Anthony Shepherd first saw value in Electronic Identification (eID) ear tags 12 years ago when he bought his first lot for $25 each. Since then he has begun Sheep Matters, an independent sheep advisory business, servicing clients across Australia using a range of technologies to achieve the most productive flock possible.
He likens flock management to employing people.
“In a business, consider who are the efficient employees and who are the lazy ones. What qualities do you want to have your farm business resume?” he said.
Mr Shepherd works with growers to identify their breeding objectives including ewe reproduction, lamb survival, growth rates, yield and quality and often finds most customers don’t initially know what they want.
“We help growers find out which animals are costing them money, and which ones are making it. You can rank the traits and then combine them to create a whole breeding index,” he explained.
“The more traits you want, the slower it will be.”
BCG’s Livestock and Farming Systems Officer, Alison Frischke explains that at present the demand for lamb is high, but only two thirds of Australia’s ewe base are productive.
“eID is now compulsory in Victoria. We want to give local growers the chance to see the potential for this technology to help measure and manage production and target key profit drivers. In doing so they can confidently make management changes that will pay off,” she highlighted.
Mr Shepherd grew up on a sheep and cattle farm, west of Crookwell in NSW. He obtained an Animal Science degree at the University of New England, Armidale, and his experience includes running a mobile crutching business, working for CSIRO to developing new products in conjunction with the APVMA, and now running his own sheep farm and operating his consulting business, Sheep Matters.
Mr Shepherd says the challenges of adopting eID technology can be overcome.
“It’s easy to use with some assistance but one of the challenges is farmers are time poor and they generally don’t want to spend time on something that doesn’t return them any value,” he explained.
“We try to make sure all the data collected is used – there’s no point in collecting it otherwise.”
Thanks to Meat & Livestock Australia, local sheep producers can hear from Mr Shepherd in three information sessions at the BCG Main Field Day on Wednesday 12 September at the BCG main research site, Narraport.
Mr Shepherd will be speaking at three sessions; ‘Lamb survival: more lambs with fewer ewes’; ‘Tracking the ewe, her lamb and the dollar’ and ‘Sheep demonstration: eID, automatic drafting and managing mobs efficiently’.
He looks forward to discussing the opportunities with attendees at the field day.
“I want people to respond to what I say, feedback is always welcome,” he added.
The BCG Main Field Day is on Wednesday September 12 at the BCG main research site at Narraport, on the Nullawil-Birchip Rd. For more information about the event visit www.bcg.org.au/events or phone 03 5492 2787.
