WEBVTT - The flock of the future: Using technology to optimise your sheep operation 0:00:06.480 --> 0:00:09.570 This is Seeds for Success, a show where we have 0:00:09.570 --> 0:00:12.570 a good yarn about Ag life with producers who are 0:00:12.570 --> 0:00:15.300 having a go. On the show, you'll hear from farmers 0:00:15.300 --> 0:00:18.480 in New South Wales who are out there battling the elements, 0:00:18.630 --> 0:00:22.440 making tough calls, and getting the job done. You'll get 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:24.750 a laugh out of some of their stories and also 0:00:24.750 --> 0:00:28.020 pick up some know- how along the way. I'm your host, 0:00:28.140 --> 0:00:35.850 Neroli Brennan. In our last episode, we introduced you to 0:00:35.850 --> 0:00:39.300 Anthony Shepherd as he spoke to us about his own 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:43.740 production system and how discipline in management and repeatability are 0:00:43.740 --> 0:00:47.880 his keys for success. In today's episode, we continue our 0:00:47.880 --> 0:00:51.510 conversation with Anthony as he begins by telling us how 0:00:51.510 --> 0:00:55.890 he knows he's running the right enterprise. Anthony shares how 0:00:55.890 --> 0:01:00.360 he overcomes the issues of identifying multiple bearing ewes that 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:04.530 don't raise both twins with some clever technology called Smart Shepard. 0:01:04.890 --> 0:01:08.459 As you'll hear Anthony explain, this technology allows him to 0:01:08.459 --> 0:01:13.140 identify the opportunities to improve his flock's fertility through removing 0:01:13.170 --> 0:01:18.330 the less productive ewes and chasing optimal performance. Local land 0:01:18.330 --> 0:01:22.170 services mixed farming advisor, Rohan Leach sat down with Anthony 0:01:22.410 --> 0:01:24.630 for this episode where they worked out that there's a 0:01:24.630 --> 0:01:27.899 difference between loving Merinos and admiring them. 0:01:31.709 --> 0:01:33.870 You're obviously a big Merino man and you love them. 0:01:34.080 --> 0:01:35.490 Just hold on the word love a bit. 0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:41.970 Admirer. Admirer. How do you know you've picked the right 0:01:41.970 --> 0:01:46.080 sheep enterprise? When considering the rise of Dorpers more recently, 0:01:46.230 --> 0:01:50.070 there's lots of first cross producers out there that will 0:01:50.070 --> 0:01:52.770 be first cross producers until they die. How do you 0:01:52.770 --> 0:01:54.600 know that Merinos are right for you? 0:01:54.750 --> 0:01:58.440 The first thing, and that's a great question, and I get asked that question by a lot of... 0:01:58.500 --> 0:02:01.980 What's the most profitable and I'll go, " The most profitable 0:02:02.340 --> 0:02:05.610 is the one that you enjoy most doing." If you go, " Right, 0:02:05.610 --> 0:02:07.830 I've got this Merino, why isn't everyone doing the Merino 0:02:07.830 --> 0:02:11.310 and what I'm doing?" And some people might try it, 0:02:11.400 --> 0:02:13.980 don't do well at it, because they don't enjoy it. We've 0:02:13.980 --> 0:02:17.370 got to enjoy stuff, right? Why get up? So I'll 0:02:17.370 --> 0:02:21.240 go back in 2019 and the height of the drought and 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:25.859 I'm running around and everyone's feeding animals. Sheep barley was at, I don't know, 0:02:26.190 --> 0:02:30.090 450 to 500 bucks a tonne or whatever, depending on 0:02:30.090 --> 0:02:33.270 carrier costs and all those things. And I'm looking at 0:02:33.270 --> 0:02:36.330 these first cross ewes. I've had a lot of clients 0:02:36.330 --> 0:02:38.790 with first cross ewes and shedding breeds, and there's a 0:02:38.790 --> 0:02:42.810 lot of 90 to 100 kilogram use out there, a heap. Now, 0:02:42.810 --> 0:02:46.740 if you talk about a DSC thing, to maintain that, they have 0:02:46.740 --> 0:02:50.850 a huge energy requirement every day. And so what's important 0:02:50.850 --> 0:02:54.840 to me is that also my average body weight here, 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:58.710 I know what it is, because I do data and there are 64. 