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.
Head Shepherd
Elite Sports Strategies for Elite Farming with Nick Martin
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This week on Head Shepherd, Ferg chats with Nick Martin about the crossover between sports psychology and farming. Off the back of his Kellogg Rural Leadership research into the performance psychology of elite Canterbury sheep and beef farmers, Nick shares practical tools like self-talk, visualisation and box breathing, to help sharpen focus and navigate high-pressure situations.
The conversation highlights what sets top performers apart, with a focus on mindset, self-awareness and goal setting. It’s a fascinating look at how small changes can drive big results both on the farm and on the pitch!
You can read Nick's full report below:
https://ruralleaders.co.nz/the-performance-psychology-of-elite-canterbury-sheep-and-beef-farmers/
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Mental Tools for Farming Success
Speaker 1Welcome to the Head Shepherd podcast . I'm your host , mark Ferguson , ceo here at NextGen Agri International , where we help livestock managers get the best out of their stock Before we get started . Thank you to our two fantastic sponsors for continuing to sponsor this podcast . Msd Animal Health is perhaps better known as Cooper's Animal Health in Australia and for their Allflex range across the world with a comprehensive suite of animal health and management products . Heinegger is a one-stop shop for wool harvesting and animal fibre removal . The Heinegger team have a deep understanding of livestock agriculture , backed by Swiss engineering and a family business dedicated to manufacturing the best . We are grateful to our sponsors for their support , helping us bring Head Shepherd to you each week , and now it's time to get on with this week's episode .
Speaker 1Welcome to the Head Shepherd podcast . You're with Ferg Today . We've got a fantastic chat with Nick Martin . Nick is with Rabobank in Canterbury but has just completed his Kellogg Rural Leadership Research , which was all around the mental tools that farmers use , or the . We get into that .
Speaker 1We've got an article that's just loaded up onto the Hub this week Again . We're putting an article up every week on the Hub , so make sure you're going in there checking it regularly . Sign up for the newsletter . It comes out fortnightly with links to those Hub articles plus anything else we're up to at NextGen Agri . But this week we've got Phooebe eckerman or echoes as she's known within our team is uh right , has written about um foot structure in both sheep and cattle and she's called that keep your feet and all around the importance of those , those traits , but also the the assessment of those traits . So anyone that's into their structure it's a great read from from phoebe and we highly recommend that . A couple of other plugs , I guess umcision Sheet Management Survey is still open for another couple of weeks .
Speaker 1It's still that opportunity to win that pair of R&M Williams boots . Jump on to the hub and find that link or get in touch with us and we'll make sure you can get a link to that survey . We would love for you to fill it out . We'll put a link in the show notes . But it's really important that we get everyone's views . That show notes , but it's really important that we get everyone's views , that's . That's only everyone's focused on australian people . So apologies to those outside of australia . And then the final one , also to australian breeders . If you're a ram breeder , the entries have closed . On last friday when you're listening to this . But if you do want to get a ram into that feet work that we're doing in australia , we'd still be able to sneak one in . I think really important work going on there and great to have all the Rambriters supporting us , but we'd love to have a few more . So if you've missed that and you're keen to get one in , you can get in touch . But I'll be doing that as soon as possible .
Speaker 1Righto , we're into this week's show with Nick Martin from Rubber Bank talking about the mindset of top farmers . Welcome , nick Martin , to Head Shepherd G'day . How are you going ? Good mate , thanks for your time today , really looking forward to this conversation . You were good enough to talk to the crew at the muster back in 2024 , which was , I guess , talking about financial literacy for young people , which is , I think , a really important topic . I think most people our age look back and wish they'd probably done it a bit differently or a bit better or whatever . But today we want to talk about mainly around your Kellogg program that you've just completed . But , yeah , I guess , before we get into that sort of from Lincoln University professional rugby in Europe , then into rural banking , what's yeah , I guess , just running through your journey and your career so far .
