Learning made easy beyond the boundary fence

Spending weekdays driving across NSW as an extension officer and weekends at home on the family farm, Jess Armstrong’s feet are firmly planted in the agriculture world. Whether working within the family business or assisting other producers across the countryside, knowledge is power, and Jess can’t get enough.

“As someone who is relatively young and still developing technical knowledge, networks and an understanding of the industry landscape, it’s important to learn things from beyond the boundary fence,” Jess said.

To extend her industry knowledge base, Jess listens to Meat & Livestock Australia’s Productivity & Profitability series during long commutes.

Sustaining the family farm

Together with her parents and brother, Jess operates a sheep and cattle station in north-west of Hay, NSW. For the Armstrongs, particularly the next generation, like Jess and her brother, every on-farm decision is made to ensure the business remains family owned and operated.

Jess said succession can still be a challenging, complicated subject and navigating the compromise between generations can be difficult.

“We’re always looking at the tiny steps we can take which will sustain our business. The diversity of the Productivity & Profitability series has an underlying theme of decision-making which has helped us find some of those steps,” Jess said.

When introducing eID onto their farm, Jess turned to Sally Martin’s episode, which discussed how to use the technology as a valuable business tool.

“The episode does a really great job of keeping the information practical, and it works. On our own farm, I’m really proud of how far we’ve come with our implementation of eID,” Jess said.

“It’s basic at the moment and there’s more to be done. We’re deciding what data to collect, such as fleece weight or breach score, and how we make that collection fit into our management, like using an automatic drafter.”

One series, two options – timelessly useful

As part of the series, guests are interviewed for both podcasting and webinar formats, providing two different audience experiences.

“I spend a lot of time on the road, so the accessibility of the podcasts makes it an easy choice. The podcasts have a really practical and grounded approach that would be useful to any producer.

“The webinars – which are slightly more high level and technical – are better suited for my work,” Jess said.

Sally Murfett’s webinar within the series, which discusses human agronomy, resonated with Jess.

“I came across the series and this episode during a work project around farm labour attraction and retention. It informed the project but was also relevant in our family operation.

“Far-west NSW isn’t always an attractive option for potential employees. It was useful to know what kind of standards, incentives and expectations we need to set if we ever go down the road of employing people,” Jess said.

Whether it’s webinar or podcast, Jess said the learnings have been evergreen.

“The content is timeless. I went back and listened to the episode on managing a late autumn break, which is really relevant to producers in our area at the moment.”