0:02:58.710 --> 0:03:03.510 8 kilograms. And so as an example, they need around 0:03:03.510 --> 0:03:07.230 11 and a half megajoules of energy per day. One kilogram 0:03:07.230 --> 0:03:10.169 of barley will give you 10.8 megajoules of barley per day. 0:03:10.169 --> 0:03:13.860 So you can do the maths versus a 90 kilogram ewe as 0:03:13.860 --> 0:03:17.730 a dry sheep will need about 21 and a half megajoules 0:03:17.730 --> 0:03:20.820 per day, God forbid it lactating and rearing too. It 0:03:20.820 --> 0:03:24.900 turns into nearly 40 megajoules. And you divide that 10. 8 0:03:24.900 --> 0:03:28.410 available in one kilogram of barley into that 40 every 0:03:28.410 --> 0:03:32.310 day for maintenance, that's nearly four kilograms of barley, which 0:03:32.310 --> 0:03:34.560 physically they can't do. But if they were to do 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:37.650 that and they're on, you're running them on dirt, which 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:41.220 is what drought was to maintain that condition. If you 0:03:41.220 --> 0:03:43.530 think about, I'll be nice and say the barley was 0:03:43.530 --> 0:03:46.830 400 bucks a ton, that's 40 cents a kilogram, that's $1. 0:03:46.830 --> 0:03:51.840 60 a day on that ewe times 1000 ewes times 30 days, 0:03:51.990 --> 0:03:56.850 60 days, 90 days. That's a bill. I choose Merino 0:03:56.850 --> 0:03:59.760 because I enjoy it and there's a lot of challenges 0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:02.640 with Merinos they get a bad rep for being a bad mother. 0:04:03.810 --> 0:04:07.590 I'll argue strongly knowing what I know, I've been involved 0:04:07.590 --> 0:04:09.930 with a lot of research with the CSIRO in the 0:04:09.930 --> 0:04:11.790 early days and doing a lot of work and I 0:04:11.790 --> 0:04:15.870 was involved in new technologies. One, I helped develop the 0:04:15.870 --> 0:04:19.770 bio clip, which was the harvest removal of wool. I 0:04:19.770 --> 0:04:24.870 know that the marine AU, there's a huge diversion of proteins. 0:04:25.860 --> 0:04:28.050 And so as an industry, and we give a bad 0:04:28.050 --> 0:04:29.909 rep to the Merino, you've been a bad mother, we've 0:04:29.910 --> 0:04:32.880 actually selected for that in regard to the more we 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:35.190 select on wool because we can see it. We're telling 0:04:35.190 --> 0:04:38.460 genetically that all the protein from my loosen or whatever 0:04:38.460 --> 0:04:40.650 go into the wool chamber, not into repro. We haven't 0:04:40.650 --> 0:04:46.050 selected for repro. And so everyone says Merinos are bad mother, 0:04:46.589 --> 0:04:50.001 that's our fault. And I've got this huge fecundity 0:04:49.890 --> 0:04:52.289 going on in Merino sheep and I've aligned it with the 0:04:52.290 --> 0:04:56.910 right stud and I've got discipline. There's a thing called nutrition, 0:04:56.910 --> 0:05:01.470 there's a thing called animal health. And been not reactive, 0:05:01.470 --> 0:05:03.029 but preventing management with it. 0:05:03.390 --> 0:05:06.585 That maternal component that you've just mentioned there, it's probably 0:05:06.585 --> 0:05:08.610 a great segue. We did hint at it earlier in 0:05:08.610 --> 0:05:10.650 the podcast. But yeah, a big issue in the sheep 0:05:10.650 --> 0:05:13.469 industry at the moment is finding out the maternal pedigree 0:05:13.470 --> 0:05:17.219 in commercial flocks. So studs are probably able to justify 0:05:17.220 --> 0:05:21.540 the more expensive cost of genomics testing, but I believe 0:05:21.540 --> 0:05:23.880 you utilize a lower cost method. What is that? 0:05:24.150 --> 0:05:27.510 About five years ago