Speaker 2Yeah , look , it sounds a little bit random when you say it like that , and there was a little bit of fertilizer in there as well , with Ravens down in mid Canterbury for a couple of years following university , but originally out of North Island , came to Lincoln University , liked it so much I stayed in the South Island in Canterbury , never left , other than going overseas for the footy , and that was probably really only not necessarily through talent . I was fortunate enough to have a UK passport which opened a few extra doors and made the most of that for three , nearly four years in Spain , scotland and England . And then , whilst in England , I managed to get involved in some banking with Barclays . When I came back around , or looped back around down to the Southern Hemisphere , to South Island , where I was showing my future wife around , I just stumbled across a job which put the banking experience and the ag background together and have been banking ever since .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , cool .
Speaker 2You must have had some sort of talent at rugby to get a play for a few years I didn't retire on the um on the earnings , but I did see enough of europe to to to get a feel for it . Yeah , that was about as good as it got .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , fair enough . Well , that's all good . That's more than I ever achieved by a fair margin . You've recently completed your Kellogg Rural Leadership Program , I guess . I mean , for those who aren't in New Zealand and might not have heard of that , can you just run us through sort of what that is and why you want to do it ? Yeah , sure .
Speaker 2Look , it's something I probably should have done years ago . It was always on my plan and I guess , for whatever reason , never got around to doing it . But you're right , just finished it in December . That was six months .
Speaker 2The program itself and includes three block courses , two at Lincoln University and one at Wellington , where the focuses are different for each . In Wellington it's sort of looking at government and how parliament and the MPs go about their business . That was really interesting a lot of industry insight and industry leaders . And then the Lincoln block courses were about probably more about personal development and leadership skills and those sorts of things . As part of that six-month programme , aside from the three block courses , you also have to complete a research paper and a fair bit of time and effort goes into that . I probably underestimated that , in all honesty , but having come out the other side , it was well worthwhile and , as I said , something I wish I'd done a long time ago and a great group of people . They take about two or run about two programs a year , I believe . So the intake for the first semester of 2025 will be underway , I think next week , yeah right , cool .
Speaker 1Just as an aside , how did you find changing gears back into learning mode after maybe not sort of that formal learning for a while , or was it fairly kind of ? Is it not too much classroom or is it quite heavy ?
Speaker 2Look , there is a bit . The first block is nine days and I said at the time that even when I was at Lincoln University I don't think I did nine days in . So look , there was a lot to take in . But it was awesome being able to spend the time sort of , I suppose , as you said , upskilling and focusing a little bit on yourself in addition to your day job , of course . And I was fortunate enough that my employer am I allowed to say , yeah , yeah .
Speaker 1No , I forgot to mention Rabo . We should give them a hand .
Speaker 2Yeah , Rabo Bank , the sponsor of the Kellogg Programme or the Rural Leaders Trust that facilitate the programme along with the Nuffield Programme as well . So they were really supportive of getting involved and allowed me the time to get back into learning . But it was awesome . It was something , as I said , I'd done a long time ago , really enjoyed that aspect and the people was the other part that stood out for me yeah , yeah , I think that's what everyone always says they love their cohort and , um , yeah , it's , uh , generally very highly regarded .
Speaker 1Uh , yeah , I guess , if we get down into the detail of what you focused on as as part of that and that was bringing sort of , I guess , sports , sports psychology to farming or I guess that mindset of winning into farming and I guess just the mindset of farming generally , yeah , so maybe just run us through how you ended up in that , that being your focus , and I'm obviously going to spend the rest of the podcast talking about what you found , sure .
Speaker 2Yeah , look , probably a random topic topic , I suppose to in some ways the .
Speaker 2The title was the performance psychology of elite canterbury sheep and beef farmers and how top operators could win in the sport of farming and , um , I suppose where that really the the genesis of it , where it really sort of began , was in the sporting um , the brief sporting career that you mentioned , the use of those sports psych tools personally , and then more recently I've done a few years of coaching and now I've actually got kids playing rugby and various other sports as well . So it's always been an interest and a theme , if you like .
Optimizing Performance
Speaker 2And then I got to the point through this course of thinking well , for the top operators and that's pretty subjective I can explain how we came to define that . But for the top operators , for the people going really well , how could those tools potentially be used to try and extract another 1% of performance , if you like ? What that assumes , of course , is that the basics are being done really well , so the foundational stuff and 99% of the job is bang on .
