‘For Flocks Sake’ Is Making Sheep Science Accessible in Australia

For Flocks Sake is a veterinary-based sheep consultancy business based in Dubbo, New South Wales. Its founder, Dr Tim Gole, is on a mission to help sheep producers grow their best animals. Eagerly awaiting the birth of his first child, Tim spoke with Gallagher to share how he went from Brisbane boarding school to servicing over 750,000 breeding ewes over four states through a chance meeting at a 70s-themed fondue party.

From boarding school to breeding ewes.

Tim Gole did not grow up on a farm. Instead, he was exposed to farming through his buddies at boarding school in Brisbane, accompanying them to sheep stations in Longreach during the school holidays. These times spent as a “teenage dirtbag,” as he puts it, were instrumental to his first taste of farm life: getting up before the sun, getting dirty and enjoying the music, sweat and good humour of working in shearing sheds.

Tim studied at the University of Queensland for his bachelor's in veterinary science during this time intent on becoming a dairy cow vet, he says “wearing gumboots the rest of my life”.

It was by happenstance that he became involved professionally in the sheep industry, “I was driving on my way to placement work in Victoria as part of my study. But I needed to do placement in the sheep wheat belt so I went to Coonamble NSW basically to tick the box.  The vet there, Dr Scott Parry, invited me to a 70s-themed fondue staff party; we had a fair few beers and by the end of the night he had offered me a job”.

After working in Coonamble Central West NSW for a few years seeing at total of one dairy cow, he went on to work in the UK before returning to spend seven years as a managing partner of the Western Rivers Veterinary Group in Warren and Nyngan; and a director of a veterinary business serving Northern cattle producers.

Then came the 'Tinderbox Drought’. 

Drought and destiny.

The Eastern states of Australia was hit by a devastating drought over three years between 2017-2019, turning the agriculture sector in New South Wales on its head. 

Witnessing the profound toll of the drought on production systems, Tim was inspired to find better ways as a vet to help sheep producers.

He decided to fight the drought and embark on further study, becoming a member of the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists (ANZCVS) in Sheep Medicine. Keen to serve sheep producers at a higher level with this new knowledge and having “gotten sick of pulling calves on a Saturday night when the Wallabies were playing”, Tim decided to go all in.

In 2020 Tim sold out of the veterinary clinic business and established a veterinary-based sheep consultancy and technical services business in Dubbo with a drought inspired name called “For Flocks Sake”.

Sheep are better than cattle.

“Everyone knows sheep are better than cattle,” he teases, enjoying the reaction that this statement gets, “because if we stack a few things up, like nutrition, good health and genetics, we can get more than one product, or some great compounding reproduction effects”.

By producing merino wool and lamb or mutton, sheep producers have more profit potential. Ewes can also be managed to achieve a higher weaning rate than cows, well above 120-130% compared with the potential weaning rate of 85% in cows.

However, Tim warns that along with a higher weaning rate, comes greater responsibility, “that compound interest works against you if you don’t get all the little things right”. 

Controlling worm burden and ensuring proper nutrition become paramount to protecting that rate of production. Problems can arise swiftly and fight against you, quickly diminishing the weaning by 50% if issues are not managed properly. 

“Though we can get the production humming, if we don’t take care of the little things, sheep can become much more susceptible to nuances than cattle”.

Control the controllables.

It’s these nuances that Tim specialises in. 'Control the controllables' is his motto to assess clients’ sheep productions for weak points and get ahead of potential issues before they arise. 

“Let's put all these things in place that at least get us in the 22, to use a rugby analogy. Then we're in a good position to score as many tries as we can. It's much harder to score tries from the halfway mark”.

This proactive approach is a stark contrast to the reactionary nature of being a vet, “you get a call, it’s calving, so everything stops to sort out that emergency. But now we have more time to focus on production and profit drivers and less putting out fires”.

Tim says the business practically named itself in the aftermath of the drought, ‘For Flocks Sake’ was a bleating success with farmers who share his sense of humour. Now he has a team of four, serving clients in five states.

What began with simple pregnancy scanning, developed into using their considerable expertise paired with the latest technology to keep animals healthy; improve genetic quality with artificial insemination; measure performance through eID data collection; and educate producers on useful tech in a practical, hands-on manner. 

Animal Performance & Traceability in Australia.

The unique combination of services at For Flocks Sake helps producers make the most of their data which, due to the recent eID legislation in Australia, is now compulsory to collect. 

Though Tim admits that farmers “don’t like being told what to do,” overall, most farmers are getting on with it, turning opposition into opportunity. 

Though the primary motivation of the government is for disease traceability as a biosecurity measure, the eID tags can be harnessed to track multiple traits. 

Tim typically uses the Gallagher TWR5 combined with HR5 and Auto Drafter to assist clients to track their animals' weight, fleece weights, genomic collection, health, treatments, pregnancy, and more, to make proactive decisions about their flock.

More informed decision-making becomes a distinct advantage with the Australian climate.

High climatic variability in Australia means rainfall becomes less predictable each year. The choice between destocking to reduce flock size or feeding animals through dry periods can be stressful and expensive, especially if deciding which animals to cull. 

Now with EID traceability, each animal can be measured so that destocking decisions are based on the highest and lowest performers, maximising the value of the remaining flock. 

Making Science Relatable.

Tim says many producers don’t have the time to figure out this technology themselves, which is why his new business, EID Livestock, aims to make tech easier for farmers to use through hands-on training courses. 

"Every small business owner is under the pump all the time... so we don’t want to just show them how it works but also how we are using it.  Then producers can connect and engage with the technology and get the benefits for the minimum mental effort”.

His top tips for using new tech include remembering to charge everything the night before–a hard lesson learned during the once-a-year event of shearing–and not putting yourself under time-pressure to learn new gear, no matter how intuitive it is. 

“If you've got 4,000 lambs to weigh , that is not the time to learn how to use your Auto Drafter,” he laughs at the memory, “that’s where we love being a part of it. We can come on farm and help people use those toys cause we’ve done it all under time pressure, paid the 'dumb tax' and we have had that cold sweat of, ‘we’re in trouble’”.

Tim and his fellow trainers, Anthony Shepherd and Richie Cartwright, share a passion for making science more accessible for sheep producers. 

“Our goal is to show the science without it becoming dry – we're just trying to help make this relatable, because we’re all just normal people who love sheep”.

It does appear to be helping. On average, their courses receive a satisfaction rating of 9/10 from participants. Gallagher Animal Management is a proud sponsor, supporting the initiative with product, subsidisation and assistance through Business Development Manager, Mike Hemsley.

Getting in the 22

While he enjoys helping producers grow their best sheep, has he finally got his Saturday nights back to watch the Wallabies?

“Sheep farmers want to talk sheep 24/7, I stop getting messages at about 10pm”, he laughs, “but I’m excited to be in this industry, when you’re working with those people who really love what they do, it’s enjoyable and certainly entertaining”.

 

Find out more about For Flocks Sake.