I got involved with a system 0:05:28.290 --> 0:05:31.440 called Smart Shepherd, which is developed by a man called 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:34.560 Dave Rubie, who I'm now involved with in the Smart 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:39.150 Shepherd technology. What Smart Shepherd is, Bluetooth collars that go 0:05:39.150 --> 0:05:41.969 on the ewe and the lamb around lamb marking time. 0:05:41.970 --> 0:05:44.550 They're on 48 hours and what we do is pair 0:05:44.550 --> 0:05:48.839 the Bluetooth collar to the sheep's EID tag. So we 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:51.870 are mapping the Bluetooth address of the collar to the 0:05:51.870 --> 0:05:55.979 sheep's identification, so that belongs to that sheep while it's 0:05:55.980 --> 0:05:58.410 on the sheep. And we do that on both the 0:05:58.410 --> 0:06:01.349 ewe and the lamb. Then they've got the collar on 0:06:01.350 --> 0:06:04.739 for 48 to 72 hours depending on that age of 0:06:04.740 --> 0:06:07.680 the lamb I should say. And while it's on there, 0:06:08.010 --> 0:06:11.760 what's happening is the Bluetooth address on the lamb collar 0:06:12.420 --> 0:06:17.580 is being mapped to the ewe's collar and it's about repeatability 0:06:17.580 --> 0:06:20.940 and proximity of a Bluetooth address to a Bluetooth address. 0:06:21.510 --> 0:06:23.849 And so when we take them off after 48 hours, 0:06:23.850 --> 0:06:28.170 we will... A handheld device were developed with software program, 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:32.039 a web app in the handheld device and it does 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:35.219 the pairing up. It also will then read and turn 0:06:35.220 --> 0:06:38.820 off the collars. So it takes about, let's say we 0:06:38.820 --> 0:06:44.880 are putting on collars on 100 ewes and 140 lambs, that'll take about 0:06:44.880 --> 0:06:46.410 an hour and a half to do, to put them on. 0:06:46.800 --> 0:06:49.200 And I get myself and someone else to help me 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:51.870 to do that. And then 48 hours later I'll come 0:06:51.870 --> 0:06:53.580 back with a handheld. You get them in, we just 0:06:53.580 --> 0:06:57.180 got to unclip the collars. That it'll take, I don't know, half an 0:06:57.180 --> 0:07:00.060 hour to take them off. And while we're taking them off, 0:07:00.060 --> 0:07:03.720 this handheld device will read the data and turn off 0:07:03.720 --> 0:07:07.200 the collars remotely. Then once I've read them all, time 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:11.250 we've taken off the collars, they're pretty much read, that information, 0:07:11.250 --> 0:07:13.680 I will submit it. We've got a server in Armidale 0:07:14.310 --> 0:07:17.070 in the New England and New South Wales, and we 0:07:17.070 --> 0:07:21.150 will have pedigree within 10 minutes of it being submitted. 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:26.880 And so basically the collar's gone on today and 50 hours later, 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:29.760 because time you take them off and read them, they'll 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:32.490 have pedigree on those animals. And there's a cost of $ 0:07:32.490 --> 0:07:36.150 4 an animal, successful pedigree. Anything that doesn't get pedigree, 0:07:36.150 --> 0:07:38.910 there's no charge on that. And we will always get 0:07:38.910 --> 0:07:41.820 sheep that won't have pedigree. And at the end of 0:07:41.820 --> 0:07:44.640 the day, we're identifying ewes that are good maternal ewe, 0:07:45.300 --> 0:07:47.640 and where they're in their environment of which ones are 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:51.210 rearing twin or single or triplet, or if there's a 0:07:51.210 --> 0:07:53.369 ewe there that's not a good maternal mum and we 0:07:53.370 --> 0:07:56.310 don't get enough repeatability and proximity of the lamb to 0:07:56.310 --> 0:07:59.670 the ewe. We can't give that. We can't guarantee that. 0:07:59.700 --> 0:08:02.220 And so the reason might be she might have a 0:08:02.220 --> 0:08:05.610 little fatty udder, she mightn't have an udder. It could be 0:08:05.610 --> 0:08:08.730 a twin lamb that's a runt and it's the more dominant 0:08:08.730 --> 0:08:10.680 of the two twins that is taking all the milk 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:12.990 and the other one's been left behind. There's lots of reasons. 