Speaker 2But if you're looking for just a little bit more , the sort of 1% or the fine margins that elite athletes talk about , I wondered whether the sports psych tools might have some relevance , and so I dug into that . Really , that's how it came about . Yeah , cool .
Speaker 1And I've sort of well , for a variety of reasons , but I've been within our hub . I've been talking about the 0.01 percenters , because I think one percenters are quite big , but there's lots of tiny things that sort of add up to oh , we've got a fire alarm , You're not going to believe it . Well , I'll let you go mate . Well , um , well , um , maybe , yeah , maybe , yeah , yeah , did you get all that .
Speaker 2You're back , mate .
Speaker 1Just a random fire alarm .
Speaker 2Yeah , there you go . Yeah , that was as I suppose they're . They are completely unscheduled and unknown , as I have to be . Yeah , yeah , yeah , sorry about that no , you're all right .
Speaker 1No worries for those who missed it . We've just had a fire alarm split this interview up , but we're back on and so that's the joy of recording a podcast . You're never sure what's going to happen next . That might make the blooper roll , if we're lucky . The last podcast we had a fairly significant blueprint and shearing sheet with me and gloves , but anyway , we're back on and , yeah , I guess continuing that chat . I guess from your research the sort of specific mental tools that athletes might use , that could be valuable for farmers when facing high-pressure situations , which is almost every day on a farm .
Speaker 2Yeah , that's right . It was not even necessarily high pressure . As I said , the topic was sort of about how the best get better and perhaps a little more context , I suppose . A great example with the Paris Olympics recently and Lisa Carrington , you know , who went to those Olympics with five Olympic gold medals but somehow she managed to get another three , which sort of makes her pretty legendary , really in a global sense . Those one percenters that we were talking about and the cumulative effect of them , I guess was part of the reason why I dug into this topic and trying to uncover how to get that extra gold medal , if it is in a farming sense .
Speaker 2So the tools that I identified , which , in this paper , really was probably about bringing together a whole lot of them as opposed to trying to uncover or discover new ones . They're all pretty well known , but it's more a case of trying to bring them together into some sort of structure that might make sense for a farmer , and so I broke that down into how you might prepare for an activity or an event or a task , what you might do whilst you're in it , so to speak , or during , and then obviously afterwards in reflecting , and just tried to pick apart what the key tools were that could be used in those situations and when you're starting out . I suppose the first thing that really appeared to be most relevant was the growth mindset work that Carol Dweck started , and there's a great book by her called Mindset and a TED Talk that's been seen about 12 million times now , I think which is really just about how prepared you are to consider new things and try new stuff . So that's a great starting point , and the tools are explained in a little bit more detail and there's a fair bit of science behind them , but that's the high level starting point before the activity or event or task begins is how you approach it , how willing you are . And then the Stockdale Paradox is another interesting concept , which is really about grasping reality , and Admiral Jim Stockdale so the story goes led a group of prisoners through the Hanoi Hilton in the Vietnam War and was recognised . Afterwards he was able to maintain a degree of optimism , even though there was a fair bit of adversity . And again , if you put that in a farming context , a drought would be a good one , and we've had one of them in Canterbury and Marlborough . So you know that the situation is pretty dire , but you're able to maintain some optimism through that but ultimately able to accept the reality in front of you right now . So that was a great tool to think about in the lead-in where are you at right now and what's the reality in front of you right now ? So that was a great tool to think about in the lead-in where are you at right now and what's the reality ?
Speaker 2The next one was circles of influence , which and I think we've probably all heard the phrase controlling the controllables . It's sort of a diagrammatic illustration of that , where you're able to identify the things that you can control within the circle around you . There's a bigger circle just outside that , which is the circles of influence , the things you can just manipulate a little , and then there's an even bigger circle outside of that , which is the things that are just way beyond your control . And in that drought example , clearly that would be the weather . Then even things as simple as music would be the weather . Then even things as simple as music Music there's a lot of science in behind that .
Speaker 2How you use music to change your mood .
Speaker 2If you're feeling a little bit rubbish and you turn on your favorite tune on the truck radio , that can go a long way and that's actually got some scientific evidence that supports the physiological and psychological changes you feel as a result of listening to a bit of Luke Coombs or whoever .
