Head Shepherd

About Head Shepherd

Mark Ferguson from neXtgen Agri brings you the latest in livestock, genetics, innovation and technology. We focus on sheep and beef farming in Australia and New Zealand, and the people doing great things in those industries. To learn more about neXtgen Agri, visit www.nextgenagri.com.

Publisher

Mark Ferguson

Category

business · education · science

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

23 May 2020

Latest episode

4 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

309 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   4 Oct 2026

   Understanding immune competence and worm resistance in sheep with Emma Noble-Campbell

   neXtResist can tell you which sheep are fighting off worms, even when worm numbers are low. Emma Noble-Campbell has been running the test for New Zealand breeders since she joined us in February. Emma grew up on a sheep and beef farm in the North Island, studied agricultural science at Lincoln and did her honours on worm resistance and immunity in sheep. Since joining neXtgen, she has set up our "Spit Lab" (in Ferg's garage!) and is now running neXtResist, the SwabTec saliva test, for New Zea...

2. 

   27 Sept 2026

   Pulling the future towards you with Gus Balbontin

   Join us to celebrate our 300th episode! For anyone lucky enough to attend LambEx this year, Gus Balbontin was one of our favourite speakers. So, when he agreed to come on for our special 300th episode, we were beyond excited. The messages Gus shared during his talk have stuck with many. He challenged (and succeeded) in getting us to think differently and to question any long-standing assumptions we'd had. Gus grew up in sheep country in Patagonia before leaving Argentina at the ag...

3. 

   20 Sept 2026

   The changing role of breed societies with John Yates

   John Yates has spent the past 18 years helping develop the British Texel Sheep Society, including bringing performance recording in house and building the iTexel database. Rather than relying on an external system, the Society has developed an evaluation around the information its breeders are collecting and the breeding goals of a terminal sire breed. John chats with Ferg about that evolution and the thinking behind it. For him, breed development has to maintain focus on what commercial prod...

Who has been a guest on Head Shepherd

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Simon Coutts
• Dr Whit Stewart
• Jack O’Connor
• Peta Bradley
• Jason Archer

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

7 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

139 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 68 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

97

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

95

Contact Head Shepherd

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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Questions about Head Shepherd