0:08:13.500 --> 0:08:17.400 And so people say, "Is it as accurate as DNA?" DNA, 0:08:17.460 --> 0:08:20.910 you'll get the real genomic mother and the genomic lamb 0:08:20.910 --> 0:08:24.810 to the mother. It's either more accurate or less accurate. Why 0:08:24.810 --> 0:08:29.400 I'm saying that is we will, the maternal ewe, we've had lots 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:31.920 of time, we've done the DNA, we'll pick up another 0:08:31.920 --> 0:08:36.390 lamb because the actual true mother to the lamb, the 0:08:36.390 --> 0:08:39.150 DNA lamb isn't a good maternal mother. So that lamb 0:08:39.150 --> 0:08:41.280 is going to find other milk from another ewe that 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:44.850 allows it to drink its milk. So we're actually identifying 0:08:44.850 --> 0:08:48.330 better maternal ewes. And with the report we're getting this, 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:50.940 let's call it a relationship number. And so at the 0:08:50.940 --> 0:08:54.720 end of the day, that relationship number, the higher the number, 0:08:54.809 --> 0:08:57.330 the more times of the lamb spent near the ewe 0:08:57.480 --> 0:09:01.020 while the collars were on. And we're using that, it's early days, 0:09:01.020 --> 0:09:02.640 but we're looking at that number to see if that 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:06.270 relates to the bigger the number, is that a better 0:09:06.270 --> 0:09:09.870 maternal ewe? Also at lamb marking, I get a lamb marking weight, 0:09:09.990 --> 0:09:12.750 I've got lamb weigh boxes we've developed and they just drop 0:09:12.750 --> 0:09:14.550 out of the cradle and we get that first weight, 0:09:14.550 --> 0:09:16.890 they've got an EID tag and we get a weight 0:09:16.890 --> 0:09:19.110 and we've got their first weight at lamb marking. Then I 0:09:19.110 --> 0:09:22.110 get a weight at weaning, so therefore I have two weights, 0:09:22.110 --> 0:09:24.300 one at lamb marking, one at weaning. I've actually got weight 0:09:24.300 --> 0:09:26.970 gain while they're on their mother. And so does that 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:30.300 relationship number relate to weight gain because they're spending more 0:09:30.300 --> 0:09:33.240 time with mothers sucking on milk? We'll see, I think 0:09:33.300 --> 0:09:35.219 I have a feeling in my waters about it. 0:09:35.220 --> 0:09:38.640 And that would give you really good data on, well, 0:09:38.700 --> 0:09:41.460 if you were a stud for example, really good data 0:09:41.460 --> 0:09:43.230 on the actual milk production. 0:09:43.230 --> 0:09:46.890 Yeah, on the maternal aspect of that ewe, right? It's 0:09:46.890 --> 0:09:49.319 all right to wean more lambs that do weight gain, 0:09:49.500 --> 0:09:49.800 isn't it? 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:56.429 Right. That's the goal. So practically, apart from people who are maybe 0:09:56.429 --> 0:09:59.280 a bit obsessed with this thing, as I'm picking up here, this 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:05.730 solves that problem for twin bearing mobs that they were 0:10:05.730 --> 0:10:07.949 scanned as a twin, but you don't know whether they've 0:10:07.950 --> 0:10:08.731 actually raised both of those lambs. 