Matt Harding is a third generation ram breeder based in Warwickshire. He has changed from a higher input ram breeding approach to selling shearlings who have been raised on grass and forage. He breeds Suffolk rams, and also breeds rams for Innovis. Links mentioned: Link to Bentley Suffolks Link to Innovis Dr Liz Genever is a farmer, consultant and co-founder of Carbon Calling CIC. Dr Nerys Wright is a sheep consultant and technical lead for SCOPS. Podcast Disclaime...

Mark "Ferg" Ferguson is a consultant who works with sheep farmers and breeders in New Zealand and Australia. He is CEO of neXtgen Agri who runs consultants in most places with sheep in New Zealand and Australia. He was involved in the science behind Lifetime Wool, which was very influential in the development of Challenge Sheep - AHDB-funded project that Nerys and Liz worked on. We talk about how their Optiewe programme is being brought to the UK, with Nerys and Liz currently collecting...

Ben Strugnell is a vet with an obsession of learning as much as possible from dead animals. He runs Farm Post Mortems up in County Durham and also presents at various events around the country. This is a legacy from an EBLEX/AHDB funded project work with him over ten years ago. We talk about his findings and how he works with farmers to try and prevent further losses. He shares his frustration about the limited amount of applied research that is being funded in the UK at the moment. Lin...

Kevin Harrison is a farm manager on a sheep and arable farm near Bath. He spends time representing the UK sheep industry through the positions of Policy and Technical Chairman for the National Sheep Association (NSA), and Chairman of SCOPS - Sustainable Control of Parasite in Sheep. He is also a member of the Register of Sheep Advisers, and has been seen helping Jeremy on Clarkson's Farm! He is not a bad sax player either, and plays with the Harlem Rhythm Cats. We talk about how he has ...

Dr Awal Fuselini is AHDB's Halal sector senior manager and also a 2025 Nuffield Scholar. He shares his knowledge about the Halal market in the UK and in other countries. We discuss stun and non-stun options for Halal slaughterings, and also the importance of people understanding more about the production systems. Maybe not one to listen to if you, or someone who is listening with you, is of a sensitive disposition. Plus the first time we use our new standard question - "what is your first mem...

David and Cora Cooper are sheep farmers from Ayrshire. They have made significant changes to their system over the last few years to reduce costs and inputs. They are using mob grazing to drive nature recovery on their farm. In this podcast we talk about the changes they had made, the focus on low input sheep and their passion for regenerating their land. Dr Liz Genever is a farmer, consultant and co-founder of Carbon Calling CIC. Dr Nerys Wright is a sheep consultant and ...

Dave Cross is a mixed farmer in Norfolk with sheep, beef, arable and layers. He farms within a family partnership. He has been very strategic with the use of sustainable farming incentive (SFI) to transform their arable fields into lanes of herbal leys. He has been an AHDB monitor farm for the last four years. In this podcast we talk about the changes he has made to his farming systems in the last few years and his plans for the future. Nerys asks a question about beef, which is very ra...

Dr Suzanne Rowe is a geneticist at AgResearch in New Zealand, and is passionate about improving profitability and sustainability of global livestock systems using genomic technology. She presented at Sheep Breeders Round Table in November 2024 on breeding for methane reduction in sheep. In this podcast she talks about the work that is being done on collecting phenotypes for methane production in the New Zealand, plus work being done in Ireland and the UK. Links Presentation from S...

Dr Fiona Lovatt is a vet and consultant, and founder of Flock Health Limited. She has been heavily involved in reducing antibiotic use in the sheep sector. She is passionate about improving the relationship between farmers and their vets. In this podcast she talks about a project she did with NoBacz Navel - a non-antibiotic barrier. It was compared against iodine for treating navels in young lambs. They also compared dipping versus spraying, and looked at mortality and growth rates.&nbs...

Michael Blanche is a sheep and cattle farmer from Perth in Scotland. He is also the genius behind the Pasture Pod podcast. We talk about how he is trying to build lean management techniques into his daily habits to target his weaker areas - organisation and order!! He is passionate about low input systems and he talks us through the areas he focuses on and how he selects functional sheep. We also cover covert filming in Travelodges, grazing groups, regenerative ag, anti-farmer ...

Katie Evans is a sheep and beef farmer from Norfolk. She was sponsored to attended the Global Sheep Forum's Next Gen programme and has recently returned from a trip to Australia. We talked through the best bits of the trip and also a bit about her system at home. Bear with us, we are still warming up to this podcast life. Links: https://www.globalsheepforum.com/2024nextgencohort https://nationalsheep.org.uk/

Welcome to the launch of the Sheep Geeks podcast with Nerys Wright and Liz Genever. There are both independent sheep consultants, and work with sheep farmers in the UK. Nerys likes talking about parasites and body condition score, and Liz likes talking about grass and forage, and soil. This launch podcast introduces Liz and Nerys. In future episodes they will be talking to a range of sheep farmers, consultants, vets and academics. The next one will be available at the end of November. ...