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. To learn more about neXtgen Agri, visit www.nextgenagri.com.
Subscribe:.rss.atom.json.md.m3u.pls
Live Last read · last published · next check
Saves to your Listen queue, to pick up on another day or another device.
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…
What is a trait actually worth to a farming business? Ferg has spent much of his career talking about the value of genetics, but we haven't always been very good at putting that value into real dollar terms that apply to individual farm businesses. In this episode of Ferg's Thoughts, he explains how we're planning on working out the dollar value of genetic performance with the use of our new tool,…
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…
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…
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…
How do you actually pick which heifers to keep? For many, selecting the top ones is easy, but it's those middle ones that are hard to choose between. For this week's guest, Geoff Hayes, the answer is genomics. Geoff and his wife Belinda started their Angus stud just 5 years ago, but began their genomic journey early, not wanting to pick bulls on looks alone from the very beginning. "I was hesitant…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…