0:10:08.731 --> 0:10:13.260 Oh, that's a big fault of the industry. People that do one thing, preg scan, 0:10:13.290 --> 0:10:15.059 I don't know what the stats are on that, how 0:10:15.059 --> 0:10:18.059 many in industry preg scan versus not. I'm not sure, 0:10:18.059 --> 0:10:19.890 but I think it's about 50 or 60%. 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:20.400 Okay. 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:21.810 And doing multiples with that. 0:10:21.870 --> 0:10:25.200 I think that goes back down to about 20 to 30% of those. 0:10:25.500 --> 0:10:29.760 So let's say 30%, be nice. So that is 30% of industry that does 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:33.240 multiple scanning and all the twins are put out together. 0:10:33.300 --> 0:10:35.520 Let's say there's 100 twin ewes going with paddock, how 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:38.670 many lambs, especially in a Merino mob, how many lambs 0:10:38.670 --> 0:10:42.000 marked out of that? And you wouldn't get much arguments about, 0:10:42.330 --> 0:10:47.700 around that 130 lambs potentially. So to me the potential 0:10:47.700 --> 0:10:51.420 to actual, you've got 70 potential lambs that didn't make 0:10:51.420 --> 0:10:55.290 it through that lambing. That to me is opportunity about how 0:10:55.290 --> 0:10:57.630 do we do that? And I can tell you now, and 0:10:57.630 --> 0:11:01.110 I did all the stuff with the EID and I don't do it anymore 0:11:01.110 --> 0:11:03.870 because I know that the repeatability in a ewe without 0:11:03.870 --> 0:11:07.979 an udder at lamb marking every second year, they'll not have 0:11:07.980 --> 0:11:11.309 an udder at lamb marking. I've got big numbers around big 0:11:11.309 --> 0:11:13.530 commercial producers that we've got year- on- year- on- year 0:11:13.530 --> 0:11:18.150 information on that. That's reality. And so sleep straight in 0:11:18.150 --> 0:11:20.370 bed at night by getting rid of the ewe without 0:11:20.370 --> 0:11:24.179 the udder at lamb marking, they are a bad employee for 0:11:24.179 --> 0:11:27.150 the business. They are cost of production for the business. 0:11:27.510 --> 0:11:30.750 They're the reason why people lose money. They're the most 0:11:30.750 --> 0:11:34.079 expensive ewe on the farm because of all the costs 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:36.630 that have gone into that ewe and at lamb markings, 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:37.920 she's given you the bird. 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:42.000 So we've got all this complex technology and methods to 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:46.110 solve these problems that we've got, but it gets back 0:11:46.110 --> 0:11:47.970 to what we were talking about earlier of just those 0:11:47.970 --> 0:11:51.720 fundamental wet and drying, scanning, all of the basic best 0:11:51.720 --> 0:11:52.260 management practice. 0:11:52.260 --> 0:11:56.790 Identify the pregnant ewe, right? Preg scanning and then lamb marking, 0:11:56.790 --> 0:12:01.170 which you've identified that, you've classed it, and then identify 0:12:01.410 --> 0:12:04.410 the one that has not borne you a dividend. And 0:12:04.410 --> 0:12:06.929 so in a Merino world, there's still a value of 0:12:06.929 --> 0:12:09.630 the wool, but my goodness me, in a first cross 0:12:09.630 --> 0:12:12.630 or a shedding breed, what else should they do? They 0:12:12.630 --> 0:12:15.510 should get pregnant and they should rear lamb. What else 0:12:15.510 --> 0:12:18.660 are they there for? So I'll go another way. Can 0:12:18.660 --> 0:12:21.120 you imagine in a dairy, if a cow didn't have 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:22.951 an udder, what would happen to it? Right? 