Speaker 2It is Visualization and imagery . Again , that's in fact came up through the elite athletes that I interviewed as part of the paper pretty regularly . But being able to look through the task at hand in your mind , work out how it's going to play out , what the variables might be and how you'd respond to those in advance , is clearly a good one . And then there was another interesting concept or tool around arousal regulation , so how fired up you get or need to be in order to complete a task successfully . So those were the preparatory tools that I looked at . And then , during the actual activities themselves , or the tasks , if you like , the job , things like breathing , and again , none of this will be new . But putting them all together and being able to choose from this selection of tools , I think was the purpose of the paper . But breathing , and particularly box breathing , is a tool worthwhile considering . When you're in an activity , in a high-pressure situation , you need to just step back from that and take the time to oxygenate the brain .
Speaker 1I can hear listeners asking what's box breathing , so I should ask that question .
Speaker 2Yeah , look , it's actually explained in more detail in the Rural Support Trust book Getting Through . But it's just about and I think the origins actually were military but it's about drawing your breath in really slowly over two seconds or , sorry , the count of four . I think it is holding it for four , releasing it over the count of four and then taking another breath in over four , doing that a number of times and being able to effectively reset yourself , which is the next tool .
Speaker 2Um and there's a bit of sporting context in this one the redhead-bluehead scenario , which is , or originated from the All Blacks . Actually , when they choked in the 2007 Rugby World Cup in the quarterfinal against France , they quickly realised that they weren't able to cope with the pressure of that situation , and we can get to the diagnostics of that later , but what they worked out was that they had to somehow be able to move from a state of sort of absolute chaos , if you like , to a or a redhead to a more clearer blue head where you can make informed and better decisions . The trick was being able to recognize and switch between those two states . Another tool for during an activity or event is the self-talk , and again that came up a lot with the elite athletes I interviewed . That was really about either being motivational or instructional Say yeah , I've got this , I can do it or instructional , as in keep your eye on the ball and follow through . If you're in the middle of a golf swing , yeah . And then after the activity , it was really about recovery , then taking the time to reflect and evaluate and also recognizing that there will be some incentive or reward or recognition that might motivate an individual , not necessarily with the humble Kiwi or Aussie farmer it doesn't tend to be the case but certainly for an athlete that has a bearing . So those were the tools , pre , during and post . And then I suppose if you ask yourself at the end of that task or day or season what went well and what didn't go well and how do you know
Identifying Success in Farming Operations
Speaker 2.
Speaker 2There was a couple of other useful tools that I found one , particularly in the determining what's gone wrong part , which was a performance triangle and if you can imagine the triangle itself with mindset at the top of it , and then the other two lower corners of the triangle have got the system and the skill set and generally when something's gone wrong you can attribute it to one of those three things . So perhaps in a farming example , in fact , yesterday I was at my place I had to kill a couple of sheep , chuck in the freezer and my mindset was good . I knew I had the time to do it . No stress , no pressure , it's all good , happy to get on and get it done . The skill set was good . So I've done it hundreds of times . Now I can do it , I can actually execute the task easy .
Speaker 2But the system fell over , the yards were rubbish , the dogs were horrendous , couldn't get them in anyway , and so , out of those three factors , the system is what let me down . And the all black example I used before in the quarterfinal of the World Cup in 2007, . The mindset is what let them down . They didn't have the ability to cope . They had the skills , they had the system , they knew what the game plan was and how to go about it , but the mindset let them down .
Speaker 2And the reason the mindset is at the top of the triangle is because generally , if that's not right first , then there's no point starting . If you wake up big day weaning and you feel like rubbish and just negative and generally crap and disinterested and not engaged , then it's probably going to be a pretty tough day for you before you even get started . Another example , a farming example , might be if you are mustering stock off a hill mindset's good , happy with the job and excited about it , good to go , skill set's good , you know you can do it Again system might be the bit that lets you down if , for example , the dogs are playing up again and it all blows to bits . And you know it all blows to bits . So you can apply that diagnostic tool to pretty much any situation where something goes wrong and identify generally one of those three things that's fallen over the other one when it goes really well . So the opposite , which a number of farmers actually mentioned in the interviews , was about a flow state .
