Taking the Guesswork Out of Your Sheep Operation

You can’t improve what you don’t measure, but the first part of improving is knowing what you’ve got.

It’s no different in sheep farming. And the best way to know what to improve is with data.

Without data you’re flying blind, and you don’t want to be doing that when you have a lot on the line.

Sheep farms aren’t small businesses, and farmers all over Australia are wasting tens of thousands of dollars every year by making uninformed decisions.

There are two steps: collecting the data, and then using it.

We see people all the time who are confused or apprehensive about both steps, so they’re just doing nothing, hoping prices stay good. Or, they’ve gone down the wrong path with technology and they can collect data, but they can’t make any sense of it to turn it into a decision.

 Further to this, in a downturn market like we’re experiencing at the moment where costs have risen by 40-50% and price of commodities have gone down 20-30%, data collection alone does not ensure success. Technology does not ensure success. The BreedELITE Sheep System or any other technology system alone does not even ensure success.

But what good data, and data that’s stored in an easily accessible way (where you can compare all your sheep as ‘apples against apples’) will do, is give you the best opportunity to make informed decisions in order to navigate the market conditions that are present.

If you don’t have data, you’re just acting on a whim or your best guess, and in a good market this is often hidden because success is coming easily and you don’t feel the pressure for imminent improvement.

In a downturn market, the quality of your decisions is paramount for every step along the way, to ensure your return on investment is made.

It’s like this: if you set sail in the ocean without knowing where you’re going, you will end up where the wind carries you. Once you’re clear on your direction, you can use the wind and the sail the right way to get you there.

 So I look at data as insurance. It should be there at a minimum, like insurance, because if things go wrong, you’ve got the data to fall back on and keep you on the right track.

But the challenge with data is you can’t just snap your fingers and have four or five years of data at your fingertips. So if you are at the start of a downturn market, then the time to start collecting your data, and knowing how to use it to your advantage, is NOW.

So where is the best place to start?

Whatever level you’re at, start recording your data (if you’re not already) so you at least have a starting point that begins from today.

We don’t know where the market’s going – it could get worse, or it could get better – but with data as your insurance policy, if you start now, you’ll have it available to work for you regardless of market condition.

If you don’t have data, it’s a scary time to be running a farm because when things start going badly, you need to be able to make informed decisions.

As the old saying goes:

The best time to start was yesterday, but the next best time is NOW

The BreedELITE Sheep System The BreedELITE Sheep System is purpose-built for sheep farmers to collect data easily in a way that is understandable, and then be able to make powerful decisions from that. Once you have this in place, it simply becomes a numbers game where you can move each chess piece with clarity, certainty, and enthusiasm.

When you can say that 60% of your adult ewes on the property are twin bearers two years in a row, or that you are expecting to cut 40 bales at 17 micron and 60 bales at 19 micron, you are using data to the point that you can forecast, prepare, and make decisions.

If you feel like you’re flying blind and agree that data is the way forward, book a call with us today to explore if the BreedELITE Sheep System is the right fit for you, or simply reply to this email or give us a call on (08) 8382 4565. We’re looking forward to it.