0:12:22.951 --> 0:12:25.920 Yeah. It's the finest burger patties you've ever seen. 0:12:26.970 --> 0:12:28.770 So what's the difference with a shedding breed or a 0:12:28.770 --> 0:12:32.220 first cross sheep? And I get lamb markings, I understand 0:12:32.220 --> 0:12:35.729 it's busy, but if you, on average with anyone, we're 0:12:35.730 --> 0:12:39.360 doing this checking udders at lamb marking and I'm taking out 0:12:39.360 --> 0:12:42.030 between five and 8% of ewes. The people haven't done it. 0:12:42.750 --> 0:12:46.350 Up to 20%, but there's a lot of that 8% to 12%, 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:49.319 a lot in that space we have to put on 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:51.870 another person. Well, you're paying someone 300 bucks a day 0:12:51.870 --> 0:12:55.230 and they're taking out ewes, let's say, I'll be nice, 0:12:55.230 --> 0:12:59.640 let's say there's 8% ewes out of 100, so you take out eight ewes. Today, 0:12:59.640 --> 0:13:03.330 they're worth 150 bucks. Does that pay for that person 0:13:03.330 --> 0:13:06.030 doing the wet and drying? Maybe. And maybe then you 0:13:06.030 --> 0:13:08.790 haven't got those animals that are going to cost you money again in 0:13:08.790 --> 0:13:11.100 year two and three and four by not getting pregnant 0:13:11.250 --> 0:13:11.821 and not rearing lamb. 0:13:11.821 --> 0:13:15.059 Yeah, the results are repeatable and cumulative. 0:13:15.120 --> 0:13:18.929 Absolutely. And therefore the accuracy goes up about what we're 0:13:18.929 --> 0:13:20.069 getting down the track. 0:13:20.220 --> 0:13:22.589 Well, and you've proved it in the fact that you've 0:13:23.100 --> 0:13:24.840 started with someone's culls. 0:13:24.929 --> 0:13:26.130 Fore grower's culls. 0:13:26.910 --> 0:13:30.120 So you've taken them from in those first few years, 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:33.750 what were your scanning weaning rates to use joints? 0:13:34.110 --> 0:13:38.880 Weaning rate in those first three years? 69, 72 and 71%. 0:13:39.090 --> 0:13:39.600 And... 0:13:39.660 --> 0:13:40.410 Death Valley. 0:13:41.340 --> 0:13:44.490 You've brought them up to your 130 odd percent. 0:13:44.490 --> 0:13:46.020 Yep. Two years joined. 0:13:46.230 --> 0:13:47.640 In a number of 10 years? 0:13:47.670 --> 0:13:49.050 Yeah, seven years? 0:13:49.110 --> 0:13:49.320 Yep. 0:13:49.410 --> 0:13:52.890 So with discipline and reduction, and the big one is 0:13:53.130 --> 0:13:55.980 now I'm under 1% with no udders at land marking. 0:13:56.280 --> 0:14:00.690 I'm now at 90% getting pregnant in the first three weeks, 0:14:01.290 --> 0:14:05.010 and that is an objective. And also my oldest ewe 0:14:05.010 --> 0:14:07.199 is a five- year- old. So after weaning a lamb 0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:09.510 as a five- year- old, they are sold. And now 0:14:09.510 --> 0:14:12.600 I'm getting more bids for those ewes because they've learned 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:16.470 about here that those ewes have stayed on this place 0:14:16.470 --> 0:14:20.130 in the breeding program because they've ticked the boxes on pregnancy, 0:14:20.130 --> 0:14:24.630 rearing lamb year- on- year on year- on- year. And so those ewes, 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:28.800 they're a highly fecundate ewe. They're a five- year old and 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:30.960 people will join them to a terminal and they'll rear 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:34.080 lamb still as a 6- year- old and good wool, right? 0:14:34.410 --> 0:14:37.770 They ticked all the boxes so they are buying a second 0:14:37.770 --> 0:14:41.040 hand car with a full service record and knowing that 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:42.000 it's been looked after. 0:14:42.150 --> 0:14:44.220 Let us know when they next go up on Auctions Plus, 0:14:44.220 --> 0:14:44.520 would you? 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:46.170 Yeah, yeah. 0:14:46.170 --> 0:14:49.290 Mate, we've probably gone way over time, but I've had 0:14:49.290 --> 0:14:52.830 a cracker today. But just for my last couple of questions, 0:14:53.100 --> 0:14:55.320 what do you see as the big issue in Australian ag at 0:14:55.320 --> 0:14:55.710 the moment? 