Speaker 2You know they described those days on the hill mustering where everything just flows beautifully and goes perfectly . And again , there's a little bit of science behind that and the thinking is that there's about seven different factors that go into a flow state . So the day that you remember and we've probably all had , where everything's just worked perfectly , you've loved it . Well , the seven things that made that day up or that task up that went so well , with things like being totally concentrated and focused on the task , having a sense of ecstasy almost about it . You got clarity , you know it's doable . You got serenity . It's timeless , so you don't feel rushed or pressured and there's there's an intrinsic motivation to do it and you've got all those three things . Those are the days that go really well when you have a flow state , and they're the ones , of course , that we tend to remember . So yeah , those were all the tools identified pretty much excellent .
Speaker 1Yeah , I think we can all well . We can faintly remember flow state days , but we also strongly remember the days that one of the mindset skill settler system let us down . They tend to be etched in our memories pretty well and I guess some of that mindset is about not letting those negative thoughts override the positives , which can be a major issue in humans generally . I guess you see lots of farming operations . You're a rural banker with Rabo . I guess when you were sort of identifying farms you sort of touched on it before . What do we define as a top performer and kind of what are the attributes you were looking for when you worked at who you're going to interview ?
Speaker 2Yeah , really subjective and quite difficult to define . But the methodology I applied to that and having had the benefit of a bit of experience in this province , in Canterbury , top of the South Island in New Zealand , is a pretty good network of people I trust , hopefully , who trust me , that I asked them about was the top operators who , in the analogy you might use as a three-legged stool , who've got the finances sorted , they're all over it , they've got the physical aspects sorted in terms of the farm , how it looks , how it's run , all those physical aspects , and then the social , which is the third leg of that stool , and of course the financial stuff is pretty easy to measure . Physical stuff again , probably not too difficult to look over a farm and go , yep , that's being run really well . But the social things , 100% subjective . You know how you contribute to the community or the industry , are you helping out at the squash club or are you doing anything for the school , whatever it might be .
Farmers' Mental Skills and Success
Speaker 2So what I looked for in those three factors that made up , or the three legs that made up , the stool was balance in them . And I asked the network of people that I've dealt with for years who they thought had those and my theory was that if I asked enough people , the same names would keep reoccurring , and that's exactly what happened . So out of that , I was able to shortlist . I think there was nine or ten farmers whose names just kept popping up , regardless of who I asked about those three factors and they were the ones I interviewed .
Speaker 1Yeah , I guess the obvious question is what made the nine as in ? Was there any similarities or are they , like all from different backgrounds , different whatever education , upbringing opportunity , Is there anything that kind of set them apart ? Or really it was just the fact that they , for whatever reason , had it all together ?
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , look , absolutely there were similarities and it was limited to Canterbury . It was quite valid . In that one I was able to get the names and I sort of knew some of them , so that was good , validated that . But also the other aspect was that in Canterbury and Marlborough we'd just been through that drought . So the theory was again that top operators would probably be able to handle that adversity pretty well . The guys I interviewed and it was mainly guys , but no disrespect to the ladies out there running farms some really capable ladies too , were able to handle that situation probably more comfortably perhaps than others .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , look , the scale of the operations wasn't a definition of success and if you refer back to those three legs , I suppose you could go well , there's a farm there that's making heaps of money , that's great , but the stock looked terrible . So in a physical sense or in a financial sense , perform really well . Physical sense , maybe , not so much socially . You know they might have three ex-wives or three ex-husbands and kids that don't want to come home for christmas for lunch . So are they successful ? Yeah , probably probably not . Yeah , um , the similarities and and the balance across those three were were really what I was looking for and found in that group .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah a couple of questions , and and one is how you approach this chat with farmers . I mean , unless you found a different kawaii farmer than I deal with , they're not big on talking about their emotions and feelings and talking about personal aspects , and so everyone's happy to talk about their lambing percentages , but when you start talking about some of the questions you would have been asking him , yeah , I guess . Yeah , I'm intrigued to know how you broke down those barriers to start with .
