Head Shepherd

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 recognised consultancy. More recently, his focus has turned to new challenges facing NZ agriculture, including methane, meat and the future direction of livestock production.
In this episode, Pete chats with Mark about the people, ideas and turning points that drove decades of productivity gains. 
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

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 also cover the HF Plus gene and what it is doing for fertility and why better data is the only way forward if you want to increase your production. 

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

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, progress and disruption happening around the world. We're only as good as how we were yesterday, and every day we've got to improve."
Richard's recent travels gave him new insight into where the world and the red meat sector are going. He explains the concept of a hybrid consumer where some people are shopping for experiences and absolute luxury... And then there are the "normal" people who shop at the value end who still want quality, but want as much value within that as possible. And, as Richard explains, the "middle" has been completely hollowed out. 
"Commit to volume and efficiency, or commit to a genuine premium value proposition. Half-measures won't cut it." explains Richard. "If you're competing on a commodity, compete hard and be exceptional at it. If you're not, build a differentiated supply chain with genuine partners - offshore, in-market, and at the processing end."
He explains how the South American commodity powerhouses have been doing it well, by scaling their surpluses into global supply chains and manufacturing, and how we could take some lessons from them. 
Mark and Richard also cover Cultivate Ventures, the growth fund Richard chairs. Born partly from a goal he set himself, Richard realised money made in the industry wasn't going to flow to the farmers, it was going to flow to where the capital returns- aka the investors.. So they decided they had to invest in these disruptive businesses to ensure farmers got their share of the success. 
They finish the conversation discussing the relationship between physical challenge and business mindset. Richard is no stranger to an intense physical challenge. He has run the Kepler, one of New Zealand's great walks (that usually takes 3 days) in a day, and ridden the length of both islands by bike.
"If I'm challenging myself physically, it helps me be more positive about life..." he explains. "It just realises that you are as an individual capable of a lot more, and if you realise that, then it helps you drive your businesses to be capable of a lot more too."
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

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 includes Premier League-level turf production, free-range eggs and dairy beef finishing.
In this episode, George joins Mark to discuss the origins of the Meatlinc breed, the role performance recording has played in its development, and the current state of the UK sheep industry. They also discuss how a sheep breeding business evolved into one of the UK's leading turf producers and why the same principles of performance and continuous improvement underpin both enterprises.
George is also Chair of the Sheep Breeders Round Table and discusses this year's conference, where Mark will be a guest speaker.

UK Sheep Breeders Roundtable Conference 2026

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 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 recipient cows, based on the weaning weight of their calves relative to the kg of dry matter consumed by the cows. And, as predicted, the moderate-sized cow is far more efficient than the larger Angus X recipients. 
Joe also discusses the role of genomics in Wagyu breeding. As they are a breed with a very narrow gene pool and are bred for carcass-related attributes, genomics is incredibly important, and Joe utilises it to its fullest.
Tune in to learn how to turn grass into money - this time with cattle.

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