On this week's episode, Tim Gole shares how sheep farmers can increase their profits by shifting from responding to problems to preventing them in the first place.

Tim runs ForFlocksSake, a vet-based sheep consultancy company. After a lightbulb moment during the drought, Tim became a self-confessed sheep fanatic.

With both Tim and Mark clearly in their element, they spend nearly an hour talking all things sheep. They discuss lifetime ewe programs, scanning strategies, the use of genetics to make production easier and more profitable, and the benefits and drawbacks of EID. They also cover reproductive efficiency, worm control lessons and lots of other sheep-related topics.

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. 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

What do the genetics of tail length and the genetics of semen quality have in common? Not much, except that our guest, Marnie Hodge, Sheep Genetics Senior Development Officer, has researched them both.

Tail length is moderately to highly heritable, but in her research, Marnie found that measuring tail length in centimetres versus a scored system gives you far more accuracy and picks up significantly more genetic variation, which means faster rates of genetic gain if you're selecting for it.

But what's actually changing when tails get shorter? Are we dropping vertebrae or just shortening bones? And what about correlations with body structure? Marnie explains what we know, what we don't, and why we don't have a tail length breeding value quite yet.

On the opposite end of the scale, as with all reproduction traits, semen quality is lowly heritable. Marnie's research, "Heritability and Genetic Parameters for Semen Traits in Australian Sheep", showed that most of the variation in AI success wasn't down to motility, but more down to the variation in ewe management on each farm. So what does that mean for the establishment of a potential future breeding value? Marnie explains on the podcast.

Plus Marnie gives us some updates on what's coming from Sheep Genetics and the combined analysis.

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. 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

How simple rotations and tight feed management lift whole farm performance.

Mark chats with Bevan Ravenhill, WA General Manager for Lawson Angus WA, to talk about what really drives a productive grazing business. Bevan grew up on a dairy farm, and that early training in grass, rotation, and pressure has shaped the way he now runs sheep and beef across a mixed enterprise.

Bevan explains how a simple rotation, tight feed management and a focus on leaf stage have transformed grass utilisation on the farm. He talks through how their accelerated lambing system works in practice, why confinement feeding has become such a reliable tool, and how silage underpins the whole engine when feed becomes tight.

On the cattle side, Bevan shares the shift to moderate, efficient Angus cows and the lessons learnt from years of collecting real on-farm data. He digs into maternal efficiency, cow size, raw phenotypes and why consistency matters more than chasing extremes. They also cover spring calving, OptiWeigh and the role of pressure testing cattle rather than compensating for them.

Tune in to hear some great insights from someone who has spent a lifetime thinking about how to turn grass into kilograms.

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. 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