0:14:55.800 --> 0:14:57.690 Oh my goodness. How much time did you say we've got? 0:14:58.800 --> 0:14:59.460 We're over. 0:15:01.020 --> 0:15:03.930 We're way over. Well, the biggest in ag, the cost since COVID, 0:15:04.440 --> 0:15:07.140 the cost of production has gone through the roof and 0:15:07.140 --> 0:15:10.680 the inconsistency on the return on where the money goes 0:15:10.680 --> 0:15:13.500 in and the return on whatever the product is and 0:15:13.500 --> 0:15:17.220 people not understanding that ewe is a driver for the 0:15:17.220 --> 0:15:20.160 return on investment from the cost of production. Now we've 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:22.620 just got to get smarter with understanding that there's a 0:15:22.620 --> 0:15:25.230 whole range of increase in cost of production. There's a 0:15:25.230 --> 0:15:27.960 lot of that 150 to 250% increase in cost of 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:32.730 reduction on all aspects of running these farms and understanding 0:15:32.790 --> 0:15:35.850 what are the profit drivers, what are the low hanging 0:15:35.850 --> 0:15:39.990 fruit profit drivers in ag, relative to what is important 0:15:39.990 --> 0:15:40.860 to each producer? 0:15:41.010 --> 0:15:43.050 There's so much, I think the cost price squeeze- 0:15:43.050 --> 0:15:46.980 It's narrow. The last year when the lambs dropped off the... 0:15:47.070 --> 0:15:51.000 All sheep, all protein cattle, everything was off the cliff. 0:15:51.060 --> 0:15:52.530 And what happened to the cost of production at the 0:15:52.530 --> 0:15:56.340 same time? They crossed over and they parted ways. They 0:15:56.340 --> 0:15:59.700 were going the wrong way, both of them wrong. I would love 0:15:59.820 --> 0:16:02.700 consistency in being able to... Because I do a lot 0:16:02.700 --> 0:16:05.609 of benchmarking, a lot of growers on budget to actual 0:16:05.610 --> 0:16:09.270 work and also using AOD and doing the benchmarking. So we've got 0:16:09.270 --> 0:16:13.860 this whole... And understanding true costs and understanding the profit 0:16:13.860 --> 0:16:17.160 drivers and time well spent on those profit drivers. 0:16:17.490 --> 0:16:19.440 Is that a call for a quota? Maybe. 0:16:19.470 --> 0:16:28.920 I didn't say that. I did not say that. It just does me head in there. That same animal this time last year is worth, I don't know, three bucks 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:32.730 a kilogram and today it's worth $7 and $ 8 a kilogram. 0:16:33.330 --> 0:16:38.010 And these awesome producers are investing good money in good genetics, 0:16:38.010 --> 0:16:44.850 good pastures, clean pastures, good clean protein going through processes, wool, 0:16:44.850 --> 0:16:47.910 et cetera, and they're not getting paid for it. Maybe 0:16:47.910 --> 0:16:49.980 it's an onus on us as producers, not to be 0:16:49.980 --> 0:16:53.280 price takers, but actually makers. And so I've got a 0:16:53.280 --> 0:16:55.800 bunch of growers and we're in conversations about that now 0:16:55.800 --> 0:16:58.560 with end users on product. I mean we're sick of 0:16:58.560 --> 0:17:00.690 it at the end of the day, taking it. 0:17:01.650 --> 0:17:06.330 Yeah, that's a good one. And I think the power of collaboration and banding together- 0:17:06.990 --> 0:17:09.419 And we've got the power of the information on what our 0:17:09.420 --> 0:17:11.970 animals are doing and there's a value to that. Companies, 0:17:12.210 --> 0:17:15.990 the classic is Gundagai Lamb, paying for the right animal and 0:17:15.990 --> 0:17:20.100 it's the only probably someone buying animals offers or wool 0:17:20.100 --> 0:17:24.179 offers that is actually... Normally what we call a premium 0:17:24.180 --> 0:17:27.720 is reducing excuses to buyers to discount the wool or 0:17:27.720 --> 0:17:31.140 to discount the product or whatever it is. The Gundagai 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:33.540 one where actually if you meet all their criteria, they 0:17:33.540 --> 0:17:35.850 actually give you a bonus on top of the base. 0:17:35.970 --> 0:17:38.340 So that's actually, you might nearly call it a premium. 