Speaker 2Yeah , that was really interesting and it was actually really refreshing . Going into those meetings or discussions not as a bank manager , you're right , you typically would Long list of questions you've got to ask and things you've got to look at and numbers you've got to dive into but it wasn't about banking , it wasn't about finances , it wasn't even really about farming in some ways and it was actually really really refreshing and really insightful . Some of these farmers , these guys they will refer quite happily and some of them were pretty vulnerable really , and willing to share , which I appreciated massively , which I appreciated massively . But a lot of them were able to refer back to events or things they'd heard or books they'd read and little tools or little gems they'd picked out of those that clearly had an influence and for some of them that was years ago , but something about it stuck with them . They were more than happy to share that and in the context of being anonymous and , I suppose , for the benefit of research and ultimately they'll all get copies of this paper and they can read it and do what they like with it . They were more than willing to share and I think actually the Kellogg name itself probably opened some doors .
Speaker 2It's pretty well known over here . It certainly helped . But , look , I found them really willing to share and , yeah , it was actually one of the conclusions or findings out of the paper itself . As a banker , where you're often having to make subjective calls about , ultimately , people or businesses , having a better understanding of how those people operate , how the decisions are made and how they react and how they handle different situations , actually probably gives you a more informed ability to make those subjective calls . So spending the time talking to them not about those banking or finance aspects that we tend to get hung up about the other stuff gives you a more complete picture and probably the ability to back people where you need to make that call . So that was actually one of the findings from the paper .
Speaker 1Yeah , and it leads beautifully to the question I wanted to ask next , which was , inevitably , when you launch into something like Kellogg , but also this research project , I mean , the thing that ends up changing the most is yourself . I guess , if you reflect back now kind of what has there been a significant shift in how you kind of operate or even how you just approach each day ?
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , again , those were findings that I can refer to . But for me , the course and I guess I'm fortunate I've been banking for a while now in corporates and the luxury of being in that environment is that you tend to get more training or more access to these sorts of leadership training and various other things that a farmer might not . And for me , the beauty of this course was that it almost brought all of that together . It was a culmination of not quite 20 years of banking , but quite a long time banking . So it brought all of that together for me and I was able to sort of piece everything together , if you like , and put it in a more easily digestible form , if you like . Yeah , but out of that in terms of what's changed ? Yeah , a couple of things , and it was findings for me and for farmers and elite athletes do a lot of it .
Speaker 2Use performance journals . I'm not suggesting you need to rush out and buy a diary and start scribbling down your thoughts and feelings , but certainly taking the time at the end of the day to reflect and go . Well , scale of one to five . How did today go ? I had one on Tuesday . Pretty rubbish , it was about a two for me . I know why and I'm able to identify that . So I've certainly taken that time to pause and reflect on my day and just give it a rating .
Speaker 2The other thing that I found out of the paper and the conclusions drawn , or the actions I've taken , is you need to continue to work on your strengths , not just on your weaknesses , and I suppose the point there is that if you only focus on your weaknesses then you just wind up being average because your strengths drop away .
Speaker 2So you're doing what you do because you're good at something , so you've got to continue to focus on that A lot of work around goals and goal setting . There was an interesting observation from one of the farmers I interviewed quite succinctly . He put it well how many elite athletes have got a coach , and you'd venture to say pretty much all of them . How many farmers have got a coach , and you'd venture to say probably not a lot . And even since then discussions with some farmers since , and some of the sports psychologists I actually interviewed are doing work with farmers around the mental skills needed , nothing to do with farming . So that was one of the insights or recommendations that came out of it that , again , I'm sort of using or applying personally is the ability to talk to and use those sorts of people . Yeah , they were the sort of key ones . Yeah , cool .
Speaker 1I guess if you are a farmer sitting there and there'll be hopefully a couple of thousand of them listening away , sort of wondering where they make a start , I guess have you got any ways that you would suggest they begin on this journey of sort of improving their mental performance or getting themselves mentally prepared for the job at hand ?
Speaker 2Yeah , look , it was certainly .
