits, structural traits and much more, and make the most of that data by using genomics and neXtgen Agri indices to balance progress across all of them. 
Tune in to hear a great yarn between two people who spend way too much time thinking about sheep genetics.
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, Heiniger Australia and New Zealand, and ProWay Livestock Equipment. Please consider them when making product choices, as they are instrumental in enabling us to bring you this podcast each week.

Check out the MSD range HERE
Check out Allflex products HERE
Check out Heiniger's product range HERE
Check out ProWay's product range HERE

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 would help lifetime foot health. Laura worked with equine vets to X-ray the internal structures of overgrown hooves pre- and post-trimming. She found the joint angles and bone rotation inside the lower hoof were significantly affected by hoof overgrowth.
There is growing evidence, that prolonged hoof overgrowth and changes to the weight bearing surface of the hoof can result in bony growths and distortion within the hoof, which increases the risk of having chronically lame animals.
As part of her PhD, Laura also developed a 5-point gait scoring system to help identify lameness earlier so that these long-term issues wouldn't occur. 
Initially, using the systems in place at the time, 81% of animals came back "normal". When she re-scored them using her scoring system that included an "uneven gait" category, only 36% were classified as "normal". 
This allowed animals to be identified before they were severely lame or overgrown and long-term issues were caused, and it also proves that a more detailed scoring system improves the precision of measurement.
Mark and Laura also discuss the role of hoof colour, white line separation, foot baths, and the genetic component to hoof conformation.
A great listen for any foot-health nerds out there! 
You can read Laura's thesis here:
https://mro.massey.ac.nz/items/d72eb0f2-8fa1-4516-9a1a-273a822b4d8e
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, Heiniger Australia and New Zealand, and ProWay Livestock Equipment. Please consider them when making product choices, as they are instrumental in enabling us to bring you this podcast each week.

Check out the MSD range HERE
Check out Allflex products HERE
Check out Heiniger's product range HERE
Check out ProWay's product range HERE

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 replacement. 
Tune in to hear Willy explain what the app does, as well as his newly appointed Operations & People Lead, Nic Blanchard. 
 Check out the app here:
https://www.theshearingboard.app/
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, Heiniger Australia and New Zealand, and ProWay Livestock Equipment. Please consider them when making product choices, as they are instrumental in enabling us to bring you this podcast each week.

Check out the MSD range HERE
Check out Allflex products HERE
Check out Heiniger's product range HERE
Check out ProWay's product range HERE