0:17:38.490 --> 0:17:40.770 And that's an incentive for me to be better, to 0:17:40.770 --> 0:17:43.020 do better, to get more into that bonus, to get 0:17:43.020 --> 0:17:44.939 more money because I'm doing better work. 0:17:45.300 --> 0:17:48.660 That might lead into my next and last question, what's 0:17:48.660 --> 0:17:50.760 the big win for ag in this use? 0:17:50.760 --> 0:17:54.689 Well, I think the big win is this area. So where we 0:17:54.690 --> 0:17:57.330 are now, what the big win for ag in Australia 0:17:57.330 --> 0:18:01.980 is that our export markets are growing. And so what 0:18:01.980 --> 0:18:06.030 countries overseas love about Australian product is all our animals 0:18:06.030 --> 0:18:07.770 are not running feedlots at the end of the day 0:18:07.770 --> 0:18:12.570 or the majority aren't. And countries importing our product like 0:18:12.570 --> 0:18:15.359 that and they love the story behind our animal, be 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:18.270 it the wool or the protein that they're buying. And 0:18:18.270 --> 0:18:20.459 that's a big strength for Australia and we've got to 0:18:20.460 --> 0:18:24.840 understand that because we're now exporting, we need to be 0:18:24.869 --> 0:18:27.660 more disciplined in making sure that our product stays that 0:18:27.660 --> 0:18:30.179 way because we've got a big advantage over a lot of 0:18:30.180 --> 0:18:32.699 other countries that don't have that and we need to 0:18:32.700 --> 0:18:36.960 keep it clean. And so understanding withholding periods and ESIs 0:18:36.990 --> 0:18:39.570 and exports, make sure we are good at our end 0:18:40.050 --> 0:18:42.240 so we continue to grow those exports. 0:18:42.510 --> 0:18:45.359 I think that you've talked about EID and it's just 0:18:45.359 --> 0:18:48.900 so important for market access that if you do nothing 0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:52.230 with EID, it's so important that we keep these diseases 0:18:52.230 --> 0:18:54.241 out and we're able to trace animals throughout their life. 0:18:54.241 --> 0:19:00.690 Yeah. And me, I just... And I'll finish on this. EID is becoming mandatory next 0:19:00.690 --> 0:19:03.659 year in the sheep on a federal basis. And it's 0:19:04.109 --> 0:19:07.350 introduced by each of the states are doing their own, how it's been introduced. 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:11.490 And there's a lot of criticism about the introduction of 0:19:11.670 --> 0:19:15.780 EID and it's been forced on industry. Remember this at 0:19:15.780 --> 0:19:17.580 the start that I was talking about I've got a 0:19:17.580 --> 0:19:20.730 lot of producers that been using EID for a long, commercial 0:19:20.730 --> 0:19:23.129 producers using EID for a long time when they haven't had to. 0:19:23.820 --> 0:19:27.930 And we're identifying productivity. So what we are doing is turning EID 0:19:28.350 --> 0:19:31.770 from a cost into an investment and everyone has an 0:19:31.770 --> 0:19:34.560 opportunity to actually go, " Well, maybe there is something we 0:19:34.560 --> 0:19:37.530 can use it for." And now people know what they 0:19:37.530 --> 0:19:41.340 know and they know which animals stay and which animals go. 0:19:41.580 --> 0:19:43.500 That's a great way to finish. Thanks Anthony. Thanks for 0:19:43.500 --> 0:19:44.040 your time today. 0:19:44.190 --> 0:19:45.810 Absolute pleasure, Rohan. Good on you. Thank you. 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:51.660 Thanks for listening. 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