Speaker 2Again , one of the findings in terms of goal setting and planning was allowing for the development of mental skills , and I guess the best place to start , or perhaps one place to start , is chewing through this paper , because it will give you a whole range of them and I think it's just a case of picking out the one or two that might work for them . But what I would say is one of the differences particularly again in the elite athletes who use these tools was in the consistency of their use . So , once you've found one that seems to strike the right chord or have a bit of relevance to your situation , the trick was actually in repeating it and doing it regularly was actually in repeating it and doing it regularly . You know , I think that's the foundation of habits . Yeah , and yeah , picking out one or two of them might be a great place to
Strategies for Farming Success
Speaker 2start . As you said , if the link's in the podcast , then you're welcome to dive onto the website . It is published along with all the other papers from the other the other scholars on the course .
Speaker 1So , uh , dive into that yeah , exactly , and and that's where yeah , the link will definitely be in the show notes and , yeah , we'll obviously refer back to them , but people get in there , have a read and and go from there . I think it's a really good tip to how do you , how do you eat an elephant ? One , one mouthful at a time ? Um , you don't need to learn all of these things in day one . It's kind of just slowly improving little bits , and I guess that's what you're going to hear from a fair bit of me in 2025 is small changes rather than , because we know they all add up just like , in good banking terms , compounding interest . I suppose it's a little bit up to a significant shift . That's been a really good chat . Thanks , nick , and I guess , before we do wrap up , the final question that I ask everybody these days is often the hardest one and one that I struggle to answer a bit . But what is the last thing you changed your mind about ?
Speaker 2Probably doing this podcast . It's a first for me , but look part of my development for 2025 is using the growth mindset . Trying new things and giving this a go has been really good . So I appreciate your patience despite the interruptions , mark , and I hope your audience gets something out of it .
Speaker 1I'm 100% sure they will and I think things like I guess for me that performance triangle and that sounds like a cracking way to review things that I haven't , I haven't gone to plan and yeah , I guess maybe . Final question well , who was the sort of you ? Obviously , one of the great things about running a podcast is I get to talk to people like you and talk to people that you wouldn't normally have a conversation with . Maybe and I guess that would have been your research as well it was their favorite sports person that you kind of got to talk to . I guess they're , I guess they're all not meant to be discussed , but I guess was there a favorite conversation that you sort of reflect back on ?
Speaker 2Oh look , there was a number of them and I was really lucky I actually managed to interview I think it was about eight or nine and they all had different gems , but yeah , eight elite athletes , and some of them were Olympic gold medal winners . They were really at the top of their game rugby , world cup winners or multiple world cup winners , those sorts of people . There was one outstanding quote that sort of sticks with me from one of those individuals , and there was also a range of sports , interestingly , which included things like rowing , rugby , athletics , basketball , all sorts of different things . But the quote that sort of stuck with me was from one of the rugby players and they said that hope is a pretty shitty strategy when you're under pressure . Said that hope is a pretty shitty strategy when you're under pressure , and that was really referring to the use of those tools and preparing for those pressure situations that you've talked about . Hoping something's going to go right is not a good plan .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , cool , yeah . My favorite is hope is not a course of action , and you'll hear me say that a little bit clean . Yeah , yeah , yeah , cool , yeah . My favorite is hope is not a course of action and , yeah , I think it's um yep , and you'll hear me say that a little bit , that that one unfortunate .
Speaker 1favors are brave . I kind of might go to these , but the um , excellent , nick , really appreciate your time today and uh , yeah , look forward to getting that out to to the punters to have a listen . I think it's massively important that that we kind of learn to approach farming in a way that it is which it is . It's a high-performance job , there's big assets at play , there's animals , there's humans , there's everything going together . And so , yeah , we shouldn't , yeah we should never underestimate the power of just learning and continuing developing our skills to be the best we can at the game . And , yeah , I appreciate you sort of taking the time to get right into it and putting those tools in one little spot for people to find .
Speaker 1So I'm sure there'll be a few people downloading your work and having a read . No problem , it's been a pleasure . Thanks for having me . Thanks , mate . Thanks again to Heinegger , who are proud world leaders in the manufacturing and supply of professional sheep shearing and clipping equipment . Thank you to MNSD Animal Health and Norflex Livestock Intelligence . They offer an extensive livestock product portfolio focused on animal health management , all backed up by exceptional service . We thank both of these companies for their ongoing support of the Head Shippet podcast .
