Sale O' - a big fortnight of ram sales

Welcome to our new subscribers this week and welcome back to our loyal followers. I've been mainly off the road this last fortnight, which has provided the opportunity to work the early mornings and late nights while getting plenty of family time with kids at running races, dance concerts and football tournaments.

Meanwhile, things have been hectic in Australia with a big fortnight of ram sales and clients from all corners keen to both sell and purchase their genetics for the year. We'll get Henry to provide a summary of the sales once the dust has settled on the 2024 selling season in Australia. It's fair to say it has been a mixed bag with some sales keeping up their previous momentum and others more reflective of the mood and trading conditions across the sheep industry at present. Of course, the Aussie sale season will stop just in time for things to start kicking off in New Zealand. There is rarely a dull moment in a trans-Tasman genetics business!

One of my great pleasures is being on the board and judging panel of the Zanda McDonald Award. This award is in honour of an industry visionary and innovator. Each year we look for an individual in both Australia and New Zealand destined for great things in agriculture who could benefit from the support and mentoring that the award offers. Award applications have just opened up, so if you or someone you know is under 35 and already making a difference, check out the award website and throw your hat in the ring.

In the last couple of weeks, I've presented two quite different webinars. I ran a webinar on the genetics of fibre goats on behalf of our AgriFutures project. The recording of that webinar is now on the Gateway - you can check it out here. I also did a webinar on Cattle, Complexity and Change for the Productivity and Profitability Series produced by MLA and Agrista - you can find it here.

This fortnight on Head Shepherd, we've spoken with veterinarian, Enoch Bergman, who originally hails from the US and now calls Esperance, Western Australia home and Robert Peacock from Orari Gorge Station in South Canterbury, New Zealand. Enoch is passionate about boosting heifer performance and the use of fixed-time artificial insemination in commercial breeding programmes. Robert shares how and why Orari Gorge has bred for worm resistance, along with being early movers to measure feed efficiency and methane emissions, demonstrating the role of genetics in addressing current farming challenges. You'll find these episodes - and more - here.

We have notched up another couple of articles on The Hub. Sophie addresses why resilience isn't always enough and what we can do to keep our lives moving in a direction that reflects what matters most to us. While I have drilled into the what, where and why of metabolism, muscling and marbling - thinking about the evolution of energy systems, muscle tissue types and intramuscular fat (IMF) - and how our breeding decisions can give us the best of both worlds, higher muscling and higher IMF.

As mentioned in the previous newsletter, we were fortunate to be joined again by Ken Solly to discuss on-farm profitability and the cost of production for this month's Hub LIVE. You'll find the recording and a raft of other resources to explore here.

Onwards and upwards,

Ferg and the team at neXtgen Agri